Meet the National Chairs: Johan Olofsson, Sweden
Meet the chairs of our five national societies! The chair of the Swedish Oikos Society/Svenska föreningen Oikos is Johan Olofsson, professor at Umeå University.
Hi, Johan! How would you describe your national society and its members?
The Swedish Oikos Society is a vibrant society with a long history. We have had annual meetings since 1983, although this year had to be online. We want to be the natural meeting point for Swedish ecologists and evolutionary biologists.
What are your aspirations as chair? Any recent or upcoming developments that you are especially excited about?
My first years as a chair have maybe not really been focused on what I wanted. A legal conflict about the name rights and corona restrictions have taken most of the focus. Now, when we finally are moving on the agenda will be to find more diverse ways to meet. Hopefully some of those initiatives will start quite soon.
What do you like about being part of the Nordic ecological societies?
I have always had close interactions with scientists in the other Nordic countries, and the start of Nordic meetings have thus been really fun. So far I attended all of them, and if everything goes well I am looking forward to meeting many of you in Aarhus next year.
Any comments on the role of our societies within the big picture of global ecology and its applications in the 21st century?
Ecology is for sure an important science for the future. Transformation of the society to a sustainable and carbon-neutral world will not happen without a profound ecological knowledge. The role of the scientific societies in this is surely one of our challenges.
What is your professional focus?
After sitting at home for more than a year, this question feels harder to answer than ever. It is however an exciting time, with several new projects starting, new people joining the research group, and exciting results being revealed.
Anything special going on now in your life or work?
I am longing for a summer with field work and holiday (in our summer house), that will allow me to leave the home office.
What's one way your life or work changed in the pandemic, for better or worse?
I must say it has been nice with fewer travels. To start with, working from home was OK, but now after a year, I really start longing for more normal times, going to the department, and meeting colleagues. A lot of things can be solved using Zoom, but I think the interactions within the research group and with other colleges are starting to suffer. Right now, when planning field work, I think the uncertainty about rules and restrictions in the near future is the worst.
What do you miss most about pre-pandemic times? Where are you itching to travel?
I simply miss meeting people. Let's hope it is soon over and we all can meet at the Nordic Oikos meeting in Aarhus 2022.
Favorite organism or ecosystem: Tundra, the harsher the better.
Favorite book, movie, show: Hard question, but the last book I finished was Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. It is actually really great and highly recommended.
Favorite hobby or activity: Since I still have fairly small children, the time for hobbies are limited but the snow conditions have been fantastic for skiing in Umeå this winter, and now when the snow has melted I am quite excited about the start of the gardening season or a trip with the kayak out in the Baltic.
Favorite food: It is not exactly food, but I would still answer coffee. The good coffee is the only real plus with the new working-from-home reality.
Meet the other national society chairs: