15 January 2026
International Top Professorship at Chalmers University of Technology Funded by the Stena Foundation
A donation of SEK 40 million from the Stena Foundation enables Chalmers University of Technology to recruit at the very highest international level for the first William Chalmers Professorship. The professorship is focused on Health Engineering and will concentrate on research at the interface between medicine and technology, in close collaboration with Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the cluster of pharmaceutical and medical technology companies in Gothenburg. The Stena Foundation is the largest external funder, and the donation complements Chalmers’ own investment of SEK 50 million.
This demonstrates great confidence in Chalmers. It is very gratifying that the Stena Foundation shares our view of the importance that leading technical universities can have for the future. The generous donation means that we can establish a professorship with conditions that allow us to compete for the world’s foremost researchers. It is an important step for Chalmers toward becoming a technical university of international top-class standing, says Chalmers’ Rector Martin Nilsson Jacobi.
This initiative strengthens Gothenburg’s position in Health Engineering and creates opportunities for research that combines technological innovation with tangible societal benefits. Through the professorship, Chalmers will be able to attract researchers who want to work at the intersection of medicine, technology, and industry, with the opportunity to make a real difference for patients and society.
Through the support of the Stena Foundation, we want to strengthen Gothenburg’s leading position in Health Engineering. The professorship at Chalmers creates opportunities for research that renews technology and medicine while providing concrete societal benefits. It will be an important step in translating cutting-edge expertise into real significance for patients and society, says Madeleine Olsson Eriksson, Chair of the Stena Foundation.
The professor who can now be recruited will build a research area within one of the three designated fields — stem cell organoids, organ-on-a-chip, or bioelectronic interfaces — paving the way for new advances where technology meets healthcare and medicine. The professorship is a strategic initiative in interdisciplinary research with high potential for innovation and societal benefit, and it will play a key role in the newly established Chalmers–Sahlgrenska Health Engineering Alliance.
Technology is becoming an increasingly important part of advanced healthcare and pharmaceutical development, which means that the technological expertise we have at Chalmers is truly needed. This includes everything from data management to drug testing and precision medicine. Health Engineering is an area where Gothenburg could become world-leading, thanks to academia, the university hospital, and the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry cluster located here. We can lead a genuinely positive technological transformation, says Mats Lundqvist.