4-year evaluation of the strategic research area Systems Neurobiology
8. Future directions for the Strategic Research Area Systems neurobiology
As described in the point-to-point comment on the achievements of SRA we have used the
allocated resources for building a strong research environment, and we have not, which has been
seen in several occasions in the past, distributed the means to the involved research groups to be
used at their own discretion. Thus, we have built mutual technical platforms that will enable the
research groups to broaden their methodological arsenal and thereby doing more competitive
research. We have supported graduate training and we have launched a post-doctoral program to
increase internationalization of the research environment, and to bring in novel technology in
order to strengthen the research groups. We have been instrumental in initiating and facilitating
external recruitments of highly competitive investigators. Throughout, as evident from our report
we have successfully fulfilled the criteria set out in the contract for the SRA.
Considering the very rapid growth of the SRA, our immediate goal will be to consolidate the
achievements made. We plan on strengthening and further developing our technical platforms,
both with personal and equipment, and to continue with our pre- and postdoctoral programs, as
well as building an active research environment by activities such as seminar series and retreats.
However, there are also some important needs, particularly with respect to further recruitments.
While we collectively have a very broad a methodological arsenal and equipment and our
disposal, we need to bring in some new technology, such as optigenetics which is needed for
several of the animal behavior studies, and this is preferentially done by recruiting investigator
that already master such technology.
However, most urgent is a strengthening of the clinical research. While we in the SRA have
several research groups in the more basic sciences with an international standing, there are fewer
such groups in the clinical field, and this is a major drawback for the development of the SRA, in
particular with respect to clinical- preclinical interactions. We early identified this problem, and
by placing some of the means allocated to the SRA at the disposal to new recruitments, we
helped recruiting a professor in neuroscience who has research in the field of hearing disorders,
and with close clinical connections, thus strengthening that area. Similarly we initiated the
recruitment of a new professor in clinical neurophysiology, and we will also place means at the
disposal of the preferred individual to facilitate his move to Linköping. In both cases, the
presence of an SRA has been an important factor for these investigators to consider taking up a
position in Linköping. We anticipate that also for future, much needed recruitments in other
fields, such as neurology and psychiatry, the presence of a strong strategic research area within
the neuroscience field will be a decisive factor for a successful recruitment process, and provided
future funding of the strategic research area will be given we will take an active part in such a
recruitment process.
While not primarily an interest from a research perspective, we feel that the SRA also could be
important for strengthening and improving the quality of the undergraduate teaching, particularly
in the medical and biomedical programs. The evaluation of the quality of the undergraduate
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4-year evaluation of the strategic research area Systems Neurobiology
programs, and hence government allocation of funding, will largely depend on the evaluation of
the thesis of the individual scientific work each student has to perform. This will be a major
challenge for this faculty, and we feel that the present organization is not well suited to fulfil this
task. We feel that the SRAs, including Systems Neurobiology, could play an important role here,
and we envision that the responsibility of the teaching could be organized around the SRAs.
Tentatively, we therefore suggest that the SRA for Systems Neurobiology should be given the
responsibility, and means, to organize the teaching in the neurosciences within the medical and
biomedical programs, and to become the main body for assigning supervisors for the students’
thesis works. By doing so, we would fulfil the criteria that academic teaching should be
integrated with research and guarantee the scientific relevance and accuracy of what is taught,
and, most importantly, be a guarantee for the quality of the students’ individual work in the field.
While we are fully aware that this may be considered a radical step with respect to the present
organization of the teaching, we feel that it would help solve many of the problems encountered
today and infuse a new and badly needed enthusiasm into the system.
Should the funding of the SRA be discontinued after the present contract period, there is little
opportunity for its future existence. Furthermore, much of the investments done, for example in
the technical platforms, will be wasted, since there will be no means available for their
continuous support. The employments of the platform managers will have to be terminated with
loss of the necessary competence for the adequate use of the equipment for others than those who
master the technology themselves. Furthermore, the graduate and post-doctoral program will also
have to be discontinued, as well as the seminar series and retreats. We will return back to the
situation before the SRA was started, which we believe will be deleterious for the development
of this important research area at Linköping University. Systems neurobiology is one of very few
biomedical research areas in which Linköping University has a national standing and the
possibility to successfully compete for nationally important funding. Losing the opportunity that
the present momentum of the SRA now provides would probably endanger the role of the
Linköping University as a significant research institution in the biomedical field.
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