Wallenberg Initiative Material Science for Sustainability (WISE)
WISE is Sweden’s largest research programme in material science for a sustainable future. In total, the programme covers SEK 2.7 billion during the period 2022–2033. The research is financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW).
Materials science for a sustainable world
To achieve our climate and environmental goals, we need to reduce our environmental and climate footprints from the materials we use in our day-to-day lives and in industry. This is the aim for the WISE research programme, which will create conditions for a sustainable society with new sustainable materials and manufacturing processes.
Vision and strategies
WISE's overarching vision is to perform materials science at the international forefront, to empower sustainable technologies and to train future leaders in society, industry and academia.
Under the programme, 25 international research teams will be recruited. A postgraduate school will be established, offering 180 PhD positions, 30 of them industrial PhD students, along with 180 postdoctoral positions, of which 30 will be industrial postdoctoral positions.
Collaboration with Swedish industry and society is key to acheiving the programme's vision and goals. Collaboration takes place partly in the form of industrial doctoral students and postdocs, but also by establishing research arenas, so-called WIRA, that allows an exchange of knowledge and problems between academia and private enterprises.
Partner universities and groups of excellence
The programme is run jointly by KTH, Chalmers, Linköping University, Lund University, Luleå University of Technology and Uppsala University, Stockholm University. Linköping University is the host university. The programme also includes affiliated groups of excellence at Karlstad University, Umeå University and Örebro University.