Newsmakers at KTH
Which people have received an award for their research or an interesting assignment? Which successful student projects currently in progress at KTH are worthy of extra attention? Under the heading Newsmakers at KTH, you will find a selection of short items of KTH news.
Global Change Award makes fashion more sustainable
Each fashion garment is provided with a digital ID-label. The label gives its owner access to the best opportunities for further use or recycling when they are done with their specific garment.
Behind the innovation is the newly started company, circular.fashion. It just won EUR 300,000 in the Global Change Award. All in all, five winners share one million euros and a year-long accelerator program with KTH Innovation.
Global Change Award is the fashion industry's largest innovation competition. This year it received 6,640 contributions from 182 countries. Behind the Global Change Award is the H&M Foundation, together with its partners KTH and Accenture.
Rewarded for the production of biopolymers
Per-Olof Syrén, associate professor at KTH and Science for Life Laboratory, has been awarded the 2019 Kompetensutvecklingspris from Stiftelsen Gunnar Sundblads Forskningsfond. Per-Olof Syrén is being rewarded for introducing a unique method of producing biopolymers from bi-products from the forestry industry.
Per-Olof Syrén’s research shows that it is possible to develop a substitute for the plastic chemical caprolactone using forest raw materials.
The area of research that Per-Olof Syrén has introduced is called Retrobiosynthesis and it has the potential of replacing many of the fossil-based processes and products currently in use.
Pedagogics win in the long run
Albania Nissan, senior lecturer at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment has been awarded Nordic Road Forum’s (NVF) pedagogical award for 2019.She teaches traffic technology and works at the department of transport management.
The award has been given to Albania Nissan for her strong commitment to the subject area and for the way she has developed the quality of teaching through her role as study director.
She is the project manager of KTH’s collaboration project with Pharos University in Alexandria, Egypt, and a member of the Nordic Traffic Safety Academy and ITS-EduNet, European Network for training and education in ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems).
Medal for prominent article
Johan Silfwerbrand, Professor of Concrete Structures at the School of Architecture and the Built Environment has been awarded The Wason Medal for Most Meritorious Paper 2019 by American Concrete Institute (ACI).
He has been awarded the prize for his article ”Bonded Concrete Overlays” (Concrete International, May 2017, pp. 31-36), the statement of reasons being “For the summary of Swedish research on the repair of concrete pavements, bridge decks, and industrial floors.”
American Concrete Institute is the largest international organisation in the field of concrete. ACI publishes the journals Concrete International, ACI Materials Journal and ACI Structural Journal.
Collaboration for long-term provision of skills
KTH and Oskarshamn Municipality have signed a plan for further collaboration in the areas of provision of skills and competencies, research, and regional development of trade and industry.
The focus of the renewed collaboration plan is to strengthen and broaden contacts with trade and industry in the region. The aim is to establish new areas for collaboration in research and development with regional players in both the private and public sectors.
One of the goals of the collaboration is to secure the long-term provision of skills and competencies for industry, business and the public sector in Oskarshamn and surrounding municipalities.
“From KTH’s perspective, it is very important that the results of the research we do can be put to use for public benefit,” says KTH Vice-Chancellor Sigbritt Karlsson. “The companies in Oskarshamn play an important role in achieving this goal by offering our students highly worth-while degree projects in authentic industrial and commercial environments.”