Lena Gumaelius

I, Lena Gumaelius, currently serve as the Director of the KTH Global Development Hub (GDH), a central development unit at KTH dedicated to advancing the university’s role in driving sustainable societal transformation through challenge-driven education in a global context. Being able to work in an international academic environment with a focus on global challenges is a great privilege, and the mission feels especially meaningful in the times we are living in.

I am employed as an Associate Professor in Engineering Education at the Department of Learning in STEM, KTH. My research focuses on how engineering and technology education can become more relevant, attractive, and accessible for all students. My current passion lies in exploring how engineering programmes can be designed so that graduates are equipped to contribute to, and lead, the societal transitions required for a just and sustainable future. Through my role at GDH, I have the opportunity to pursue these questions in both Swedish and international contexts.

Together with our African partner universities, we develop new educational models that aims to cultivate key competencies for sustainable development and new ways of thinking about and practicing innovation.

Beyond this, I conduct research on how to increase interest in engineering, technology and science. In this area, I am a member of the Marie Curie project SellSTEM, which examines how spatial ability can support STEM learning. The development of the technology subject in compulsory school has also been a central part of my research for many years. In 2019, I received my Docent (Associate Professor) qualification, specialising in “attractiveness and outreach in STEM.”

I hold an MSc in Chemical Engineering and earned my PhD in Biotechnology in 2001. Throughout my academic career, I have held several leadership positions. Between 2020 and 2023, I served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Acting Vice-Chancellor at Mälardalen University. In 2019, I was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and completed a research stay at Virginia Tech in the United States. From 2011 to 2017, I was Head of Department for the Department of Learning and, for a period, also Head of School for the School of Education and Communication in Engineering Science at KTH.

From 2006 to 2012, I was also the Director of Vetenskapens Hus, an assignment that sparked my long-standing interest in pedagogy and research within this field.