These are uncertain times.
And decision making has become difficult on nearly every level — for individuals, for organisations, and for societies.
Climate change is accelerating, and its consequences are increasingly hard to predict for most of us. Look at the winter we’ve just experienced.
Geopolitical developments are taking us in unfamiliar and unsettling directions.
Young people’s values seem to be shifting — in China, in Sweden, and elsewhere.
We perceive, again from the lay person’s perspective, a growing polarisation between women and men, at least in political preferences.
And while we all used to speak about sustainability, the momentum seems weakening among those in power – in the US, in Sweden, and elsewhere.
One might say that knowledge has always been uncertain — that values have always shifted. That decision-making has always been hard. That cognition, communication and culture are not easy to understand. That is true.
But today, that sense of uncertainty is somehow stronger.
In moments like this, the humanities matter even more.
The humanities must move closer to society — contributing knowledge, understanding, and methods that help us make better decisions. And it must move closer to the other sciences.
But the humanities themselves must also move within — by evolving their methods, reframing their research questions, and renewing their educational programmes to remain relevant and impactful.
At Lund University, we – or at least a substantial part of us, have come to believe that Lund Humanities Village is one way to do this.
A place designed to create new spaces for collaboration between the humanities and the social and natural sciences, between academia, business, and the cultural and creative industries.
A new kind of village — a village for engagement — where ideas meet students, where students meet researchers, and where researchers and students meet society. Where impact is co created, as a business school might say.
But it is more than that.
It is not only a path toward societal relevance for the humanities and employability for their students. It is a way to adapt how we work and do research.
We will launch Lund Humanities Village on May 8 this year. It will include a new mentor programme, and – with time – much more.
Now, some people ask: Is all of this being built from scratch?
And the answer is: no.
Our faculties already have — and have long had — remarkable infrastructures that support many of these ambitions.
The most obvious example is Lund University Humanities Lab.
A place where users from almost every corner of our university come together.
A place where collaborations with industry and the cultural sector are already happening — for instance, in developing the ghost in The Ghost of Canterville, together with Riksteatern CREA.
This kind of activity is important.
It is important for society, especially in uncertain times.
It is fundamental for academia, for its interdisciplinary strength.
It is, I think, inevitable for the humanities, because it shows — in practice — the value the humanities bring.
And, of course, it is essential because it enables the humanities to evolve: becoming even better, even more relevant, and even more valuable.
I am proud that Lund University has the Humanities Laboratory as a core facility. The lab and the village will strengthen our ability to navigate today’s uncertainties by opening the humanities beyond their traditional boundaries.
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