Johan Magnusson receives the Faculty's Synergy Award
This year's Faculty Synergy Award goes to Johan Magnusson. He receives it for his role as co-founder and leader of the Digital Administration (DF) research consortium. Since 2018, DF has been collaborating with external actors to, as they themselves put it, ‘save welfare’ through outstanding research.
Congratulations! How does it feel to receive the Faculty's Synergy Award?
“Wonderful, fantastic! I have been involved in collaboration for a long time and have received many prizes and awards, but this is the first time I have received an award from academia. It's incredibly exciting!”
What kind of collaboration are you currently involved in?
“Most of our research is commission-based; we wait for an organisation to contact us with a challenge that they are unable to solve themselves. If the challenge is interesting to us from a research perspective and if a solution can be used by others, we accept the commission. We also have several commissioned training courses and create digital solutions that are widely used. We write opinion pieces, give around a hundred presentations a year and sit on various boards, reference groups, etc.”
Why should researchers collaborate with the surrounding community?
“I am inspired by pragmatism and especially Richard Rorty's ideas. He sees science as solidarity, with the aim of creating a better world. Researchers are uniquely positioned to contribute to solutions to the challenges we now face, but the way we have designed our system is currently not optimised for impact. We have so much untapped potential that, through effective collaboration, can make a real contribution. Successful collaboration also creates fantastic opportunities to ensure the relevance of research, to finance it and to automate the dissemination of knowledge.”
Which collaboration are you most satisfied with?
“When we created the Digital Administration research consortium (www.digitalforvaltning.se), we wanted to create a method factory to ‘save welfare’. This platform has proven to be hugely successful; we have shifted the discourse on digitalisation, established a common language, digital solutions, fantastic education and a collaborative research school with 15 doctoral students. We have succeeded in driving the public sector forward at a steady pace in line with the state of knowledge. I am particularly proud of the research school.”
Award motivation
Professor Johan Magnusson receives the Faculty of Science and Technology’s Synergy Award in his role as the co-founder and leader of the Digital Government Research Consortium (DGRC). Since 2018, the DGRC has engaged with external stakeholders to, as they express it “save the welfare state” through excellent research. Core to all engagements is the direct connection with external stakeholders, through commissioned research, executive education and executive doctoral education.
Magnusson and the other faculty members of DGRC have a substantial impact in society, both through their engagement in their projects as well as through over 200 annual keynotes, podcasts, numerous seminars and op-eds. Johan Magnusson has since 2023 been acknowledged as one of Tech Sverige’s “Tech 50”, i.e., the most influential people in technology in Sweden, as well as one of the five most influential people in the digital transformation of the public sector according to Dagens Samhälle.
This strong recognition, along with the constant engagement in public debate has positioned the faculty and department as one of the world’s leading research environments concerning digital government.
The Synergy Award recognises positive efforts within the Faculty of Science’s community outreach. The award is in the form of a SEK 250,000 grant to the recipient’s department for appreciated and successful community outreach efforts. The Faculty’s 2025 award will be presented on November 5.