June 30th, 606 researchers from Swedish research institutions announced an appeal to the Swedish Government due to their decision from June 22nd to cut all funding for development research from Swedish Research Council.
The decision by the government created a strong reaction from the research community, for example in an open appeal in one of the biggest news papers in Sweden; Aftonbladet.
The founder of and chair of the board of Another Development Foundation – Ingvar Rönnbäck – was one of those who signed the appeal, this time from the position as a guest lecturer at Umeå University, and as a Senior Advisor of Center for Rural Medicine – a research and development unit with Region Västerbotten, Sweden. Ingvar Rönnbäck has also been engaged in development research from the basis of numerous positions in the academic world and other organisations, for example as a board member of Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Umeå University, as board member of Umeå Center for Tropical Research and Education (UCTREE), Swedish University for Agriculture Sciences (SLU), and as program officer for humanitarian assistance and conflict management at Sida Civil Society Center.
The appeal is open for reading in Swedish at the following link:
https://www.aftonbladet.se/debatt/a/VPXmg4/regeringen-stoppar-nodvandig-forskning