Martin Hellström is MDU’s new Vice-Chancellor

Professor Martin Hellström will be the new Vice-Chancellor at MDU. The notification came from the Government today.
“I am delighted and very honoured by the trust bestowed on me. I am looking forward to getting to know the organisation and meeting employees, collaborative partners and students at MDU," he says.

The search for the University's next Vice-Chancellor began in the autumn and during the spring the Board decided to propose to the Government to appoint Professor Martin Hellström as Vice-Chancellor of the University, after an extensive selection process where candidates were matched against an ambitious requirement profile. Today the Government has approved the proposal and Martin Hellström will take over as Vice-Chancellor of MDU on 1 October.

Pär Eriksson, Chair of the Board of MDU, is pleased with the announcement.
“Professor Martin Hellström has proven to be an experienced and well-proven academic leader, with more than 30 years of experience in teaching, research, supervision and leadership," he says.

Pär is convinced that Martin's commitment to learning and educating the whole person and his active voice in the public debate, will be incredibly positive for MDU in the future.
“Martin's strong belief that development occurs when knowledge from academia and the surrounding community meets is in line with MDU's vision of being a progressive and collaborative higher education institution,” he says.

Recruitment committee

During the autumn of 2021, the process of recruiting a new Vice-Chancellor started when the then Vice-Chancellor Paul Pettersson announced that he would not be available for a further period as Vice-Chancellor when his appointment expired. The recruitment efforts were led by the Board of Directors, which has appointed a recruitment committee that includes students and employee representatives as well as trade union representatives. Before the Board decided on a Vice-Chancellor's candidate, a panel interview took place with teachers, students and other employees at the University.

Several leadership roles

Martin Hellström is primarily a Professor of German with a specialisation in general literary studies at the University of Gothenburg. During his academic career, he has held several leadership roles, such as head of department and pro-dean at the University of Gothenburg and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Borås. Since 2017, he has been Vice-Chancellor at Högskolan Väst (University West).

Quick facts about Martin Hellström

Age: 60 years
Family: Partner and two children.
From his CV: Martin Hellström was born in 1962 in Essen, Germany. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Ruhr University Bochum (Ruhr-Universität Bochum). During his Research Studies he specialised in medieval literature from the 13th century and in 1990 he publicly defended his doctoral thesis: Veritas amoris. Martin Hellström moved to Sweden in 1991 and started working as a Senior Lecturer at Umeå University. In 2011 he was appointed Professor of German with a specialisation in general literary studies at the University of Gothenburg. In 2012 he worked as Professor of general literary studies specialising in didactics at the University of Borås. Martin has been Vice-Chancellor at University West since 2017.

More information and contact

Pär Eriksson, Chair of the Board, MDU, 070-167 21 45
Martin Hellström, Vice-Chancellor University West and Vice-Chancellor candidate MDU, 073- 901 33 51