The external revision of KTH and ITM to determine if we meet the environmental standards described in the Swedish standard ISO 14001 took place on April 16-20, for the ITM school. At the end of the revision week, it was clear that KTH passed the revision. I cannot refer to the whole document, but I wish to share some good examples from ITM that was highlighted in the revision document:

• Minor field studies in the education, especially at INDEK (Anna Jerbrant)
• Movie on “not another brick in the wall” illustrating the production of bricks and gases from landfill waste (New Mine – Weihong Yang project leader)
• Digital information in form of youtube movies by, for example, Mikael Ersson
• Documentation of impact of projects leading to an improved sustainability (Adde Jeihouni and Charlotte Flodin )

Many people were involved in the work with the external revision, but I especially wish to thank Adde Jeihouni and Charlotte Flodin,  who were responsible for the preparation and administrated of the ITM revision work. They did it in an excellent manner!

As I have discussed before, new Docents are important for ITM since they increase the number of people that can act as main supervisors.

Pavel Ramirex Lopez from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering has become a Docent in Casting. On Friday April 13 he held a Docent presentation entitled “Casting Research at Swerea MEFOS: Past Activities, Present Challenges and Future Perspectives”. The audience were close to 70 people, since it was held in connection to  department meeting organized by the Department Head Annika Borgenstam. Docent Ramirez is employed by Swerea-Mefos, but after becoming a Docent he will participate in both research and teaching at KTH.

Pernilla Ulfvengren from the Department of Industrial Economics and Management has become a Docent in industrial technology focusing on socio-technological systems. On Friday April 20 she held a Docent presentation entitled “Safety and change in sociotechnical systems”. The audience were 20 people mainly from the department.

Finally, I want to say that it was marvelous to finally get some sunny weather. I hurried up to plant potatoes in buckets and two new cherry trees in the ground. I could not wait any longer for the spring to come, after this long and cold winter!

Pär Jönsson, Vice Head of School

In my last blog I discussed the yearly safety inspections that ITM planned for March. By now we are waiting for the comments from Avanova for each department. Based on this each department will make a plan to correct possible less satisfactorily issues that came up during the inspections.

This time I wish to inform that an external revision of ITM’s work with environment will take place on April 16. The purpose with the revision is to make sure that ITM, as well as all schools at ITM, meet the environmental standards described in the Swedish standard ISO 14001. The ITM work is being administrated by Adde Jeihouni and Charlotte Flodin. Those of you that will be involved have already been contacted and the rest of you will get to know the outcome from the external revision when the report is written.

As a researcher my latest weeks have been full of traveling and new experiences. In the beginning of March I left Stockholm, which had just received lots of snow, to travel to Phoenix in Arizona. This was a contrast since the temperature was 20 to 25 C and the sun was shining all the time. It felt like a great break from the darkness in Sweden. I attended the yearly conference given by the minerals and metals society, TMS2018. It is a huge conference where it is difficult to find people. However, it is also a great meeting place where you can establish new contacts.  Here, I presented some work on how to determine inclusion cleanliness online during steelmaking. I got some good input that one of my PhD students could use in the future.

After a short stop in Stockholm I travelled to Japan to attend the annual spring conference organized by the Japanese steel society. I presented some work done by another PhD student on the use of recycled slags for neutralization of waste water in the steel industry. Again, I received very valuable input to the student’s research from the Japanese steel community. Also, I established some contact so that the PhD student can carry out research in Japan 2019, which he really is interested in.

Overall, my presentations and interactions with other researchers have paid off. Not only did I get valuable input that my PhD student scan use, but I also got some new information on new eco-friendly steelmaking processes that I can implement in the education.

/Pär Jönsson, Vice Head of School

Our yearly safety inspections represent an important event to make the working environment at ITM’s offices and laboratories of highest standard to create a safe and inspiring working environment as well as to meet the Swedish law requirements. As a part of these efforts, it is time for our yearly safety inspections at each department. During the safety inspections an expert from Avanova will also participate. The specific days for the safety inspections are the following:

• Department of Materials Science and Engineering: Wednesday February 21
• Department of Learning: Wednesday March 28
• Department of Industrial Production: Wednesday March 7
• Deans office education office: Thursday March 8
• Deans office Sing Sing: Thursday March 15
• Department of Industrial Economy and Management: Thursday March 22
• Department of Sustainable Production Development: Wednesday March 28
• Department of Energy: Wednesday April 4
• Department of Machine Design Wednesday April 11

The outcome of the safety inspections will be a document that summarizes possible corrections that need to be addressed. It is each Department Head’s task to make a plan to specify how and when these corrections should be completed in order to meet our standards as well as to meet the laws and regulations. Please contact your nearest manager if you need more information regarding the safety inspection at your department.

For those of you with kids an important time of the year is coming up next week, namely “sports week” (sportlov). Most of you will most likely plan some winter activities and I wish you a pleasant time. However, I will take a short break in the desert in Arizona. Shorts and t-shirt, swimming in pools, Mexican food…  Sounds good or what do you think?

Pär Jönsson, Vice Head of School