Training and Career Development

In parallel to the SweDeliver research programme, internal and external educational activities are performed, including a one-year mentor program where the SweDeliver PhD students and post docs train their soft skills and learn about commercialisation and marketing of research ideas.

In collaboration with Uppsala University Innovation, SweDeliver has shaped a program highly relevant for future commercialisation of Swedish research. This include extensive training in presentation techniques and pitching of research findings and posters. The young researchers also collaborate with a mentor from the center industry partners, where they get learn about work outside the academy.

The SweDeliver PhD students are also part of the Research track Drug discovery and Development, organised by Uppsala University’s Disciplinary domain of Medicine and Pharmacy. Here, they meet other researchers within their field and get training in scientific topics relevant to their profile. This research track was started by SweDeliver Center co-director, Assistant Professor Alexandra Teleki.

Our educational efforts also include the development of new electable advanced courses, ensuring a steady competence supply of young master graduates aspiring to work within the areas of interest to SweDeliver. This includes courses in Advanced Drug Delivery, Patient Centred Drug delivery, Introduction to Nanomedicine and Computational Pharmaceutics. The SweDeliver team also provided support in developing the PhD student course Pharmaceutical aerosols, arranged by the Sweden Inhalation Network, a newly formed interest group with a focus on the development of inhalation products.

Life-long learning is also highly relevant to SweDeliver, with numerous activities aiming to continuously educate all center members. Our Event Calendar includes webinars, workshops, summits, symposia and a larger international scientific conference. Scientific Advisory Board meetings are arranged every second year.

As a result of the pandemic, many actives during SweDeliver's first year moved online, triggering the center’s engagement in virtual education. Here, our team contributed to an online workshop with University of Southern Denmark on permeability, X-ray diffraction analysis and SAXS. The 11th Symposium on Pharmaceutical Profiling in Drug Discovery and Development was presented in a virtual format, as was the NordicPOP Annual meeting 2021.

The pandemic also ensured that SweDeliver at an early stage established other means of communications and knowledge exchange between center partners and other researchers of the drug delivery community. This include live-streaming of all SweDeliver half-time seminars and dissertations, attracting a high number of attendees from both partners and other stakeholders. Thus, ensuring that all partners can join events of interest to them, regardless of geographical presence, and optimising our international visibility with continuous participation from as far as Australia and the US.

Other knowledge sharing and competence building activities include the SweDeliver / NextBioForm joint virtual seminar series, utlizing our specific areas of expertise. In November 2023, SweDeliver and NextBioForm co-organized the conference New Horizons in Drug Delivery and Formulation, attracting 170+ participants from all over the world, with keynote lectures by international experts Jean-Christophe Leroux (ETH Zürich), Clare J. Strachan (University of Helsinki), Ben Boyd (Monash University), and Hanne Mörck Nielsen (University of Copenhagen).

Gathering a large number of representatives from the industry, the conference provided a unique arena for industry and academia to meet and exchange ideas for future collaborations. Preceding the conference, SweDeliver and NordicPOP co-organized the workshop Pharmaceutical Modelling and Simulation, offering both lectures from prominent researchers and practical training sessions. Through funding, workshops with a focus on biologics were provided by international leaders Anna and Steven Schwendeman (University of Michigan), Olivia Merkel (LM University of Munich) and Yvonne Perrie (University of Strathclyde).

Other activities involving SweDeliver were the 12th Symposium on Pharmaceutical Profiling in Drug Discovery and Development and ULLA Summer school 2022 where a workshop in 3D printing was provided.

A vital part of the SweDeliver mission is outreach activities and community building to strengthen the Swedish drug delivery ecosystem. To fortify the community spirit of our young researchers, we arrange a monthly ‘fika’. Study visits are planned four our young researchers to visit SweDeliver industry partners and for industry representatives visit Uppsala University.

In early 2023, SweDeliver partner AstraZeneca invited all young researchers and their PIs to the site in Mölndal including a tour, a scientific program and PhD student poster presentations. In autumn 2023, SweDeliver PhD students visited our industry partners Orexo AB. Interaction with external interest organisations include a 2024 information session and social event where SweDeliver representatives and young researchers teamed up with with the Swedish Drug Delivery Industry Group.

To shine light of the significance of drug delivery to the broader public, outreach efforts are made to reach all age groups and education levels. The SweDeliver team provided activities in solubility, computational modelling and 3D printing at the Uppsala scientific festival SciFest 2023 (Figure 7). We also visit middle and high schools to educate younger students about drug delivery.

To reach the adult population, center members participate in panel discussions, take active part at the Almedalen week – the world's largest democratic arena, record podcasts and participate in more targeted events, for example AIMDay Uppsala.

Work Package leaders