Gudrun Persson and Lars Wedin appointed honorary doctors at the Swedish Defence University

Gudrun Persson, Associate Professor and expert on Russian foreign and security policy, and Lars Wedin, military strategist and historian, have been appointed honorary doctors at the Swedish Defence University.

The Swedish Defence University confers honorary doctorates to recognise individuals who have made significant contributions within the University’s fields of activity - defence, crisis management and security. Such contributions may be to science, to society at large, or directly to the work of the University itself.

Both Gudrun Persson and Lars Wedin have, in different ways, deepened the understanding of military strategy and international relations, Gudrun Persson through her research on Russia, and Lars Wedin through his lifelong engagement with strategic and maritime theory.

Gudrun Persson

Gudrun Persson, born in 1962, is an expert on Russian foreign and security policy and an Associate Professor at the Department of Slavic and Baltic Languages, Finnish and Dutch at Stockholm University. She previously served as Research Director at the Swedish Defence Research Agency and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences and the Royal Society of Naval Sciences.

She is frequently called upon as an expert by government agencies, media and international organisations, and has served on several government commissions. Her publications include analyses of Russian military reform, strategic culture, and perceptions of the West.

Gudrun Persson earned her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has throughout her career combined academic research with policy-oriented analysis.

Citation:

“Gudrun Persson is one of Sweden’s foremost experts on Russia and has, over several decades, shared her expertise and erudition through reports and academic journals. She has played an important role in communicating her knowledge of Russian politics, strategy and warfare to the public in a pedagogical, accessible and tireless way.”

“I would like to sum it up in three words: joyful, honouring, inspiring,” says Gudrun Persson of the appointment.

Lars Wedin

Lars Wedin, born in 1947, is a retired Navy Captain and Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Naval Sciences as well as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences. He has held command at sea several times and had a long career in the Swedish Navy and the Defence Staff, where he also served as Head of the Department of Military History at the Swedish Defence University.

Following his retirement, he has continued as a researcher and author specialising in strategic theory and maritime thinking. He has published several books and is also an Associate Member of the French Académie de marine.

Citation:

“Lars Wedin has had a long and distinguished career as a Swedish officer and as the author of several valuable works on strategy. In addition to his positions in the Armed Forces and at the Swedish Defence University, he has served as Military Adviser at the Swedish CSCE Delegation in Vienna (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) and as expert at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Lars Wedin has also worked at the European Union Military Staff in Brussels and has made significant contributions to strategic thought, particularly in the areas of maritime and French military theory.”

Commenting on the appointment, he says:
“I have an old token from my great-great-grandfather, who was a naval officer and attended Karlberg in the mid-1800s. On it are the words ‘reward and encouragement’. That’s exactly what this feels like: a reward and recognition for what I have done, and an encouragement to continue.”