State visit from Canada – day 3

The state visit from Canada continued on Wednesday 22 February. The King and Queen and the Governor General couple spent the day in Malmö and Lund. The programme included visits to Malmö University for a panel discussion on diversity and integration, återSKAPA in Malmö and the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund.

Wednesday's programme began at Malmö University, where The King and Queen and the Governor General couple were welcomed by Vice-Chancellor Kerstin Tham.

In the university's lecture hall, The King and Governor General David Johnston then listened to the discussion 'Diversity in Canadian and Swedish Cities – Maximising the Potential of Newcomers', which addressed experiences of working to achieve diversity in Swedish and Canadian cities. Senior lecturer Christian Fernández was the moderator. The panel consisted of Chair of the Municipal Council Kent Andersson, Alia Hogben from the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Mayor of Calgary Naheed Nenshi, CSR Manager at Malmö Kommunala Bostadsbolag Anna Heide and President of the National Inuit Youth Council Maatalii Okalik.

Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM) is based at Malmö University and was founded in 2007. The centre has a high international profile. Malmö University is actively involved in exchange programmes with Canada.

At the same time, The Queen and Sharon Johnston learnt about ALHVA, a project that helps socially disadvantaged families with young babies where one or both of the parents have mental health or addiction problems. The project includes a treatment aspect and a research aspect. ALHVA is a collaborative project between Malmö University's Department of Social Work and the City of Malmö's Social Resource Administration.

After the morning at Malmö University, County Governor Anneli Hulthén hosted lunch at the County Governor's official residence on Stortorget in Malmö.

After lunch, The Queen and Sharon Johnston visited återSKAPA, a centre for creative reuse, design and education. They were welcomed by founder and project manager Carin Hernqvist.

The aim is to encourage creativity, the power of initiative and inventiveness through playful design processes, and to raise environmental awareness. ÅterSKAPA has been built up around a unique material bank and a creative workshop, where industrial waste and other salvaged materials from businesses are reused and given a new lease of life.

During the afternoon, the Governor General and The King visited the European Spallation Source (ESS), which is currently being built near Lund and is one of Europe's biggest infrastructure projects for research. Director-General of ESS John Womersley welcomed the visitors and began by giving a tour of the construction work.

There then followed discussions on the subject 'Where to next? The benefits and opportunities for enhanced cross-sectoral linkages on innovation and research between Canada and Sweden.'

The European Spallation Source (ESS) is a unique material research facility based on the world's most powerful neutron source. Here, researchers will be able to study different types of materials in order to understand how they are made up and how they work. The facility can be compared to a giant microscope, where neutrons are used to analyse samples at atomic and molecular levels. ESS will pave the way for future research breakthroughs within medicine, environmental science, the climate, communication and transport. Together with the MAX IV facility, which is also in Lund, ESS will act as a European research infrastructure hub.