Education and research at the Department of Chemistry is often done in collaboration with schools, authorities and enterprises with local, regional, national or international business fields. This interaction can be based on many different needs and occur in many different ways. This may involve research assignments where the department's expertise and advanced equipment is being used to help enterprises or public authorities to address specific issues of importance in the short or long term. Sometimes these collaborations result in important innovations, and in favourable cases spin-off companies are formed. No matter when, where and how the interaction takes place, there is always a mutual interest in working together. Many research projects are run by co-financing with companies e.g. via industry-employed doctoral students or the Umeå University Industrial Doctoral School.
One important area is our collaboration with schools where we offer visits from schools, especially at secondary level. We then offer tailored programs for the visiting group. We are further conducting work experience activities where students will conduct laboratory work, support for projects in upper secondary education etc. We also participate in the faculty's teacher training days and various activities involving school pupils. We also conduct outreach recruitment activities to our programs and courses such as education fairs and Berzelius Days.
Our website School Chemistry (http://skolkemi.chem.umu.se, only available in Swedish) is appreciated and visited by teachers involved in teaching chemistry in schools around the country.
