KTH wants to dismiss its renowned mathematics professor Håkan Hedenmalm. This is evident from a decision sent to the Swedish Agency for Government Employers. The reason is that he has continued to have contact with colleagues in Russia, despite the government’s order to immediately cease such activities.
– There is a restriction of academic freedom in Sweden, says Håkan Hedenmalm to Samnytt.

He was barely nineteen years old when he began his doctoral studies in mathematics at Uppsala University in 1980. Three years earlier, at the age of sixteen, he won the Swedish Dagbladet and Swedish Mathematical Society’s mathematics competition. And at the age of seventeen, he won the first prize in the International Science and Engineering Fairs (ISEF) mathematics competition in California, USA.

Håkan Hedenmalm could be described as a mathematical genius. Since the late 1970s, he has won numerous awards and honors and has had more than 80 scientific articles published. He became a professor in 1996, and since 2002, he has been active at KTH.

Dismissal

But now Håkan Hedenmalm’s academic career is over. At least in Sweden. In a letter to the Swedish Agency for Government Employers, his employer KTH wants to dismiss him. The background to this is the war in Ukraine.

The Swedish government has ordered universities to terminate all research collaborations with Russia and Belarus. This applies to both “contacts and collaborations”.

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This is an order that mathematics professor Håkan Hedenmalm has chosen not to comply with. In 1990, when he was working as a research assistant at Uppsala University, he spent a semester abroad in St. Petersburg. Since then, he has continued his collaboration with his Russian mathematics colleagues, even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

– I have had contact with Russian researchers for quite some time. It goes back 20 years or something like that, says Håkan Hedenmalm when Samnytt calls him.

– We are not dealing with any classified matters or anything like that. It’s mathematics, he says.

A ‘figurehead’

But it is not only about contacts with Russian mathematicians. In May last year, Saint Petersburg University was granted a state research grant equivalent to just over 60 million SEK. It is referred to as a ‘huge grant’.

What the Russian state wants to invest millions in researching is analysis, probability theory, quantum theory, integrable systems, machine learning, and its applications.

The person appointed as the head of the laboratory leading the research is Håkan Hedenmalm. However, he himself explains that it is mostly a formal title.

– I have been a figurehead for a project they have been running. But it’s fun to be involved, he explains to Samnytt.

– It hasn’t been that long-lasting, but I think research relationships are important.

Hedenmalm says that he has now terminated the collaboration and no longer has a formal role at Saint Petersburg University.

Money from the Kremlin

It is primarily Håkan Hedenmalm’s central and formal role in this research project that irritates people in Sweden. That he traveled to Russia in 2024. And that he kept this a secret from his superiors at KTH.

– It is obviously very sensitive. I might have been more candid, but at the same time, it was a balancing act that was a bit difficult to make, he says.

The 63-year-old mathematics professor explains that he was initially unsure whether to accept the research position at the Russian university.

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– It was a bit daring, but I still have no regrets.

Another circumstance seen as complicating matters is that Håkan Hedenmalm, through his research role in Saint Petersburg, has also received payment from the Russian state.

– I have received some small amount from them as well, but it is to cover my living expenses there. It is mostly money for the employees there, he says regarding the 60 million SEK.

Hopes the war ends

Hedenmalm emphasizes that he is not unaffected by the war in Ukraine:

– I think it’s quite sad with this war and hope it ends soon. It is completely senseless for a lot of soldiers to lose their lives over something like this.

At the same time, the mathematics professor does not believe it is constructive to terminate all research collaboration with Russia because of it.

– The problem with boycotts is that you lose contact with people, and that is also a loss. Then you no longer have any contact points, he argues.

– You can sanction, boycott, and so on, but in the end, you have to come back and have contact and exchange.

– There is a restriction of academic freedom in Sweden.

– It has not only been going on for a year, but for decades. It has become a line organization, centrally controlled, much like the military. That is the structure we have started to get, although it may not have been so clear before.

“It’s not possible in Sweden”

Håkan Hedenmalm is in Morocco when Samnytt talks to him. And he thinks it is unfortunate that his employer in Sweden has chosen to take the matter to the Agency for Government Employers.

– I would have preferred to come to an agreement rather than have a conflict in the agency. But they are free to do so, he notes.

– If I do not have the trust of KTH’s management, there is no reason to work there.

He says he will continue to have contact with his Russian colleagues and is considering applying for a professorship elsewhere. Possibly in the USA; a country where he has previously worked, which he says is a fine country and where he believes collaboration with Russian colleagues is not as much of a concern.

– I don’t think they have the same attitude as here, he says.

– If I lose my job now, I will have to try to find employment abroad. It is quite obvious. It’s not possible in Sweden, says Professor Håkan Hedenmalm.

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