Born 12 March 1928 in Jämjö, County of Blekinge, Sweden.
Academic qualifications
Agronom (MSc) 18 March 1957.
Agronomie doktor (AgrDr) 12 October 1963.
The Linnean Prize of 1965, awarded by the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Uppsala.
Employment at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
• Teaching assistant in chemistry 1 November 1952 – 31 October 1953.
• Research assistant and, at times, assistant lecturer in plant husbandry 1 June 1954 – 30 September 1962.
• Holder of a postgraduate scholarship 1 November 1962 – 30 June 1963.
• Assistant professor in plant husbandry 1 November 1963 – 28 February 1970.
• Associate professor in plant husbandry 1 March 1970 – 30 June 1979.
• Professor in crop production science 1 July 1979 – 28 February 1993.
• Professor Emeritus from 1 March 1993, with certain activities at the present Department of Crop Production Ecology.
Teaching activities
Undergraduate courses
1960–1969: Leader or organizer of various courses in crop production science (plant husbandry) and lecturing, personally 15–50 hours per year, on plant production ecology.
1970–1988: Leader of one to three courses each year. Lecturing personally 100–150 hours a year. Subjects: Plant production ecology and weed biology, ecology and control.
1989–1993: Prefect of the Department of Crop Production Science with an overall responsibility for education in the department. About 20 personal lectures a year.
1970–1993: Leader of a number of seminars and supervisor of the work behind about sixty agronomy theses (MSc theses).
Postgraduate education
1960–1969: Lectures, about 30 hours, on weed biology and ecology in different courses.
1970–1993: Leader of twelve postgraduate courses, four of them given as Nordic postgraduate courses: co-operation between Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. Subjects: Crop production ecology with special reference to plant stand ecology, and weed biology, ecology and control. Personally lecturing about 300 hours.
1968–1993: Supervisor or associate supervisor of sixteen postgraduate students.
Other activities and tasks
Study tours to the USA (1964), to England (1968) and to different places in the Nordic countries.
Participant in the Nordic Summer University in 1964–1966. Preparatory seminars in local groups in the winters of 1964/65 and 1965/66, followed up in summer sessions of ten days each, in 1965 and 1966. Chairman of the Uppsala group in a subject section entitled ”Man as an Ecological Factor” and the ”Nordic chairman” of a section entitled ”Management of Renewable Natural Resources”.
Chairman of the Scholarship Committee of the Agricultural College of Sweden (1970–1977).
Member of various committees for funding research projects, study tours, etc.
Examiner in public examinations of doctor theses, three times in Sweden, once in Finland and once in Norway.
Member of the Editorial Board of Weed Research (1971–1980) and Swedish Journal of Agricultural Research (1977–1993). Referee tasks in these journals and in a number of other periodicals, e.g., Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica. Member of the Editorial Council of Lantbrukshögskolans Meddelanden (1970–1976).
Member of the Education Committee of the European Weed Research Council (1970–1984).
Participant in a large number if Swedish, Nordic and International conferences, symposia and workshops, mainly in weed science, and in most cases contributing with papers, speeches or posters; in some cases serving as member and/or chairman of the organizing committees.
Scientific co-operation with developing countries:
(1) Initiated an agro-botanical investigation in Ethiopia financed by SIDA (the Swedish International Development Authority). Field investigations from September to December in 1967, reported in 1968 (see under Publications). A proposal for continued studies and experiments was also given (entitled ”An agro-botanical investigation. Planned experiments”. CADU, Ministry of Agriculture, Addis Ababa).
(2) Started in 1982, together with Dr. Lars Ohlander, an educational and scientific co-operation between Sweden and Nicaragua regarding plant production, financed by SAREC (Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries). Supervised a number of MSc students and planned field experiments in Nicaragua for their theses. This involved about 3 months work in Nicaragua and three months in Sweden, mainly during a period of six years. Then, under the leadership of Lars Ohlander, from the Swedish side, a comprehensive co-operation between a Nicaraguan University, Universidad National Agraria (UNA) in Managua, and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SUAS) has been organized.
(3) Supervisor for field studies of weeds in northern Zambia leading to a doctor thesis in 1994.
Evaluation of Danish projects for judgements of risks in growing genetically modified plants, performed at the request of the Board of Forestry and Natural Resources of the Ministry of Environment and Energy in Denmark, August 1997.
In 2000: Worked out the plan for experiments with creeping perennial weeds carried out in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden as a co-operative project – the results of which published by other researchers in 2010 in Weed Res. under the title of Seasonal restrictions of bud growth on roots of Cirsium arvense and Sonchus arvensis and rhizomes of Elymus repens.
Contribution i n Saljesällskapets årsbok 2004–05 – möten med Sven Edvin Salje. Article related to Salje being awarded Honorary Doctor in Agronomy 1989. Title of article: Till ett foto: Återseende, glädje och ödmjukhet. Sid. 33–38.
In 2003–2005, contribution to the development and definition of the present structure and scientific responsibility of the department, now named the department of crop production ecology. In the spring of 2007, contribution with lessons and discussions (i) in a European Weed Research Society workshop in Germany regarding physical and cultural control of weeds. and (ii) in a doctoral course in Lithuania, organised in co-operation between the three Baltic States.