What are the main aspects that make this a good place to work?
The most important aspect for me is the people at SSE. While diverse in their backgrounds and perspectives, I feel there is a certain mindset shared by the members of SSE that facilitates collaboration and enables the school’s educational mission of graduating decision-makers who exhibit a fact and science-based mindset, reflection and self-awareness, empathy and cultural literacy, as well as entrepreneurship, and responsibility (FREE).

The variety of theoretical perspectives and research methods our faculty draws on makes working at SSE intellectually exciting and fun. What characterizes the school for me is that methodological multiplicity is not just tolerated but sincerely encouraged and supported at our school. This motivates both junior and senior scholars to constantly challenge seemingly taken-for-granted assumptions and contribute to state-of-the-art research in their respective fields. It also ensures that our students are familiarized with and eventually can draw from different perspectives when making sense of the phenomena we explore in the classroom and what they experience in their work outside the school.

SSE is what I call a “learning organization”. That is an organization where the strive for knowledge is deeply ingrained in its DNA and that is able and willing to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. This ability strongly relies on an enabling environment where everyone is encouraged to contribute their interests, passion, and curiosity. I see SSE as a community where a diverse group of individuals closely interacts and works together in an integrative, complementary, and constructive way and where everyone is keen on learning from each other. At SSE, students, alumni, faculty, and corporate partners closely work together to jointly create new knowledge and generate value for society. This is further facilitated by SSE’s flat organizational structure that enables smooth processes and fast decision-making. This eventually also encourages entrepreneurial thinking and acting among our faculty, professional services, and students.

Would you recommend working here to others? Why?
I would definitely recommend scholars who want to work in an environment that focuses on high-quality research that is both rigorous and relevant and who seriously enjoy working with smart, humble, and highly motivated students to join SSE. The aspects that, in my view, make SSE a great place to work mentioned above, also serve as my main reasons for why I would so strongly recommend our school as an “academic home” to other scholars.

I would also like to emphasize that SSE offers excellent support for professional development in different areas. For example, there are various internal as well as external opportunities offered to SSE faculty on different career levels to further develop their pedagogical skills. Also, since the school is part of a global network of top universities/business schools and the faculty is well-connected to international experts in the different research areas represented at the school, SSE is a fantastic environment from which not only junior scholars can benefit.

Furthermore, SSE enjoys a close connection to practice, which is, for example, facilitated through the school’s corporate partner program or its close collaborations with the public sector (see, for example, the House of Governance and Public Policy). Such close ties to different sectors enable scholars at SSE to ensure that their research is highly relevant from a societal perspective and to closely work with practitioners in their research and teaching activities. In that way, also students can greatly benefit from SSE’s close connection to practice and, for example, experience how their skills can be employed in different sectors and types of organizations.

I worked at many different Universities before joining SSE – and finally I really feel at home and that I am at a place where new opportunities continuously present themselves. SSE, and House of Innovation where I am employed, gives me a lot of freedom. I have never been told ‘no you cannot do that’ although I sometimes have the weirdest ideas. Instead, my colleagues and boss ask, ‘ OK so how could we make that work’?

Students at SSE are very bright and talented – and that of course makes teaching demanding. You are constantly challenged and need to be able to motivate your choices. I think that is fantastic. Students keep me on my toes!

Finally, SSE and House of Innovation has exceptionally good relationships with firms and public sector actors beyond academia. There are huge opportunities to ‘meet’ practitioners to test your ideas, get input and sense the problems people are struggling with, and thus, stay relevant not only to academic societies but also the general public. That is important to me and my colleagues, something I really appreciate.

I joined SSE in August 2022, after nearly a decade in New Zealand’s leading university, University of Auckland. There are several great business schools in the Nordic region, but to me SSE’s star shone the brightest. I was especially attracted by the close contacts that SSE has with the local business community. Building bridges between academia and practice is my passion, and SSE is a perfect place for that!

I knew some of my current colleagues already before I joined the faculty, and hence I knew about SSE’s high-quality research, collegial culture, and vibrant research environment with frequent international visitors. However, there were some things that took me by a positive surprise. Our teaching technology and pedagogical support are impressive – and the SSE students are nothing short of amazing: talented, motivated, and eager to make a difference.

I would whole-heartedly recommend SSE to anyone who wants to achieve excellence in both research and teaching. It strikes the delicate balance between world-class ambition and being flexible and fun. And when a school like that exists in a city like Stockholm, what is there not to love?

I joined SSE just a few days after finishing my doctoral studies and I have been here since late 2016. One of the main things which made me apply to SSE was the strong emphasis on teaching and the prospects for me to develop as a teacher. I have always been passionate about pedagogy and, at least within my field, SSE has a long reputation of having devoted teachers and strong pedagogical methods.

Today I feel fortunate to have worked with some great pedagogues both in educational courses and in peer-teaching. I feel that I continuously develop my skills in interactions with our students and I also find that we have many benefits from our close collaborations with industry professionals. This provides opportunities to both contextualize and problematize the contents we teach and provide our students with a sense of relevance for advanced and abstract theories.

I also enjoy that SSE is a balanced environment where I can pursue my teaching interests whilst simultaneously working with leading researchers within our field. The SSE accounting department has carefully worked to attract skilled researchers as colleagues, as guests, and through our seminar series, and this makes for a quite exciting research environment today. Importantly, I feel that I am given both the freedom and the support to conduct research I find interesting and rewarding.