Impact-driven research is a EU priority and, increasingly, for universities around Europe. Still, there is need for specific strategies to improve the societal impact of scientific knowledge and therewith improve the uptake of scientific results. Co-creation deeply evolves the role of scientific knowledge and increases its impact. Albeit there is much research on the conceptualization and contextualization of co-creation, research on the microlevel dynamics of co-creation is less common. This article aims to understand the dynamics of and clarify the role of co-creation within and between quadruple helix actors (academia, government, industry and societal partners). Here, co-creation refers to the collaboration, where such actors actively join forces to address challenges. This paper revolves around insights from the European Commission Horizon 2020-project—Accomplissh(www.accomplissh.eu) which stands for “Accelerate co-creation by setting up a multi-actor platform for impact from Social Sciences and Humanities”. The results lay bare a set of obstacles, areas of consideration and enablers in co-creation. This said, it is argued that scientific knowledge is optimally utilized when a set of guidelines or recommendations are followed and carried out by all involved actors.

Governments have enforced measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 with varying degrees of success, which could affect people’s physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior. This study aimed to examine changes in PA levels, types of PA, and sedentary behavior in the Swedish population before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Associations between changed PA levels and demographical and behavioral determinants were also investigated. In December 2020, 1035 individuals (18–79 years old) completed a survey about their PA and sedentary behavior before and during the pandemic. Factors influencing their PA were also explored. Fifty-one percent of the sample reported reduced total PA, 18% had no change, and 31% increased their PA. Overall, organized PA decreased the most and sedentary behavior increased. The youngest and oldest age groups reported the greatest reduction in PA, while middle-aged groups reported the most increased PA. Men reported a larger increase in sedentary behavior than women. Mental and physical capability was associated with change in PA. In conclusion, this study indicates that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of the Swedish population have decreased PA levels with a concurrent increase in sedentary behavior, which may have negative health consequences. Interventions are recommended to address both PA and sedentary behavior, specifically to strengthen people’s ability to perform PA and focusing on the youngest and oldest age groups.

Globalisation, the internationalisation of academia as a whole, and the Bologna Process have recently placed European higher education in a state of change. By critically reading policies and documents on internationalisation from 16 universities in Australia, Canada, Sweden and the US, three internationalisation ideologies (idealism, instrumentalism and educationalism) in higher education are analysed. Areas of similarities and differences are discussed – especially with regard to desired learning outcomes and the ideological rationales for international education. It is concluded that these policies and documents as well as the Bologna Process largely disregard issues pertaining to the teaching methods and contents of international education.

Societal crises and personal challenges are often followed by substantial changes in physical activity. Is there a link between such changes and psychological well-being? Seeking to answer this question, we conducted a correlational study on a representative sample in Sweden during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 1035). About 49% of the sample had decreased their physical activity compared to their self-reported activity level prior to the pandemic, whereas 32% had increased it. The results showed a positive and robust association between changes in daily activity level and corresponding changes in psychological well-being. Specifically, individuals who had reduced their physical activity over the last year reported lower life satisfaction than before, and individuals who had increased their physical activity reported higher life satisfaction than before. The amount of complete physical inactivity (sitting) showed a similar pattern as the exercise data, meaning that individuals who reported increasing inactivity per day also reported a greater decline in life satisfaction. Additional analyses showed that the association between daily activity level and life satisfaction was somewhat stronger for men than for women, but there was no difference when comparing individual versus organized activities. The current study was based on a cross-sectional design, measuring self-reported change over time. Recent work from other research teams have used longitudinal data and experience-sampling in different settings, finding similar results. We conclude that there is good reason to recommend physical exercise as a coping strategy in difficult times.

In the last century Swedish society has become increasingly globalized and multicultural. Today about 20 per cent of the country’s population of 9 million people is of foreign decent. Recently questions of immigration, integration policies and multiculturalism have received much political attention. This fact, in the unmerciful light of a deconstruction of the welfare state coming to terms with these issues, constitutes an enormous challenge to the public sector as a whole. And for single social workers this requires somewhat new sorts of professional competencies – where intercultural competencies appear among the most important.Drawing from the inherent paradoxes and cultural dimensions of social work, the article singles out and discusses several qualities of intercultural competencies that seem useful for social workers. These are referred to as content-competencies and process-competencies. It is concluded that intercultural competencies are preconditions for successful social work in the future.