As the recipient of this award, Mark will receive 25000 SEK by the contribution of Nordea, as well as a certificate from The Education Committee to decorate his office. 

Congratulations! How does it feel to be so appreciated by the students?

Oh, this is amazing. I was so surprised when Sofie and Alice showed up at my office with the certificate that I fell totally silent. Imagine being an entering master student in economics and the very first course you have, Monday morning, just past 8 o’clock, has the less-than-tempting title “Advanced mathematics for economic analysis”. It’s like a language course about the syntax and grammar of economic theory when all you really want to do is express yourself fluently in that language without worrying too much about whatever may be the equivalent of economic theory’s irregular verbs… I am very lucky to have gifted and persistent students with such diverse backgrounds. 

What makes you a successful teacher? 

Difficult to say. I love the topic, I try to be meticulously prepared. But I am old-fashioned: my natural habitat is a room with a blackboard. I write a study guide for my lectures where I can tell stories about mathematicians, gather comics, try to convey the big picture in less formal words. And I enjoy the question-and-answer-sessions: glorified office hours where I just book a lecture room and people can drop by and ask me pretty much anything related to the course and we often end up having great discussions.