President Lars Strannegård provided a summary of ongoing initiatives that the school is implementing. He also presented SSE’s educational mission, FREE, which is inspired by Ingmar Hedenius' statement that the educated or well-educated human being is "free and alive in relation to the unknown". The current events in the world have put FREE in a completely different light.

Five researchers, from five different institutions at SSE, then presented their respective research fields and the Crown Princess Couple could ask questions.

Dr. Torbjörn Becker presented SITE, the bridge for SSE to Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Professor Anna Dreber Almenberg discussed the topic "What research results can we trust?" and Associate Professor Martin Carlsson-Wall presented the Center for Sports and Business. Associate Professor Emma Stenström talked about Bubble-hopping, a method to bridge divides between people in a fractioned society and Professor Mattias Nordqvist told them about his research in family businesses on the theme "Family Business, an unusually resistant entrepreneurship".

"The Crown Princess couple expressed a great interest in knowing more about what characterizes successful family businesses that can drive innovation, and that are involved in societal development, especially at a local level. In several places, individual family companies are very important employers that provides many job opportunities", says Professor Mattias Nordqvist.

"I presented my project around "Bubble-hopping". The Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel are the experts. They are engaging with different kinds of people, from different bubbles, all the time – and I really enjoyed learning from them", says Associate Professor Emma Stenström.

Fireside chat with students
Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel then got to meet some of the students and chat with them about their student experiences, student initiatives and how it has been to be a student during the pandemic.

"We had a great conversation, and they were very interested in us students, our backgrounds, and our plans for the future. We talked a lot about the myriad interests and dreams encountered in the halls of SSE, and what an inspiring atmosphere the school thereby presents", says Lovisa Bergdahl, Bachelor student at the Retail Management program and former President of the Education Committee at the SASSE Board.

"The Crown Princess and Prince Daniel were very easy to talk to and it was fun to hear that they were legitimately curious to learn more about why we as individuals wanted to study at SSE, and where we see ourselves in 10 years. I was personally happy that they seemed to appreciate the art at our university! We also gave them a curated selection of my favourite books from the Literary Agenda", says Douglas Bengtsson, Bachelor student in Business and Economy and Co-president and Head of Literature for Art Division.

SSE are hoping to be able to welcome the Crown Princess couple back to the school in the future to present other initiatives and research.