Pontus Wärnestål becomes new Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Pontus Wärnestål becomes new Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for collaboration, innovation and sustainability at Halmstad University. He is a Deputy Professor of Information Technology and combines service design and artificial intelligence with a strong driving force for hands-on learning and research-based education. On 1 March, he will begin his new position.
“I am very pleased to appoint Pontus Wärnestål as Deputy Vice-Chancellor. He will complement the University Management in an excellent way, not least with his broad base in both academia and industry.”
Susanna Öhman, Vice-Chancellor
Pontus Wärnestål becomes new Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for collaboration, innovation and sustainability at Halmstad University.
“I am very pleased to appoint Pontus Wärnestål as Deputy Vice-Chancellor. He will complement the University Management in an excellent way, not least with his broad base in both academia and industry. He has used his various experiences in successful collaboration work, and is active in one of our most high-profile areas, AI research, where we want to continue to develop great collaboration,” says Vice-Chancellor Susanna Öhman.
Theory and practice hand in hand
Pontus Wärnestål has been active at Halmstad University since 2012, and over the years he has also held various part-time or full-time positions in the business world, such as the design agency InUse and the AI agency Eghed. He has a background in cognitive science, with a PhD from Linköping University in 2007 in computational linguistics with a focus on interactive services. He has a strong commitment to strengthening the connection between academic research and practical application, which is reflected in his work to integrate practical experience into both education and research at the University.
In 2014, he received the prestigious international award “Best of CHI” (Computer Human Interaction, a conference and community for the research field) for innovative research on participatory design for digital services for children who have survived cancer.
Pontus Wärnestål has also developed a podcast-based course in human-centered machine learning and runs the design track in the University’s ambitious education programme for professionals, MAISTR, which includes courses in AI and design for circular business models and ethical design.
“It is particularly interesting and useful to collaborate with companies for lifelong learning and develop relevant education that has an effect here and now”, says Pontus Wärnestål.
Pontus Wärnestål received the distinction Excellent teaching practitioner in 2019 and drives development in the borderland between education, collaboration and digitalisation. He has also published the book Designing AI-Powered Services, which is used as course literature at several universities both in Sweden and abroad.
Aiming to promote collaboration and innovation
“I am very happy with the assignment as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, where I want to focus on developing and deepening the relationships between Halmstad University and various regional and national actors,” says Pontus Wärnestål.
The assignment as Deputy Vice-Chancellor runs for three years with a possible extension and covers 50 per cent of full-time. In addition to this, Pontus Wärnestål will continue to work with teaching and software development in human-centered AI and service design for both campus students and professionals in, for example, MAISTR, the programmes Digital Design and Innovation and Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as in master’s programmes and doctoral education.
“My vision is to promote collaboration and innovation and thereby make Halmstad University an even stronger player in higher education and research where academic excellence meets societal relevance and contributes to sustainable development,” says Pontus Wärnestål.
Text: Selma Sedelius
Translation: Linnéa Andersson
Picture: Dan Bergmark
Excellent teaching practitioner
Excellent teaching practitioner is an academic title for pedagogical qualifications. The titler is awarded to a teacher who, in a review procedure, has been judged to have achieved a significantly higher level of pedagogical proficiency, corresponding to the criteria decided by the University’s Research and Education Board.
