Honorary Doctorates
The doctoral award ceremony is the major annual academic ceremony at which the University's faculties award and honour those who have completed a doctorate degree during the year. At the same time, other prominent individuals who are appointed honorary doctors are honoured. The new doctors are honoured with external signs of the doctoral dignity: diploma, ring, hat or laurel wreath – the insignia of the doctorate.
Through honorary doctoral appointments, LTH wants to strengthen LTH as a prominent university that explores and creates – to benefit the world. To be awarded an honorary doctorate from LTH is proof of great appreciation. It is not possible to be conferred an honorary doctorate from LTH if you already have a doctorate from Lund University.
Honorary doctors 2026
Gustaf Ramel
For several years, the Division of Water Resources Engineering at LTH (Faculty of Engineering at Lund University) has collaborated with farmer and landowner Gustaf Ramel.
Among other things, Gustaf Ramel played a decisive role when the division initiated and coordinated WATERAGRI, a project within EU Horizon focusing on water, environment, and agriculture, which ran from 2020–2024.
– As an innovative farmer, Gustaf Ramel is a key actor in the transition to more sustainable and resilient agriculture in a changing climate, says Annika Olsson, Dean of LTH.
Margret Bauer
Professor Margret Bauer’s research field is process control. She has worked together with the process industry and focused on challenges related to big data and data analytics.
Since 2020 she has been working at Hamburg Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (HAW Hamburg), Germany. Between 2021–2024, Margret Bauer was also Lise Meitner Professor at LTH.
Margret Bauer has also been a driving force in “Historical Female Influencers in Automatic Control,” a multi-year project that identifies and presents women who have made important contributions to the development of control engineering.
– This is important work since control engineering has historically been strongly male-dominated. Through collaborations with many colleagues, primarily at the Department of Automatic Control, Margret Bauer has had a valuable impact on education, research, and collaboration, and has been an inspiration for the entire LTH, says Annika Olsson.
Honorary doctors 2025
Semmy Rülf
Semmy Rülf is a prominent entrepreneur and innovator with strong links to Lund University and the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), and his efforts in the technology and medical technology sectors have played a key role in turning research results into solutions with global societal benefits.
“It is with great pleasure and awe that I accept this great honour. Being able to round off more than 40 years of working in Lund and for Lund University is like a dream come true,” says Semmy Rülf.
Semmy Rülf holds a Master's degree in economics from Lund University and has had a successful career as an entrepreneur and business leader for many years. He spent eleven years at Axis Communications and during his three years as CEO he was instrumental in the company's growth from a small operation to an international player with over 450 employees. Axis is today one of the single largest employers of LTH students and collaborates closely with the faculty through degree projects and research projects. Semmy Rülf was also an early board member and developer of world-leading IT company Qlicktech.
In medical technology, Sammy Rülf has been central to the success of companies such as ProstaLund AB, Jolife AB, Dignitana, BoneSupport and Xvivo Perfusion. Among other things, he has helped commercialise the Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System (LUCAS) heart compression robot and develop pioneering technologies for organ transplantation at Xvivo. These innovations, based on research at Lund University, have revolutionised their respective fields and saved countless lives around the world, and are clear examples how companies translate academic results into broad societal benefits.
Semmy Rülf continues to be active in technology development through companies such as Moroxite AB and UGLK Science AB, where he contributes to solutions for orthopaedic care and transplantation technology. His involvement reflects a long-standing passion for bringing academia, healthcare and business together.
Margaret-Anne Storey
Professor Margaret-Anne Storey is a world-leading researcher in the human and social aspects of software engineering. Storey, who is based at the University of Victoria in Canada, has had a successful academic career and a strong connection to LTH through previous collaborations and her time as Lise Meitner Professor at Lund University. She is highly active as a programme manager, lecturer, and inspirational figure for the international software engineering research community.
Margaret-Anne Storey has made pioneering contributions to the development of software engineering in the field of socio-technical systems. Her research spans user interaction, remote working, gender issues and communication in software development, and she has recently focused on studying how AI can support the interaction between people and technology. She has also introduced qualitative research methods inspired by the social and behavioural sciences, which have changed the way software engineering is studied and applied.
During her time as Lise Meitner Professor at Lund University (2016-2018), Margaret-Anne Storey helped establish software research with a design science perspective at LTH. The collaboration resulted in several well-cited scientific publications and inspired the development of a new course in the theory of science for engineers at LTH. She has also been a role model for improving gender balance in the IT world, both in academia and business.
Margaret-Anne Storey's work is considered an asset for research, teaching and student recruitment, while strengthening LTH's international collaborations and profile areas in AI and digitalisation.
