Ulf Magnusson

Ulf Magnusson is a licensed Swedish Veterinarian, Diplomate of the European College of Animal Reproduction and is holding a position as professor of Animal Reproduction at the Department of Clinical Sciences at SLU.

Ulf Magnusson was born in 1957. In 1982, he graduated from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences as a veterinarian, and in 1990 he was awarded a PhD. Ulf completed his postdoctoral studies in the field of immunogenetics at the University of Quelph in Canada. In 1994, he was awarded the title of associate professor. Since 2004, he has been working as a professor of reproduction.

Ulf Magnusson has performed numerous tasks as a member of many different commissions and committees, including international aid programs for developing countries and worked as a member and reviewer of international scientific journal editorial boards, as well as an international expert in the evaluation of scientific and educational projects. Furthermore, Professor Magnusson has organized many scientific events - conferences, seminars, workshops and summer schools for PhD students both in Sweden and abroad, and has been the head or member of many decision-making bodies and expert committees.

Professor Magnusson started his research career in the field of clinical immunology dealing mainly with infections of the reproductive organs of farm animals. Later on, Ulf Magnusson became interested in reproductive toxicology, focusing on environmental pollutants and hormone disruptors. In the course of this work, experimental studies were carried out with both domestic pigs and minks.

In the past decades, Ulf Magnusson's research has focused on the study of infectious diseases, which can also be transmitted from animals to humans and which affect the reproductive capacity of farm animals. In addition, his activities also include research on different ways of keeping animals. Currently, he is conducting research in the field of antimicrobial resistance, which is mainly carried out in low-income countries. Some of Ulf Magnusson's research also deals with food safety, food security and the goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) in a wider perspective. His research also includes animal behaviour, thus constituting part of the One Health approach, which recognizes that the health of animals, humans and the environment are closely related and interdependent. Professor Ulf Magnusson has been the main applicant or coordinator of a large number of projects. The value of these projects is around 20 million euros.

As a lecturer, Ulf Magnusson has taught courses on obstetrics, gynaecology and cattle breeding and reproduction. He has organized numerous doctoral and continuing education courses. He has been the main supervisor of ten doctoral students and co-supervisor of several doctoral students both in Sweden and abroad. In addition, Ulf Magnusson has also supervised several theses of Master's and veterinary students.

He is the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific articles.

In the years 2013-2016, he was the president of the International Association of Tropical Medicine Societies, and in 2013-2018 the vice-president of the European Domestic Animal Breeding Society. He is an honorary doctor of the Tajik Agrarian University and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry since 2006. He has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the A.W. Bergsten Award Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry.

The first contacts of Estonian University of Life Sciences researchers with Professor Magnusson date back to the late 90s, when he was the first director of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Centre for Reproductive Biology at Uppsala University. Cooperation projects he led — "Improvement of reproductive efficiency in farm animals" and "Farm animal reproduction - reducing infectious diseases and preserving local genetic resources" — promoted contacts between veterinarians and contributed to the development of staff of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Tartu.

Based on the contacts mediated by Professor Magnusson an international network "Envirovet Baltic", which involved researchers from the USA and nine Baltic Sea countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden and Denmark was launched. From 2005 to 2008, he led the project "Nordic-Baltic-NW-Russian network for the promotion of veterinary postgraduate training" aimed at the development of doctoral students, which contributed to the training of doctoral students and mediation of contacts.

In later years, Ulf Magnusson involved many of our scientists as experts in various FAO, SIDA and World Bank projects. With this, Ulf Magnusson created opportunities for the development of a new academic generation in the field of veterinary medicine, and within the framework of the projects, contacts were established with researchers from different countries, which continue to this day. In 2021 Ulf Magnusson invited our scientists and lecturers to participate in the network dealing with antimicrobial resistance in the veterinary sector called “Nordic Vets against AMR”.

Ulf Magnusson is also involved in various animal health ad hoc tasks at Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (WAOH), World Bank and European Commission and as an expert on antimicrobial resistance at FAO, World Health Organisation (WHO), WOAH and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Ulf Magnusson lives on a small farm with many animals. His hobbies include skiing, skating, sea kayaking, hiking, mountain biking and bird watching.

Taking into account Professor Ulf Magnusson's long-term and consistent contribution to the promotion of cooperation between Estonian and Swedish veterinary scientists as well as to creating opportunities to educate the next generation of our teaching staff and researchers in Uppsala, we are sure that Ulf Magnusson deserves to be named an honorary doctor of the Estonian University of Life Sciences.