Emil has worked on disability issues from various perspectives, including employment, education, and media issues. In March 2024, he defended his doctoral thesis on universal design at the Department of Design Sciences at Lund University. It is an interdisciplinary institution encompassing everything from natural sciences to artistic research. Emil's thesis was conducted at the Certec department, founded by Bodil Jönsson in the 1980s. In recent years, Certec has focused on research on universal design, which is a design thinking for a holistic view of society and for integrating different human experiences and life situations into creative processes. The thesis dealt with collaboration in urban development, but the perspective can be applied to all areas and fits well with ShareMusic's cultural work beyond divisions of disabilities or categorization of people into those with and without disabilities. In creative activities, such divisions are often irrelevant or even counterproductive. Emil painted the cover of his thesis. He has an art studio a bit away from his home in Stockholm and also writes poetry. Emil has previously been involved in ShareMusic's international work. He himself has a visual impairment.

What is your motivation as a board member?

I hope to learn a lot about inclusive cultural work myself but also want to contribute with my experience from the disability rights movement and from research on how inclusion and human diversity can be managed in practice.

How do you view ShareMusic's role as a knowledge center in five years?

As a board member, I hope to contribute to the development of a knowledge center that takes on exciting knowledge challenges and also creates new connections between different research areas and between research and practice. Through my doctoral studies, I have learned the importance of asking good questions but also how difficult it can be to formulate them. Therefore, I see the development of projects and future collaborations as teamwork.