Note: The following texts are based on interviews with the candidates and have been summarized for readability. The level of detail varies depending on how much each candidate chose to elaborate. Every candidate was contacted for an interview and allowed us to publish their corresponding text.

Nicolina Bechara

Why are you running for IDU President?

“When I was a Småtting, I really enjoyed what SASSE was doing, but I was especially drawn to IDU. It seemed like a fun, engaging, and social committee. After talking to people involved in KS, I became even more excited about the idea of getting involved and contributing for a full year. I’ve actually been thinking about running for more than a year now.”

What would your year as IDU President look like?

“Currently, I am Vice-President of IDU, so I’ve worked very closely with Frans-Gorm and seen a lot of what IDU does, but also different parts of SASSE, which is how I came up with my election

promises. What you will see with me as IDU President is, first of all, more of the Sports and Business Week. I have been responsible for our partnership with Deloitte, and when I stepped onto the IDU board, I felt like our relationship with them was good, but not very visible. We also have Anna from the Center of Sports and Business and the Swedish Olympic Committee, so there are a lot of good relations to work with. I recently talked to Deloitte, who were very excited to be a part of Sports and Business Week. There are a lot of opportunities where you could combine finance and consulting with sports, and I don’t think a lot of people know that, so I want to push for that. 

I want to broaden IDU’s reach by organizing more external events together with other universities in Sweden. For instance, the cheer team visits Lund every other year, an initiative that could easily be expanded to include our football team. This would help build a wider, more vibrant network beyond SASSE, especially valuable for members new to Sweden, giving them more opportunities to meet people, explore different student cultures, and enjoy a richer student life.

Lastly, I want to engage our coaches more. There’s been an amazing community built by, for

example, the cheer coaches, where bachelor’s and master’s students, as well as people from different backgrounds, connect. I want to host more internal events for coaches since they play a huge role in making IDU what it is. They are the ones making our weekly practices possible for all students.”

What previous experience in and outside of SASSE would help you in this role?

“The most evident one would be my current position as Vice-President of IDU. I have many different responsibilities within IDU, with my main one being Frans’ (previous IDU President) right-hand. That experience has taught me a lot about IDU, and I also have experience from other projects, which I believe is important since SASSE has many overlapping committees and initiatives. Good coordination and knowing each other well are crucial to make everything run smoothly.”

Ola Bergqvist

Why are you running for president of IDU?

“First and foremost, I have been in IDU for the past year and its been an amazing experience. Ever since the first intro days I have gotten a very good impression of IDU, and I have been really into sports for my whole life, so I think IDU immediately drew me in. These days it feels like my home, so it was clear to me that I wanted to run for president (of IDU).”

Imagine that you do win, what will the coming year look like?

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot. There are a lot of things you can do, and I would like to keep building on what Frans-Gorm has done in terms of the idea of an “open IDU” and making sure IDU is a welcoming place. For example, I will keep the open-door policy.  I really want to organise more casual events, for example football nights in the pub or a SSE ping-pong tournaments. Not all events have to be massive, I’d rather focus on as many people as possible being engaged.” 

What previous experience in and outside of SASSE would help you in this role?

I think my previous roles in IDU, both as tournament coordinator and other roles will help me a lot. I have learnt a lot about coordinating and leading when planning the Barcelona trip. During Handelsdagarna, I was in the marketing project group, and I learnt a lot of nifty tips and tricks for marketing from Isak Persson (the current MEDU president) that I think could bring a lot of value to the marketing of IDU. I have also played football and floorball my whole life, so I have a lot of sports experience. In a way, I think IDU is like a sports team, with the captain just being one part of a bigger team. “