A word from the dean
Dear staff
In the coming weeks, I will be visiting the departments with the Dean's Corner to discuss the faculty's strategy. The online meetings are thoroughly planned together with department heads and department secretaries, so that we can have a good dialogue about the content and priorities of efforts with all employees.
The meetings will be a mix of breakout rooms, plenary sessions and questions. I am very much looking forward to making these visits.
One of the topics that has been a high priority in discussions of the research strategy this autumn is increased collaboration across the faculty and with partners outside the faculty and outside the university. Although we already have many collaborations, there is agreement that there is great potential in more collaborations.
Internally between departments, the biggest task is for the researchers to know each other's competencies and the available infrastructure. We need to find simple solutions to get to know each other better and to make visible the competencies and infrastructure that exist at the Faculty of Science.
The same goes for the external collaborations, and here colleagues with existing contacts can be a great help.
Last week, the management team was introduced to RIO's CRM system, which contains SDU's existing contacts - and they are many. The system is available, but we need to discuss optimal use on the faculty.
Also last week, the Education Committee and the management group participated in a workshop together with RIO, where the focus was on the five-point plan around employability. One of the measures described is to get students in contact with companies during their studies.
Many studies have shown that business contact increases graduates' ability to get a job quickly after graduation. There is broad support for working with this tool in our programmes.
As has been announced on SDU’s media platforms and also mentioned in external media, SDU is going through cut backs. Three areas are affected (Common Area, Humanities and Engineering) for different reasons.
At our faculty, we have in recent years had a strong focus on optimizing our budgeting. At the same time, we have managed expenses. This means that we have a good economy in general, and there is a great focus on increasing the income of the department where it is tight.
The future is uncertain for everyone in Denmark due to the pandemic, and it is no different for SDU or our faculty. It is very difficult to predict the future. It is gratifying to see that we have received funding through the taximeter scheme to the same extent as budgeted - and both in 2020 and now in 2021, more external funds have been raised than expected. Now it's just a matter of getting the projects started.
The shutdown continues, and as anticipated, it is even harder to reopen society than it was to shut society down. All of our teaching is affected by the shutdown, which demands additional resources from educators and administrators to adapt and reorganize teaching.
Many families continue to be challenged by the fact that the young family members are in home school and that childcare schemes are not running at full speed. Work in laboratories and in the field is also affected by the closure. For example, basic equipment stock is running low, and we are in need of gloves and pipette tips.
In other words, we can not work as usual. We cannot perform as well as we would like to. Things take longer, but we have less time available.
It is therefore important to talk to each other about which tasks should be prioritized and at the same time help each other and accept that some tasks take longer and are not solved as under normal conditions. Here, the leaders have an important role in ensuring a good dialogue about tasks, well-being and motivation in the individual research groups and teams.
I can only encourage everyone to talk to each other and turn to the leader if expectations need adjustments.
Marianne Holmer, dean