A closer relationship with the foundations
Well-organized network meetings with foundation representatives strengthen the relationship with foundations of particular interest to the Faculty of Science.
Dear staff
The visit by the NNF NAT-TECH panel went fantastically well and I would like to thank all the researchers who presented the latest ideas for projects and major tasks. The whole day went impressively and professionally in a packed and well-prepared program. The panel was extremely pleased with the visit, and we are now in dialogue about follow-up on various presentations.
Last week, we were also visited by Poul Toft Frederiksen from Poul Due Jensen's Foundation, where researchers from FKF and Biology presented ideas. Friday, director Hanne Haack of Aage V. Jensen's Nature Foundation visited the Department of Biology. These visits were also extremely professional, and we have received super good feedback.
From what I observed, both guests and researchers get a lot out of the visits, from talking informally and asking both easy and difficult questions. I hope that these visits can make the faculty's research visible to the foundations and make us more competitive, so that time spent on network meetings such as these, is time well spent.
This week and the following, there will be discussions in the co-operation committee and the academic councils about SDU's plans for regionalization. Several of the affected universities in the major cities have announced detailed plans. It has not gone unnoticed in the media, where there is widespread opposition to the political plans - not only from universities, but also from businesses and the private sector. We can hope that this solid resistance can persuade politicians to hold back on the reductions.
It is thus important to be aware that SDU's plans are a proposal for negotiation. All universities are forced to propose 10%, but SDU argues that the university should be exempted from such a strict reduction, not least due to SDU's presence in the entire region. In order to meet the desire for IT educations in Vejle, SDU has presented a proposal for a campus in Vejle with seven IT educations from NAT and TEK with up to 1200 students in 2030. This also adds to the debate in the media, as it is seen as a counter proposal to the IT University, which first expressed a desire to open a branch in Vejle. SDU argues based on existing agreements in the IT West and IT East collaboration, where it is the universities in the respective regions that offer education in the region.
Last week, the results came from APV, and the working environment committees are now starting to analyze the figures. Overall, it seems that we are succeeding better with the immediate management than before. This is positive, as we have worked hard with the immediate management in recent years. We are still challenged on stress and follow the rest of the university here.
I'm really sorry to see that there are reports of bullying, physical and psychological violence in our faculty. This is not acceptable. I hope that everyone who feels targeted takes advantage of the many colleagues who are happy to help in such a situation, where you can go to the immediate manager, to the work environment representatives, and to the union representatives. It is important that we have a psychologically safe working environment throughout our faculty.
Marianne Holmer, Dean