What does it take today to build great research?
It is not just about great ideas and the right people but about building environments that help them think bigger, navigate smarter, and connect to society. This final DIAS event of the semester brings SDU Rector Jens Ringsmose into DIAS Blue Sky conversation. He will zoom out to the broader landscape shaping universities right now: a system where funding increasingly comes from outside, where expectations of impact are rising, and where research is unfolding inside a deeply political arena - within a larger (political) arena itself.Universities are no longer just places of knowledge. They are institutions under pressure, expected to deliver on interdisciplinarity, innovation, and societal relevance, while at the same time defending academic freedom. And that raises a difficult question: How can a young, ambitious researcher in the best possible way acquire insight into this politico-institutional context and use it in support of research leadership and career objectives? Jens Ringsmose will open the session with the larger trends shaping the research landscape today. From there, the discussion turns to DIAS: how environments like this can support outstanding researchers, not just in thinking freely, but in finding their footing in a complex system where ideas, people, funding, and politics are increasingly intertwined.Join us in this last event of the semester with the university leadership, which also bring in DIAS Director Sten Rynning and Chair Ben Davies into the conversation.
About Jens Ringsmose
Jens Ringsmose is a Professor of International Politics and the Rector of the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), a position he has held since 2021. Before becoming Rector, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at SDU and before that as Vice-Dean for Research and Director of the Institute for Military Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College. He earned his MA in History and PhD in International Politics from SDU. His research interests include strategic studies, security and defense policy, NATO and asymmetric conflicts.Jens is also a member of YERUN’s Executive Board, and both Jens and SDU are very committed to internationalization and the European higher education and research areas.
About Sten Rynning
Sten Rynning is Director of the Danish Institute of Advanced Study and a Professor of War Studies, the University of Southern Denmark. He served as interim dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences November 2021-May 2022 and as vice dean for research June 2019-August 2022.He founded SDU’s Center for War Studies and has advised several official Danish and Norwegian commissions on security and foreign policy. Rynning has held senior academic leadership roles at SDU and serves on multiple international editorial and advisory boards. His research focuses on NATO, war, and transatlantic security, and his latest book is NATO: From Cold War to Ukraine (Yale University Press).
About Ben Davies
Ben Davies is Professor of Literature in the Department of Culture and Language at the University of Southern Denmark. His research focuses on modern and contemporary literature, with emphasis on time, narrative, and reading. He was Co‑I on the Carlsberg‑funded Lockdown Reading Project, which resulted in the award‑winning book Reading Novels During the Covid‑19 Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2022). He currently serves as Chair of University English and is a member of the English sub‑panel for the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF).
This event is hosted and organized by Sten Rynning
It is not just about great ideas and the right people but about building environments that help them think bigger, navigate smarter, and connect to society. This final DIAS event of the semester brings SDU Rector Jens Ringsmose into DIAS Blue Sky conversation. He will zoom out to the broader landscape shaping universities right now: a system where funding increasingly comes from outside, where expectations of impact are rising, and where research is unfolding inside a deeply political arena - within a larger (political) arena itself.Universities are no longer just places of knowledge. They are institutions under pressure, expected to deliver on interdisciplinarity, innovation, and societal relevance, while at the same time defending academic freedom. And that raises a difficult question: How can a young, ambitious researcher in the best possible way acquire insight into this politico-institutional context and use it in support of research leadership and career objectives? Jens Ringsmose will open the session with the larger trends shaping the research landscape today. From there, the discussion turns to DIAS: how environments like this can support outstanding researchers, not just in thinking freely, but in finding their footing in a complex system where ideas, people, funding, and politics are increasingly intertwined.Join us in this last event of the semester with the university leadership, which also bring in DIAS Director Sten Rynning and Chair Ben Davies into the conversation.
About Jens Ringsmose
Jens Ringsmose is a Professor of International Politics and the Rector of the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), a position he has held since 2021. Before becoming Rector, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at SDU and before that as Vice-Dean for Research and Director of the Institute for Military Operations at the Royal Danish Defence College. He earned his MA in History and PhD in International Politics from SDU. His research interests include strategic studies, security and defense policy, NATO and asymmetric conflicts.Jens is also a member of YERUN’s Executive Board, and both Jens and SDU are very committed to internationalization and the European higher education and research areas.
About Sten Rynning
Sten Rynning is Director of the Danish Institute of Advanced Study and a Professor of War Studies, the University of Southern Denmark. He served as interim dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences November 2021-May 2022 and as vice dean for research June 2019-August 2022.He founded SDU’s Center for War Studies and has advised several official Danish and Norwegian commissions on security and foreign policy. Rynning has held senior academic leadership roles at SDU and serves on multiple international editorial and advisory boards. His research focuses on NATO, war, and transatlantic security, and his latest book is NATO: From Cold War to Ukraine (Yale University Press).
About Ben Davies
Ben Davies is Professor of Literature in the Department of Culture and Language at the University of Southern Denmark. His research focuses on modern and contemporary literature, with emphasis on time, narrative, and reading. He was Co‑I on the Carlsberg‑funded Lockdown Reading Project, which resulted in the award‑winning book Reading Novels During the Covid‑19 Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2022). He currently serves as Chair of University English and is a member of the English sub‑panel for the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF).
This event is hosted and organized by Sten Rynning
- Organizer: Danish Institute for Advanced Study - DIAS
- Address: Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M
- Add to your calendar: https://eom.sdu.dk:443/events/ical/5d5e4765-6ae5-4eb3-b712-315456b505f8