More focus on our research fields in the research reserve and calls from the funds
Last week, the government announced the distribution of the research reserve. There are a lot of topics that fit us well.
Dear staff
Thank you for the exciting discussions at the Dean's Corner from my visits at the four departments and in the faculty secretariat. I received many good inputs for the initiated activities and a number of wishes for priorities from the strategy for the coming year.
I feel a great interest in working across departments, but also a certain frustration. There is a lack of time and money to make it happen. It is difficult to find internal funds. The recent debate about the universities' basic funds shows that the "young" universities have a much lower basic funds and therefore extra difficulty in allocating internal funds for research.
Maybe there is good news. Last week, the government announced the distribution of the research reserve. There are a lot of topics that fit our faculty well. The green transition dominates, but also quantum computers, life science and space technology and others are mentioned.
It will be important to follow in the coming time, where we can expect different calls within these topics. Already next week, we have the autumn's first visit by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, where the Science-Tech panel will talk about the upcoming calls and researchers from our faculty will pitch their ideas for upcoming research projects and larger visions.
It was a festive day at SDU last Friday, where it was again possible to host the annual party. Unfortunately, honorary doctor Jennifer Dressman was prevented from attending and René Holm received the honor on her behalf. Dalia Conde from the Department of Biology received the Inspiration Prize for her long-term work in the field of nature conservation (Conservation Biology), and she has inspired many students and colleagues to work in her field of research, not least through her collaboration with IMADA and CPOP.
I was also happy that Leif Jensen was the first to receive SDU's TAP award. Leif has been a fantastic person for SDU Science, where he has helped with countless operational tasks and created solutions where it otherwise looked hopeless. Leif retired the same day. Later in the evening, the hallways were filled with party-happy students and staff, and there was dancing to loud music in several areas.
Last week, the deadline for replying to our APV expired and the department heads and the working environment committees worked hard to get the response rate up. It succeeded in full with a response rate of 86% - this has shown to be the best result during the term of the survey. Thank you very much for your support. I am very much looking forward to the result.
Well-being and working conditions were addressed at the Dean's Corner at most departments and in the faculty secretariat, where everyone wants a good working environment and wants to work for it. I hope that the results of the APV survey will help to improve conditions where necessary. The work begins when we get the results in a week's time, after which we have a few months to find focus points and make action and schedules.
Marianne Holmer, Dean