The Faculty of Engineering

Climate Thursdays are a series of online lectures – free of charge.

The impact of AI-powered clinical assistants on clinical practice and healthcare experiencesAbout the ConferenceArtificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbots, automation tools, and patient-facing robots, powered by large language models (LLMs), are rapidly becoming integral to modern healthcare, both in the Danish healthcare system and globally.Clinicians increasingly use these technologies for information-seeking, documentation through ambient voice systems and digital scribes, clinical decision support, communication, and patient interaction. Patient-facing robots are emerging in hospitals, clinics, and home-care settings to assist with, e.g., rehabilitation, medication adherence, and emotional support. As these assistants begin to complement or replace tasks traditionally performed by humans, they transform both the delivery of care and the experience of providing and receiving it.National and international research projects are emerging, exploring these transformations, and new interdisciplinary networks are forming.The purpose of this conference is to bring together researchers and clinicians for knowledge-exchange, constructive dialogue and networking.Date12th of November 2026 - 10:00 to 17:30 followed by a conference reception.VenueUniversity of Southern Denmark, Odense Campus, DIAS auditorium.The conference is hosted and co-funded by the Danish Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS), University of Southern Denmark (Research Unit of General Practice and Department of Business and Management) and Odense University Hospital.The cross-disciplinary research network Caring for People and Technologies at the University of Southern Denmark organizes the conference (Associate Professor Elisabeth Assing Hvidt, Professor Dorthe Brogård Kristensen, Assistant Professor Line Maria Simonsen, Post Doc Kathrine Rayce, Associate Professor Elena Shulzhenko and special consultant Henriette List).

Professor Tore Rem, University of OsloAbout the eventTore Rem will present the work currently undertaken by the large interdisciplinary research initiative UiOemocracy (University of Oslo), which has been in existence since 2023. He will talk about why and how UiOemocracy came about, what the 12 research groups do, and how the initiative functions as a laboratory for interdisciplinarity. Rem will also share ways in which the initiative has led to new forms of engagement between research and society, and how it has created popular arenas for discussing the contemporary challenges of democracy.About the speakerTore Rem (b. 1967) is director of UiOemocracy and Professor of literatures in English at the University of Oslo. He has published extensively on British and Scandinavian 19th- and 20th-century literature, book history, world literature, and life writing, and is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.  The event is hosted by Anne Marie Mai

Join the DeiC Q-Access Roadshow at SDU on 10 December and discover how researchers and students can get free access to quantum computers through DeiC. Get an overview of the latest quantum computing opportunities, real-life use cases and the support

The future of food may be buried in the past Climate change is reshaping the conditions under which our food is grown. But long before the present crisis, ecosystems and species were already adapting to environmental disruption. On 16 December, DIAS Chair and internationally renowned DNA researcher Professor Eske Willerslev takes us into AEGIS: the ambitious new research initiative using ancient environmental DNA to understand how past ecosystems responded to change - and how those insights may help build more resilient crops and food systems for the future. Drawing on the project’s first research questions and findings, Willerslev will explore what sediments, genomes and deep environmental history can teach us about climate resilience, biodiversity and global food security. He will also reflect on the challenge of building a major new research centre across disciplines, methods and institutions. The event will be followed by a panel conversation with DIAS Chairs and an open discussion with the audience. About Eske Willerslev Professor Eske Willerslev is a world renowned evolutionary geneticist and pioneer in ancient DNA research. He is Director of the Centre for Ancient Environmental Genomics (CAEG) and leads the international AEGIS programme at the University of Copenhagen, while also serving as Professor at the University of Cambridge. His groundbreaking work has reshaped our understanding of human origins, past ecosystems, and how lessons from ancient DNA can help address future challenges related to climate, biodiversity, and food security. This event is organised by Sten Rynning, DIAS Director & Eske Willerslev, DIAS Chair *Registration: Please register here by 14 December 2026*