Changes in the Aarhus BSS administration
The aim of the Aarhus BSS’ administration is to provide a coherent, professional and responsive service. The management team is continuously assessing how tasks and activities are developed and prioritised in order to deliver the best possible service and support for the core activities within the budget.
Since the turn of the year, there have been some adjustments in the organisation with the aim of improving and strengthening the internal coherence.
Merger of student-related services
At the turn of the year 2022/2023, a decision was made to integrate the administrative support for the student-oriented career activities and international student services into Aarhus BSS Studies, which handles the overall study administration at the school. Some of the services have merged with student counselling and study information (VEST) while others are integrated into the study administrative services. The mergers will ensure that even more focus is placed on helping students find employment as soon as possible after graduation. Preparation for the job market, employment efforts and contact with employers are thus closely linked to the study activities and are targeted at the students who need the most help to enter the labor market, including especially the international graduates.
Reorganisation of event and communication services
Earlier this year, the faculty management team decided that the task portfolio within communication, marketing, event support and overall external relations should be revised with the aim to prioritise and adapt efforts and resources. Among others, this includes future focus on providing support and developing a concept for one major event at school level - Executive Insights conference - with participation from all academic departments. Executive Insights is planned to take place for the first time in January 2024 and is a further development of the conference "Back to Business”. It also includes a revision of the school’s profiling strategy.
So far, the review of the portfolio has also revealed a potential for further integrating parts of IT and communication with a view to providing more coherent services, skills and resources as well as taking into account potential for future development and expectations of new tasks in a broader context. Consequently, in June 2023, the decision was made to integrate Aarhus BSS Communication and External Relations into Aarhus BSS It and Digitalisation. The Head of Aarhus BSS It and Digitalisation, Andreas Stilling Heuwinkel, remains in charge of the merged department. The work ahead will concentrate on the internal development and dialogue with all users. In the future, the department will consist of three teams, each with their own professional focus but with obvious cross-collaboration areas: IT support, Communication, and Digitalisation/Development.
Restructuring of grant application support at AU
Due to the increasing demand for support for applications to foundations with complex instruments, in the spring of 2023, the university senior management team decided on a new division of tasks between the faculties and the Research Support Office in AU Research.
The decision entails a change in the roles and responsibilities of the faculties, as the Research Support Office will focus its efforts on support for funds with complex instruments. At Aarhus BSS specifically, this entails that some of the tasks previously handled by the Research Support Office will be transferred to Aarhus BSS Finance. In addition, the current internal academic processes at department and school level, including quality assurance of applications through internal peer review, will continue as before.
With effect from 1 August 2023, researchers can contact the Research Support Office to receive application support for the large and more complex instruments, including specifically the EU, the Innovation Fund and the Basic Research Fund. See full list of the instruments.
Researchers who need support on drafting an application budget for instruments/calls not covered by the Research Support Office can contact Aarhus BSS Finance, coordinator Thor Fris Jespersgaard, thor.jespersgaard@au.dk.