Message from the dean

Dear employees,

Right now, everything has been turned upside down, and our daily routines have been interrupted. We have rapidly adapted to a completely new way of life, and this has placed great demands on all of us.

Here at Aarhus BSS, one of our core activities is to deliver high-quality degree programmes. It still is - also while the school is physically closed.

Many of our students are facing important exams or are in the middle of writing their final papers.

For that reason, it has been a priority to switch the teaching into online teaching. Lecturers are busy experimenting and coming up with new ways of teaching - digital solutions that allow us to teach and supervise from a distance.

It is not necessarily easy to get acquainted with new systems and make them fit the academic content. It takes commitment and effort from all of our teaching staff - and from the many administrative employees, who deliver support expediently and efficiently.

I am deeply impressed by how you have all handled this task.

You are approaching the current challenges in an extraordinarily constructive manner. You tackle the task head-on developing digital methods and approaches that may even benefit the teaching in the long run.

Thank you.

Breakthroughs and new experiences are not just taking place in the field of teaching. The situation also promotes and calls for a completely new research agenda - and within social sciences as well.

Here, I would like to acknowledge the grant that the Carlsberg Foundation has just donated to the HOPE project, which is led by Professor Michael Bang Petersen from the Department of Political Science. 

The project aims to explore how we as a society act in and handle a crisis as the one we are currently facing. It is also an excellent example of how our research can contribute to solving some of society’s greatest challenges.

Right now, everything has been turned upside down. We still don’t know how long this will last or how the world will look once it is over. During this time, we must remember to take care of ourselves and each other.

I therefore encourage all of you to stay in touch with each other by using some of the many digital tools at our disposal. 

Now we are approaching Easter, and although our days off will probably be quite different than usual, we must remember to enjoy them.

I wish you all a good and well-deserved Easter break.

Kind regards,

Thomas Pallesen