Invitations to the evening concert for staff on the occasion of AU's annual celebration have now been sent out. This year's concert will feature top Danish and international names under the direction of Per Christian Frost and Peter Vuust. The concert will be followed by a buffet. This popular event is always completely booked, so tickets are being distributed among staff on a first come, first serve basis.
Prior to the evening concert in the Aarhus Music Hall, a ceremony will be held in the Main Hall. In addition to speeches by the rector and the chairman of the University Board, a special lecture will be held, honorary doctorates and academic prizes will be awarded, and the 2001 honoured alumnus will be announced. The ceremony in the Main Hall will be streamed online. Last but not least, there will be a big party for students in the University Park in the evening.
At information meetings in Aarhus and Copenhagen, researchers will have an opportunity to learn more about the over 56 billion kroner in funding for 'frontier research' available from the ERC until 2013. Funding will be awarded in the form of Starting Grants for younger researchers and Advanced Grants for senior researchers.
At the meeting in Aarhus, Dean Brian Bech Nielsen will make a brief introduction, followed by presentations by Dr Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard, Department of Physics and Astronomy, who has received an Advanced Grant, and Dr Jiong Li, Department of Public Health, who has received a Starting Grant.
The ERC info meeting in Aarhus will take place on Thursday 8 September from 12.30-16.00 and is being arranged by EuroCenter in collaboration with the Research Support Office and Aarhus University Hospital. Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. The deadline for registration is 1 September.
The meeting in Copenhagen will take place at CBS on 20 September; the registration deaadline is 13 September.
Aarhus University is a participating university in two of the just thirty applications for new Erasmus Mundus degree programmes which have been approved by the European Commission. The new Master's degree programmes, Journalism, Media and Globalisation, and Sustainable Animal Nutrition and Feeding, will help develop international networks and attract international students to Aarhus University. The applications were reviewed by international panels of experts and received extremely positive evaluations.
The Erasmus Mundus degree programme in journalism will be offered by a consortium of universities from Great Britain, Australia, Chile, Holland and Germany, as well as the University of California at Berkeley. The programme will be coordinated by Aarhus Unversity. The degree programme in sustainable agricultural practices will be offered in collaboration with universities in Holland, Hungary and France.
The application deadline for the first AU IDEAS grants is coming up soon. Tomorrow's AU and AUFF are behind the AU IDEAS initiative, which is intended to promote original research.
31 August is the deadline for applications to the two AU IDEAS funding pools to support visionary research projects. Up to DKK 500,000 per applicant is available from the AUFF Project Development pool. Grants of up to DKK 7.5 million are available from the AUFF Pilot Centres pool, which is intended to support a more thorough exploration of the viability of a research area.
This week, the open consultation process on the report which describes a new model for academic councils at AU will begin. Earlier this year, the existing academic councils discussed the issue with the senior management group at a seminar at Sandbjerg Manor. The seminar led to the establishment of a committee to consider the structure of the academic councils, headed by Dean Svend Hylleberg. The committee has also been responsible for developing a proposal for new structures to ensure the involvement of students and staff on decision-making in academic matters and to increase the role of the councils in the unversity's internal communication.
The report will be considered by the academic councils next week. It will also be published in the next newsletter from the senior management group.
The Senior Management Group publishes a newsletter every week. This newsletter includes a brief description of current activities and discussions. You can sign up for the Danish version of the newsletter at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve, after which you will receive an e-mail whenever the newsletter is issued.
If you would like to subscribe to the English version of News from the Senior Management Group, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. The English version of News from the Senior Management Group is available at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/. You can read previous editions of News from the Senior Management Group at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/2011.