Aarhus University has now earmarked DKK 66 million over a 5-year period for strategic initiatives to support knowledge sharing, including funds to strengthen the three national centres.
The Danish Centre for Food and Agriculture (DCA) has been granted DKK 5 million a year for the next 5 years, while the Danish Centre for Environment and Energy (DCE) is provisionally receiving DKK 10 million over the next 2 years. Moreover, an additional sum of DKK 15 million will be granted to DCE for the following 3 years once the centre has drawn plans for how it will use the money.
So far, DKK 5 million has been allocated to the Danish Centre for Culture and Learning (DCL), which at the moment is working on concrete project plans.
As described in the 9 March 2011 report on the academic development process, the national centres will help realise Aarhus University’s ambitions with regard to knowledge exchange and ensuring high quality standards in the consultancy provided to individual ministries and industry. In addition to the strategic funding, the centres will also able to use the funds which are received in connection with consultancy projects and contracts.
The remaining DKK 11 million has not yet been allocated to specific projects, but will be prioritised by the Knowledge Exchange Committee on the basis of specific project applications.
In July, Aarhus University is participating at the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) in Dublin. This large conference brings together several hundred researchers, politicians and businesspeople to discuss new discoveries and debate European developments within research and research policy-making.
At the conference, Aarhus University’s rector, Lauritz B. Holm-Nielsen, will, among other things, present the Aarhus Declaration, which was drawn up at the Excellence conference, to the EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.
ESOF, which embraces a wide range of academic disciplines, is held every other year. The conference has previously been held in Stockholm, Munich, Barcelona and Turin.
Sixty-two courses; 35 guest lecturers; and no fewer than 1,300 Danish and foreign students who have elected to spend part of their summer holidays getting smarter.
These are some of the key statistics for AU Summer University, which is in its second year as a full-fledged summer school. In addition to the academic programmes, the school also offers a number of social events for those enrolled.
AU Summer University starts on 2 July and runs until 24 August.
Employees and students are now able to contribute to the consultation on a new media which will help to improve internal communication at Aarhus University.
The consultation is being conducted on the basis of a recommendation which two project groups, made up of employees and students, have been involved in formulating during the spring. Both the employees and the students in the groups want a joint communication channel which reflects AU’s diversity and supports a sense of community across the organisation. At the same time, the groups suggest that the new media should focus on more in-depth journalism.
Contributions to the consultation process on the recommendation must be sent by email to the project’s secretary Ulrik Vosgerau by 12 noon on 31 August 2012 at the latest.
This week, Aarhus University signed a contract with the shipyard Hvide Sande Skibs- og Bådebyggeri on the construction of a modern research vessel.
The financing, which totals DKK 30 million, was ensured via a grant from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation infrastructure pool in 2009, since which time a project group has been working to design a ship which can be used by several different research groups. The vessel will be approx. 28 metres long, have 12 berths and is designed for cruises lasting up to seven days.
In addition to being the first research vessel built in Denmark in 30 years, it will also be the first built for a Danish university. Other Danish universities will be able to charter the ship, which is expected to be ready for delivery in February 2014.
Kind regards,
The Senior Management Team
The Senior Management Team 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 Team, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. The English version of News from the Senior Management Team is available at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/. You can read previous editions of News from the Senior Management Team at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/2012.