The senior management team wishes all staff and students at Aarhus University a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Thank you for your commitment, collaboration and considerable efforts in 2015. We hope that you will all enjoy a well-deserved holiday together with your family and friends.
“Wherever you work in the organisation, you mustn’t forget the bigger picture. The boundaries between the administrative areas have to be porous enough for us to work together smoothly across them,” says Aarhus University’s new director Arnold Boon in an interview on the university website.
Here, Arnold Boon, a marathon runner, also draws parallels between management and long-distance running.
Arnold Boon assumes the position of university director on 1 January.
Professor Søren Rud Keiding has been appointed vice-dean for research at Science and Technology. Søren Rud Keiding is a professor at the Department of Chemistry, where he conducts research into the use of lasers for studying the movement of molecules during chemical reactions. He is director of the Danish Center for Laser Infrastructure, Laserlab.dk, and chairman of the Danish Council for Independent Research, Technology and Production Sciences. Søren Rud Keiding earned an MSc in chemistry from Aarhus University in 1986. He earned a PhD in physics in 1990, and a higher doctoral degree in 1998.
It has now been confirmed that Anders Frederiksen, who has been Acting Head of the Department of Business Development and Technology (BTECH) at Aarhus BSS since 1 August, has been appointed to this position on a permanent basis with effect from 1 January 2016.
Last week, eleven early career researchers from Aarhus University received the prestigious title of ‘Danish Council for Independent Research research talent’ and DKK 500,000 each from the Danish Council for Independent Research’s Sapere Aude talent development programme. Forty grants are awarded each year. Last year, seven grants were awarded to AU talents.
Twenty-two priority projects are included in the new Danish research infrastructure roadmap which has just been published by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The so-called roadmap is a catalogue intended to support investments in Danish research infrastructure up until 2020.
The proposals have been selected on the basis of thorough input from Danish universities and research institutions, and comprises projects within a range of different subject areas.
They all concern large projects which have been planned in cooperation with several participants. Aarhus University is thus involved in all 22 projects – in seven as main proposer.
It is now possible to apply for 12 international AIAS COFOUND Fellowships and a handful of internal Jens Christian Skou Fellowships. The application deadline is in February.
A new procurement policy lays down the framework for Aarhus University’s purchasing activities. The policy focuses on university-wide purchasing agreements which meet local needs and ensure better discounts and terms.
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/2015.