News from the senior management no. 15/2016

Psychological WPA: Follow-up process begins

The results of the psychological WPA were published last Thursday. The university is generally on the right track as regards employee well-being, but there is still scope for improvement in some areas. 

On the basis of the report for AU as a whole, the Main Liaison Committee (HSU) and the Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee (HAMU) have recommended four university-wide work environment themes which we urge all units to incorporate into their local follow-up work. The themes are stress, good daily management, recognition – both collegially and from the management – and constructive communication.

The university-wide themes are intended to bring about improvements to those aspects of the work environment that have been identified as being important for all four faculties and the administration. The results of the WPA vary across the various units and employee groups, and so we emphasise that the university-wide themes must not detract from focus from the local issues.

It is encouraging that an impressive 75 per cent of staff participated in the survey. We trust that everybody will be as committed to contributing to the coming local dialogue meetings which the individual units will now start to hold hold.

 


2016 award ceremony in the Main Hall

The Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research will be presented on Wednesday 25 May at 11:00–13:30 in the Main Hall.

Each year, the award is conferred on two researchers who  have achieved the highest level of academic distinction and international recognition during their careers. On the same occasion, the Aarhus University Research Foundation PhD Award will be conferred on five recent PhD graduates from AU.


Leiden ranking 2016 now published

The new CWTS Leiden Ranking, which is based exclusively on bibliometric indicators, has just been published. According to this year’s ranking, Aarhus University’s academic production has been cited 16 per cent more than the world average, or put another way: 11.6 per cent of AU publications are among the 10 per cent most-cited within their particular fields. This results in a ranking as no. 97 among the largest universities worldwide (with a minimum of 5,000 publications registered).

The Leiden Ranking website contains a lot of data, which means that you can tailor your searches and make comparisons according to different indicators. For example, a search shows that 76.2 per cent of the registered articles from Aarhus University were published in collaboration with foreign research institutions. The data can also be organised by different subject areas. For example, 13 per cent of the publications from Aarhus University within the ‘life and earth science’ category are among the 10 per cent most-cited.

This year’s ranking list is again dominated by American universities. Of the top 25, 19 institutions are American, and five are European (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, EPFL Lausanne, Oxford, ETH Zürich and Cambridge). The Israeli Weizmann Institute of Science is also in the top 25. The ranking list covers the 842 largest universities worldwide and is topped this year by Rockefeller University.


Dean in dialogue on growth and education

In an interview, Dean Thomas Pallesen explains how Aarhus BSS expects to create an even stronger research and study environment on the business degree programmes over the next five years. The recruitment of researchers at a high international level, new interdisciplinary degree programmes and greater focus on talented students from abroad are some of the initiatives which Thomas Pallesen points to as a path to progress.


Deans join forces against excessive taxation of foundations

Together with the deans of health at the University of Copenhagen, Aalborg University and the University of Southern Denmark, Dean Allan Flyvbjerg is warning of the consequences of the government’s plans to reduce the special tax relief for private charitable foundations. 


Calendar

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.