Friday, 17 August saw the official opening of a new legal research centre at Aarhus University. The Centre for Legal Informatics (CREDI) aims to prepare the lawyers of tomorrow for an even more digital future.
The centre’s declared aim is to both to generate new knowledge about the impact of digitisation on law and to gather existing knowledge that is currently dispersed among other universities, organisations and government agencies and institutions.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Rector Brian Bech Nielsen said that good, secure legal frameworks are necessary for an increasingly digital society:
“Unlike our mobile phone operating systems, our legal systems will not update themselves. If we are to make sure we control the technology, and not vice versa, it requires care, attention – and not least, knowledge. The Centre for Legal Informatics has taken on this task, through research, communication, and not least world-class degree programmes.”
Associate Professor Hanne Marie Motzfeldt has been named centre director.
The new centre will be helping to support Aarhus University’s ambitious digitisation initiative that will help to prepare researchers, students and the current workforce for the digital transition of the future. Find out more about the initiative
Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, minister for environment and food, visited Aarhus University on Monday, 13 August. After his visit, he took to Twitter to highlight the importance of the researchers’ work.
“Yesterday I spent time with some lovely people from @AarhusUni in order to gain more of an insight into research-based public sector consultancy. This was yet another day in my life where I learned something. Thank you for allowing me to visit, and for the important work you do for Denmark.”
The minister visited the research vessel Aurora, Agro Food Park and Foulum. During his visit, the minister heard presentations on the aquatic environment, the effects of agriculture and climate, food research and business collaboration within the food sector, and the circular bio-economy.
Aarhus University offers world-class research within a number of fields, including public administration. The Department of Political Science at Aarhus BSS has climbed in the recently published Shanghai ranking of the best universities in the world, and is now ranked third in the world in the field of public administration and third in Europe in the field of political science.
Aarhus University also excels in a number of the other 52 subject areas in the Shanghai ranking. Among other things, AU has climbed into the top 50 and is now ranked 35th in the world in the field of Public Health. Aarhus University is also in the top 50 in the fields of Geography (32), Ecology (43), Oceanography (48), Environmental Science and Engineering (38), Food Science and Technology (22), Agricultural Sciences (10), Clinical Medicine (29), Medical Technology (41), Economics (42), Sociology (48) and Political Sciences (19).
Aarhus University appears 65th in the overall list for the third consecutive year – the University’s best ranking to date.
The Shanghai ranking looks at factors such as the number of frequently quoted researchers, the number of articles published in scientific journals and the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes. This ranking is dominated by American universities at the top. Aarhus University has climbed the ranking steadily over the past decade and has been in the top 100 since 2008.
All staff are invited to attend the annual celebration with a guest on 14 September – to be held in the Main Hall in the afternoon and at Concert Hall Aarhus for the evening event. All staff have received the invitation in an email, and the deadline for registration is Tuesday, 21 August.
Places for both events will be allocated via a ticket lottery being organised by KongresKompagniet. Everyone who has registered will be informed of the results of the lottery in the week beginning 4 September (week 36).
Seats for staff at the ceremony in the Main Hall in the afternoon and at Concert Hall Aarhus in the evening will be allocated in proportion to the number of staff at the four faculties and administration, so everyone has an equal chance of a getting a ticket.
All AU employees can again now apply to the Aarhus University Research Foundation for grants which support the dissemination of scientific and scholarly work and other activities at the university.
The application deadline is 7 September, and the grants will be awarded in the second half of 2018. The total pool for 2018 is DKK 5 million.
With a grant of DKK 81.6 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, a new five-year project will provide continuing education for experienced researchers, healthcare professionals and professional specialists so they can become the healthcare innovators of the future.
Associate Professor Claudio Orlandi from the Department of Computer Science and Associate Professor Martin Bækgaard from the Department of Political Science have each been awarded an ERC Starting Grant of EUR 1.5 million.
Associate Professor Martin Roelsgaard Jakobsen of the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University has been awarded the Anders Jahre Prize for young medical researchers. This prize is awarded by the University of Oslo and is considered to be one of the most prestigious research prizes.
Students, alumni and staff gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences. On hand to help them were a number of internal and external speakers, including department head Jan Tønnesvang, Chair of the Union of Danish Psychologists Eva Secher Mathiasen, Aalborg University professor (and AU alumnus) Svend Brinkmann, and professor and basic research centre director Dorthe Berntsen.
Professor Jacob Kjær Eskildsen will be continuing as head of the Department of Management for three years from 1 August.
The senior management team publishes a weekly newsletter Here, we provide information about decisions and initiatives from the senior management team, as well as current activities and discussions. You can register for the newsletter at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve, and you will then receive an email every time the newsletter is published.
You will find previous newsletters from the senior management team at http://www.au.dk/om/uni/universitetsledelsen/nyhedsbrevuniled/2017.
If you would like to register for the English version of the news from the senior management team, you can do so at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp