That it seems as if a solid majority of the Danish Parliament will support abandoning the 2% annual budget savings for the entire educational sector is really good news. Unfortunately universities are likely to face new cutbacks as early as next year, and these will be almost twice as big as the reallocation contribution because the taximeter increase for humanities and social science degree programmes is set to disappear next year.
Cutbacks have been so severe that the consequences of further savings will seriously affect students, write the eight university rectors in a joint article in the Jyllands-Posten national newspaper today, and they urge politicians to make a clear statement as quickly as possible.
Future generations of medical doctors and other specialists will find it difficult to conduct research as part of their professional healthcare work. The worst case scenario is that the cutbacks will cost Denmark its leading position in international clinical research. This is one of the concerns Vice-dean Ole Steen Nielsen from Health writes about in an article in the Jyllands-Posten national newspaper in a comment on the severe cutbacks AUH faces.
Read Massive savings can wreck decades of research tradition at mega-hospital (in Danish)
After eight years, Professor Morten Kyndrup will be resigning as the executive director and chair of the Board of Directors for the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS). Morten Kyndrup, who helped establish and start the institute, wants to focus on his own research at the School of Communication and Culture.
He has announced his desire to step down as executive director on 1 October 2019, and the early announcement of his resignation gives Rector Brian Bech Nielsen and the Board of Directors at AIAS plenty of time to find just the right candidate to take over after Morten Kyndrup.
On 23-25 May, 650 researchers, managers, politicians and others with an interest in leadership will gather to learn more about good leadership. This will take place when Aarhus University holds its annual MatchPoints Seminar. Among other things, participants will be able to hear talks by HRH Crown Prince Frederik, EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and the CEO of Salling Group, Per Bank, as well as a number of top international leadership researchers. These include Professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Arnold Bakker, Professor of Public Affairs at Georgetown University, Donald Moynihan and Aarhus University's own Professor Lotte Bøgh Andersen.
The MatchPoints Seminar 2019 also marks the first anniversary of the Crown Prince Frederik Center for Public Leadership at Aarhus BSS.
Friday evening includes a panel debate and entertainment at the Concert Hall Aarhus, and on Saturday afternoon, MatchPoints will round off after a series of activities in which participants will be able to practise different management strategies.
Highlights and interesting insights from the conference can be followed on both Twitter and LinkedIn under #MatchPoints19, on which Aarhus University and the Crown Prince Frederik Centre for Public Management will share content from both days.
On 9 May, 64 researchers at Aarhus University were informed that they were to receive a share of the DKK 230 million just awarded to the university by the Independent Research Fund Denmark. The grants are part of the fund’s investment of a total of DKK 753 million in research in Denmark within areas such as climate challenges and social challenges as well as integration and asylum issues. The 64 researchers who have received a grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark are from all four faculties at the university.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has just awarded several million DKK in grants from their new research management training programme. Eleven researchers from Aarhus University have been awarded a total of DKK 91 mill. for research projects within a number of health sciences and natural sciences.
The eleven researchers come from the Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Science and Technology at Aarhus University. Read the announcements from the two faculties here:
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A group of researchers from the Department of Biomedicine have won the 'The Next Big Thing' innovation award for promising technology that may advance fertility treatment. The award was presented at the Danish IP Fair, an annual event focusing on promoting commercialisation of university research. Eleven researchers/research groups from AU presented their ideas, all of which either have patents or are in the process of becoming a spin-out company.
The companies at the Danish IP Fair could vote for the 80 participating projects, and the winning project was "Innovation for Novel Treatment for Infertility", headed by Associate Professor Karin Lykke-Hartmann from the Department of Biomedicine. She is currently in the process of developing her technology and building a team for a future spin-out company.
The Danish IP Fair is a collaboration between Aarhus University, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Southern Denmark and Aalborg University.
On 15 May, Assistant Professor Maria Andreasen from the Department of Biomedicine was honoured as one of Denmark's most promising female research talents when she was presented with the For Women in Science Award - an award jointly organised by UNESCO, the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and L'Oreál.
This year’s Regatta was won convincingly by Umbilicus. Many congratulations. And a big thank-you to the organisers for yet another fabulous Regatta in the University Park.
The senior management team publishes a weekly newsletter This includes details of decisions and initiatives from the senior management team, plus current activities and discussions.