HoD News - 13 August 2021

Dear colleagues,

Welcome back – and in particular, welcome to new faculty and staff members as well as PhD students.

I hope all of you have enjoyed the summer break and have had the opportunity to take some time away from work. Yet another new academic year is about to begin, but this time many of us -  students especially - might be particularly excited about the beginning of a new semester. I am very happy to see many colleagues back on campus - slowly a quiet buzzing is starting to re-emerge in the office hallways.

As announced before the summer break, most restrictions have been lifted during the summer, meaning that the guidelines concerning distance requirements, the mandatory use of face masks and documentation of a negative test result/a valid COVID-19 passport on campus no longer apply.

In the autumn semester, teaching is “back to normal”. All lectures and tutorials are scheduled on-site. I believe that most staff and students are very much looking forward to entering the auditoriums and classrooms on campus Fuglesangs Allé and meet face-to-face.

However, COVID-19 is still among us, and even though many of us have been vaccinated, it is still possible to catch and spread COVID-19. A few and simple guidelines for on-campus activities and behaviour still apply, and I encourage everyone to read the updated set of AU measures and public health guidelines for behaviour on campus here. Especially teaching staff are asked to remind students to ensure that surfaces in classrooms and lecture rooms are sanitised after teaching and allow for adequate ventilation as often as possible.

AU’s corona website also includes information about how to handle COVID-19 symptoms and cases of infection among employees and students. If you have any questions or concerns related to COVID-19 and the return to campus in general, please contact your section head.

Lastly, I want to remind you that the department is hosting a Friday bar on 27 August. All of you have received a formal invitation via Outlook – please remember to sign up for the event via this link.

I wish you all a nice weekend and look forward to seeing you soon.

Niels Haldrup