HoD News - 15 January 2021

Dear colleagues,

Following the latest message from the Government announcing an extension of the national lockdown, 2021 has started in the same way as 2020 ended; working from home, online meetings, and for many colleagues, also managing childcare and schooling duties while working. The current situation is likely to continue for some time, and I know that the restrictions imposed are extremely challenging both professionally and privately.

The university senior management team has decided that AU will conduct online teaching until and including March. If the situation changes in a positive direction, the University can make a decision that AU goes back to teaching with physical attendance to the extent possible. This decision is aimed at creating predictability for both students and teachers. Further information from the university will follow shortly, and next week further directions will be given, e.g., whether teachers may get access to using lecture rooms and auditoriums as part of online teaching if this is desirable.

The situation is difficult, and I want to encourage everyone to demonstrate flexibility and understanding towards yourselves and your colleagues. Also, please do not hesitate to contact your section head if you have any concerns related to managing your work-tasks.

Despite this rather discouraging introduction, let me briefly provide a status of the department and some strategic initiatives and focus areas to be addressed in 2021.

The financial situation of the department

In 2020, the department saw a significant reduction in operating costs (including travel costs, costs in relation to seminar visitors, and so on) due to COVID-19. We have been able to reduce a potentially large surplus in 2020 by advancing department co-financing of externally funded research projects where this has been possible in accordance with the grant conditions. The budget for 2021 is in balance and incorporates a similar projection of operating costs to be lower than expected in steady state. Generally, the financial situation of the department is sound. However, we may face some challenges within the next couple of years. First of all, it is still uncertain whether the temporary increased education subsidy (forhøjet taxametertilskud) will discontinue after 2022. Secondly, university funding and allocation keys for basic research funding within Aarhus University and the allocation of strategic research funds across faculties are likely to be in play. We hope that these uncertainties will soon be clarified.

External research funding

It is a critical element of the department finances and the overall business model of the department that we can attract external research funding. Approximately one third of all salaries are paid from external funds. It is essential that we can continue to attract external research grants, and in particular external research grants with the necessary overhead to cover derived indirect costs from our revenues. In the past, the department has had great success attracting external funding, and we should continue to do so. However, one area where we have been less successful is our ability to attract the most prestigious research grants from ERC, DFF-Sapere Aude, DNRF and similar. It is important for the department’s standing and reputation that we succeed in the competition for these grants. This has top priority and goes hand-in-hand with our focus on increasing research quality within the department, which is a necessity in relation to attracting the most prestigious grants.

Educations

COVID-19 has been a great challenge to us in all dimensions, particularly with respect to teaching. This experience will have an everlasting effect on university teaching and learning in a (partial) virtual environment. We have to identify the most intelligent and beneficial ways of exploiting new teaching opportunities (for both students and lecturers) that also account for the importance and focus on the physical university, the student environment, and students' physical attendance in many forms of activities. Appropriately developed hybrid and blended learning formats should have a focus in the creation of the future curriculum of our education programmes and our course portfolios. Many of you have already put a lot of thought and effort into new ideas and ways of teaching, and I look forward to collaborating further within this area. 

Students’ well-being and reducing university drop-out should have a continued focus. Too many of our programmes have a far too high first-year dropout rate. In 2021, the study boards across educations together with the department(s) will address first-year dropout, and it has been a focal priority area at Aarhus BSS to identify sources of and initiatives to reduce first-year dropout.

Visibility of business activities

In the autumn, the department met with AU Enterprise and Innovation to present our portfolio of interactions and collaboration with the surrounding business community and the society in general. Gathering and presenting these activities show that the department is well on track in terms of contributing to the society’s development and welfare through research as part of the AU 2021-2025 Strategy. What we have learned in this process is that we need to prioritize our visibility. 2021-actions are presently being prepared in collaboration with Aarhus BSS Communication and External Relations.

ECON work environment

Following up on the workplace assessment (WPA) conducted in 2019, a working committee consisting of faculty members at all levels and representatives from LSU and DF has recently submitted a report on how to address and reduce stress within the department. This report and ways to focus on the well-being of employees and a good work environment are on the management agenda in 2021. However, the current COVID-19 situation does impede many of the initiatives planned so far. Unfortunately, the workshop on employee recognition has been postponed until April (date to be decided).

As part of the AU action plan for gender equality and diversity 2020-2022, a number of specific activities are to be conducted and developed at all organisational levels in order to promote equality in research environments. At the departmental level, initiatives concerning career development and workplace culture will be in focus in 2021. I will elaborate on these activities at a later time.

Responsible research practice and research integrity

In the autumn, all VIP employees conducting research and supervising research projects and PhD students had to complete the online course “Research Integrity at Aarhus University”. Thanks for your participation. The next step is local events, which will be held at all departments in the first half of 2021. Research practice and frames vary to a great extent across scientific fields. A workshop will be held in the spring for all VIP employees at ECON in order to address and discuss responsible (and questionable) research practice as we see it from our field(s). The exact form, timing, and contents of the workshop have yet to be decided. More information will follow.

Have a nice weekend and stay safe.

Niels Haldrup