HoD News - 16 April 2018
Dear colleagues,
In the last ECON News, there was a note about the new data protection regulation, which will apply starting on 25 May 2018.
Personal data rules will be tightened to ensure that personal data is handled, stored and processed in a more secure manner. The new regulation will have wide consequences regarding the way we handle and store personal data for research purposes, but it also affects the way we communicate via e-mail with and about students etc. Thus, according to the new regulation personal data such as addresses, telephone numbers etc. may no longer be sent to e-mail addresses outside AU (i.e. e-mail addresses that are not AU e-mail addresses), and in any case e-mails containing personal data must be deleted no later than 30 days after the case has been closed.
I encourage you to follow the recommendations made by the university closely. AU has made a website with useful information about the new general data protection regulation, see New rules on data protection. The page is presently in Danish, but an English version of the website will be available soon. We are planning an information meeting in the near future where further questions can be raised. At the Department’s staff portal, we will also provide a link to the university webpage about data protection and the implementation of the new regulations such that consistent and updated information will always be available.
The process of recruiting junior faculty is now over and BSS-HR is currently sending out the contracts. After the summer, we will have 13 new junior colleagues (postdocs, and fixed term and tenure track assistant professors). Moreover, new associate professors have already started in new jobs at our department, and more new colleagues at the associate and full professor level are expected later this year. In total, I expect around 20 new VIP colleagues during 2018. To this number should be added TAP, and persons employed in connection with externally funded grants at centres such as Tryg and NCRR. This is an enormous number of new recruitments. However, our department has a rather solid financial situation not least thanks to the success of attracting external funds and our successful degree programmes. Despite the extensive current hirings, it remains a challenge to attract good candidates within particular fields, and we need to continue to focus on attracting good faculty within these areas where the market conditions are more difficult.
Niels Haldrup