HoD News - 21 December 2023
Dear colleagues,
Yet another year has passed, and the Christmas holidays and the new year are approaching. A big thank you to each and every one of you for your dedicated work and invaluable contributions to our department. Whether it is in teaching, research, administration, knowledge exchange or external research fund raising, your efforts and support during 2023 are much appreciated.
As you already know, Thomas Quistgaard Pedersen will take over the baton as head of department, starting 15 January 2024. I would like to congratulate both Thomas and the department on this appointment. I have been working very closely with Thomas for many years, and I am particularly glad that Thomas will take over and lead the department for the coming years.
The year 2023 has indeed been difficult in several respects. Unfortunately, we have had to face budget and personnel adjustments which meant that we had to say goodbye to several colleagues. Also, to ensure long-run sustainability of staffing within the accounting/auditing field, a group of our colleagues will see a changed organizational setup at Department of Management from the beginning of next year. I am certain that in the future when looking back, this was a necessary and right decision from an overall perspective, and I trust that despite of this organizational change, we will maintain close ties across fields, particularly to the finance group at our department.
At the entrance to 2024, I see our department being in good shape and I am confident about ECON’s state for the coming years. We have a very strong department in terms of our existing education portfolio, research and the administrative support. The financial situation of the department has improved significantly as a result of the savings we have gone through, and a new financial model for Aarhus BSS also contributes to an improved economy.
Moreover, as a result of external research funding applications submitted during 2022 and 2023, our attraction of new external funding has been boosted impressively more recently. In fact, I believe that we are probably at the highest level ever regarding successful grant applications in terms of both amount and numbers. I would like to thank everybody for your efforts to reach this milestone and congratulate all the new grant holders who now have exciting research opportunities ahead. Equally important, I would like to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of those of you who did not succeed with your applications this time. Our experience over the years is that a sustained effort will pay off. Many of the recent successful research proposals actually succeeded after 2-3 trials involving review feedback from colleagues and others, and not least allocating the necessary time to rewrite and strengthen the application. This is an important lesson to learn.
At the personal level, this year’s Christmas and New Year’s greetings are a bit special. After more than six years in my role as head of department this year’s greetings are my last in this capacity. It has been an honour to serve the department, and even though difficult decisions had to be made along the way, I have always felt your support, and I appreciate this highly. Thank you for that. I wish that Thomas Quistgaard Pedersen as my successor will receive the same support in both adversity and prosperity.
With these words, a well-deserved Christmas holiday is awaiting all of you. I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår!
Niels