University of Aarhus 2005
Inquisitive young people are the most important element in chemistry research
Research must be fun and should be carried out by enthusiastic young people, according to Professor Karl Anker Jørgensen, Department of Chemistry. In his own words, the professor is just an overgrown boy who has been given the chance to play throughout his life.
By Jakob Kehlet
Are they practising their evacuation drill or is the Department of Chemistry moving? All the brown doors are open and jutting out like slats from either side of the department’s long corridor. At short intervals, young people exit from one room and enter another.
However, neither firemen nor removalists turn up and, in fact, there is nothing unusual about what is going on. Nor can the busy young people be reprimanded for having forgotten that their parents always taught them to close the door behind them. In fact, it is standard practice at the Department of Chemistry to leave the doors open – even the door to Professor Jørgensen’s office.
“My door is always open, and I do that on purpose. I am here to help the young people, and the open door is a sign of trust and transparency. The open doors therefore represent the spirit among this group of researchers,” says Professor Jørgensen and adds that his door is occasionally closed, but only if he is having a confidential conversation.
Over the years, Professor Jørgensen has received a number of awards and other distinctions for his research. However, despite the fact that many aspects of his own work are interesting and worth looking at, he has chosen to talk about the environment at the department, rather than his own achievements.
“The University of Aarhus is based on young people. Our results depend on their enthusiasm. I feel very privileged to work in a place with so much commitment and energy. My job is really just to create the best possible conditions for the young researchers to enable them to excel independently while remaining accountable,” says Professor Jørgensen, who enjoys the company of young people, perhaps because he thinks of himself as “an overgrown boy who has been given the chance to play throughout his life”.
At an inter-personal level, he describes his role as the person who enables researchers to thrive. They should enjoy working at the department, and there should be room for enthusiasm – every hour of the day.
Sound financial conditions
He also points out that the department has considerable resources to work with, including a very large grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. As a result, the young researchers work in an ideal environment, and provided they present the right arguments, they will be allowed to purchase the latest equipment for their research. “They can have almost anything they want – but they must remain accountable,” the professor says.
“We obviously have demands and expectations – but in turn, they have freedom and responsibility,” says Professor Jørgensen, who plays down his own role as counsellor for the young researchers. “I don’t teach them anything. On the contrary, it is the dialogue between us that helps them make progress.”
Twenty-five young researchers come and go in the many rooms at the Danish National Research Foundation: Centre for Catalysis, at the Department of Chemistry. This centre is therefore more heavily involved in research than some of the other centres at the University of Aarhus. Half of the researchers are foreigners who have received a research grant from their home country.
“The young people who come here are very goal-oriented. They choose the University of Aarhus because they want to become known on the international research scene. They are hooked on research and although they go out for a drink in the university’s ‘Friday pub’ like all the other students, I often meet them later during the weekend. There is always something they want to check in the laboratory,” says Professor Jørgensen.
Speak English or shout a bottle of wine
The international environment has fostered another rule – in addition to the one about the open doors – that you are only allowed to speak English in groups with several nationalities. If you speak your mother tongue to a fellow countryman, it will cost you a bottle of wine.
“It is especially the young Italians who regularly have to buy a bottle of wine when they get into a heated discussion and forget,” says Professor Jørgensen with a smile.
The 25 researchers at the Centre for Catalysis are involved in basic research, i.e. the development of new basic chemistry. This is a field where there is fierce competition at an international level. The researchers therefore often experience that scientific articles about exactly the same subject are published by researchers at other research institutions a couple of days before or after their own results from Aarhus are ready for publication. This ongoing competition means that the young researchers have to make rapid progress if they want to make themselves known, and this is where Professor Jørgensen’s experience comes in handy.
“I obviously keep an eye on whether they are making progress with their work and whether their results are up to the level required for publishing in a scientific article. It regularly happens that chemistry does not do what we want it to do. In that case, it is my job to say stop, even if the young researchers have invested heart and soul in the project. It is then important to explain to them that it is not necessarily their fault if the results are not up to the high standard required. Even projects that fail can provide valuable scientific results. The process itself may provide valuable experience that will benefit researchers in the future,” says Professor Jørgensen.
Karl Anker Jørgensen emphasises the importance of leaving the doors open so that everyone can follow what is going on.