News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office
No. 40, 24 November

Humanities research at AU wins millions in external funding

Researchers from Aarhus University have just received almost DKK 29 million (EUR 3.89 million) in grants from The Danish Council for Independent Research - Humanities. Three researchers from the Faculty of Humanities, Søren Robert Fauth, Vladimir Stolba and Nils Ole Bubandt have been awarded a total of DKK 20.3 million (EUR 2.72 million). Associate Professor Søren Robert Fauth of the Department of Language, Literature and Culture has been awarded DKK 7.5 million (EUR 1 million) to study the interchange between German and Scandinavian literature and culture around the year 1900. Vladimir Stolba, Associate Professor at the Centre for Black Sea Studies, has been awarded DKK 7.5 million (EUR 1 million) to map the economic strategies of classical antiquity in the Black Sea region. Associate Professor Nils Ole Bubandt of the Department of Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics has been awarded DKK 5.5 million (EUR 739,000) to investigate the increased popularity that Sufism, the mystical or esoteric dimension of Islam, has achieved over the past twenty to thirty years.

In addition, 4 PhD stipends have been granted: two to applicants from the Faculty of Humanities and two to applicants from the Faculties of Theology and Social Sciences respectively.

Read more about grants to Faculty of Humanities researchers (in Danish only) at http://www.humaniora.au.dk/nyheder/2009/fkk

Read an overview of grants from The Danish Council for Independent Research - Humanities here

Focus on women

A new detailed analysis of data from the latest workplace evaluation (APV) indicates that measures need to be taken to improve the job satisfaction of younger female researchers. In particular, younger women at the PhD and postdoc level report a lower degree of job satisfaction than their male colleagues. These women experience more stress and feel that the value of their work is insufficiently recognised. Younger women are also generally less positive about their future career prospects in academia than their male counterparts.

While it is important to recognise that most of today’s faculty members were PhD students over twenty years ago, all too many promising young research talents either choose not to pursue academic careers or are discriminated against in the competition for academic positions. This tendency isn’t just frustrating for the women affected by it; it also represents an enormous problem for the university and academic research in general. For these reasons, Aarhus University is committed to making an extra effort to actively support more women in their pursuit of academic careers.

Read more

• Editorial in this week’s edition of CAMPUS (in Danish only)

• Taskforce for ligestilling (the task force on gender equality) works with the seven concrete initiatives named in the Minister for Gender Equality’s Charter for more women in management, which Aarhus University has endorsed.

New standardised HR system to be implemented at AU

At a meeting on 16 November, the university management agreed on the implementation of a standardised HR system to be used by all main academic areas. The system will increase digital support for the HR area. At a minimum, the system will be able to handle personnel data and support ’classic’ HR functions such as competence development, salary negotiations and employee development reviews (MUS). The system will be purchased through a competitive tendering process.

Existing personnel administration systems will be phased out. Consistent and reliable service will be a top priority during the transitional phase. To support this objective, a plan to integrate the implementation of the new standardised system with the phase-out of existing systems will be prepared.

The decision to implement a standard HR system is based on a thorough analysis of the existing personnel administration systems at AU as well as a detailed specification of the requirements for the new system.

The new system will eliminate a variety of manual procedures and minimise the need to register the same information in several databases, in addition to supporting the classic HR functions named above.

According to the plan, the new system will be operational and the current systems will have been phased out by the end of 2010.

Read more at http://www.au.dk/en/changeprocess

New distribution of tasks and competences in the building area

The university management has accepted three recommendations regarding the future organisation of the building area. Over the course of the summer, three task groups in the administrative change process building track ( http://www.au.dk/en/changeprocess ) prepared recommendations regarding the following areas:

• The future organisation of the ‘new central buildings department’ (formerly the Buildings Department)
  
• A financing model for the building maintenance programme
  
• A model for the future budget process
  

As a consequence of the acceptance of these recommendations, the coming ‘central buildings department’ will be involved in the execution of central strategic initiatives in collaboration with the Vice-Chancellor’s Office. The department will become a ‘competence centre for building activities’ and will be responsible for new construction and contact with relevant external consultants and government authorities. The building area is extremely important for the main academic areas, as a significant proportion of their budgets is spent on leasing and building maintenance.

Calendar

• 23-25 November: ‘The November meetings’: The Vice-Chancellor's Office holds budget negotiation meetings with the main academic areas
  
• 23-26 November: Elections to the AU Board, Academy Councils, PhD Committees and Boards of Studies. Place your vote at www.au.dk/election
  
• 3 December: Publication of the international evaluation panel's report on the 2009 evaluation of the university sector
  
• 7 December: University management meeting
  
• 17 December: Board meeting
  
• 18 December 9 am -11 am: The Vice-Chancellor’s Christmas speech at the Lakeside Lecture Theatres
  
  

Kind regards
The Vice-Chancellor’s Office
24 November 2009

The Vice-Chancellor’s Office publishes a newsletter every week. This newsletter includes a brief description of current activities and discussions.You can sign up for the Danish version of the newsletter at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve, after which you will receive an e-mail whenever the newsletter is issued.
If you would like to subscribe to the English version of News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en . The English version of News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office is available at http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter . You can read previous editions of News from the Vice-Chancellor’s Office at http://www.au.dk/en/uni/rectorate/newsletter/2009