The Management of the institute has asked a working group consisting of Professor Øystein Bruserud (Chairman), Associate Professor Jørn Sagen, Professor Harald G. Wiker, Professor Lise Øvreås (vice-dean faculty of mathematics and natural sciences) and Chief Engineer Marianne Enger to prepare a report about the policies for future recruitment of scientific staff. Secretarial function was attended by head of administration, Synnøve Myhre. The basis for this is stated in the institute’s strategy document: “K2 will by the end of 2014 develop a long-term, structured plan for strategic recruitment and hiring of personnel in permanent faculty I and II positions.” Another important factor was that K2 in the next five years (2014-2018) will have a natural turnover of at least 12.1 FTEs (considering retirement at 70 years).

Some of the working group comments / conclusions are the following:

• It is preferable that the department to a greater extent than previously should emphasize research and quality rather than traditional academic affiliation.
• Calls of positions within a broader field will make the Department’s employment practices more flexible and may improve recruitment of women and external applicants.
• The committee would like to have broader calls rather than limiting internal priorities before the announcement (this should also protect the strong academic groups‘ interests in that they can be expected to create stronger candidates who can compete better in such broader calls)
• However, one must first ensure that the educational needs within a given subject is appropriate before broader calls are announced.
• The committee recommend that the outlined guidelines should be followed for a period of 4-5 years and that there should be a reassessment and an evaluation completed during 2018.

In addition, it’s important that knowledge and expertise is transferred within the professions we represent without preventing recruitment. One can also suggest different distributions of the tasks which the University imposes the employees – research, teaching, communication and innovation. High standards for the basis of our function, i.e. teaching and research, is required. The full report can be read here and this week it has been discussed among the research group leaders, subject leaders, the Research Committee and the Institute Council at K2. A good tool for the future!

Happy summer from the research management

Roland