I am writing to you to encourage participation at the upcoming week´s event, the Annual Research Presentations by the Research School in Clinical Medicine.

What is The Research School in Clinical Medicine?

It is an arena for PhD students from K1, K2 and Helse-Bergen to socialize and present own research to fellow students. The research school also organizes courses that may be included as part of the mandatory training component of the PhD program, and a seminar series where current research from the faculty is presented by excellent speakers.

Our own Professor Stefan Johansson is the current leader. The team also includes Researcher Kristoffer Haugarvoll (K1), Leader of the Research Unit for Children, Camilla Tøndel (Helse Bergen), Researcher Stian Knappskog (K2), Professor Thomas Halvorsen (K2), Solveig Lund Witsøe (K1), PhD Student Torbjørn Kråkenes (K1), and PhD Student Andreas Venizelos (K2).

The poster presentations will take place Wednesday 24 January in the reception foyer, floor 0, Sentralblokken, Haukeland University Hospital; oral presentations Thursday 25 January in Birkhaugssalen, floor 3, Sentralblokken, while the award ceremony will be Friday 26 January 12:00–12:30 in the reception foyer, floor 0, Sentralblokken.

The research school was founded by Professor Emeritus Amund Gulsvik and has been a great success. I take the opportunity to thank him, and all following leaders and staff members for organizing this important event. But what is more, the Research School would be nothing if it were not for the participants, presenters and audience; my sincere thanks to them, too. My high school teacher said I should post the following sentence over my bed: ”Never a day without a line (to read)”. There is always something new to learn. So come! And please, do not only read: Also ask a question. Not to show the others that you can ask a question, but because there is something you want to learn. We learn from questions because that urges us to find out why. Novel knowledge arises.

Enjoy!

Pål Rasmus Njølstad

To all K2 employees: Welcome to a fruitful new teaching year! We need you, at all the different levels/programs we conduct; from planning, facilitation (administrative or practical) to the actual performing of teaching. Thanks to everyone!

New this year in the medical curriculum is “Elective period”: In these four first full weeks each year (January), students may choose between different courses of two to four weeks duration. These span from molecular biology to cardiac ultrasound, from learning practical pedagogy with student-driven OSCE stations at the Medical Skills Center to Medicine for the Future. Probably the most extrovert (literally out-doors) is the course in Mountain Medicine, where one student definitely ended up in “deep water”; a (voluntary) student jumped in ice water on the Landås mountain to be rescued and taken care of by fellow students! K2 has prepared several exciting courses, but we need more. We would encourage each of our academic communities / research groups to offer one annual elective course.

The annual study day for K1 / K2, aiming to inspire and improve our teaching, will be held on 2 May (AFTER this spring’s most important research application deadline). There we will demonstrate examples of good student activating teaching, learn how to build a teaching portfolio (to document your own teaching experience / competence), and discuss how to make good station examinations (OSCE). Please note the date in your calendar already.

Apropos OSCE: 20 June, the first really qualifying OSCE exam (objective structured clinical exam) will be held for all 3rd year / 6th semester medical students. Then 160 students will pass through 5 parallel stations, which require contribution from the vast majority of scientific employees and teaching administrators at the medical faculty engaged in the teaching within these 6 semesters. We need you! So, neither dissertations, summer holidays nor congress permissions should be planned for this date.

Jone