In 2021, UiB will be 75 years old and everyone at UiB is invited to join the celebration, see information here.

The anniversary will have “Knowledge That Shaped Society” as a theme, and will make visible our values, our strengths and our role in society, with the faculties and the University Museum as our most important arenas of knowledge. In the autumn, there will be a separate Anniversary Week 25 – 31 October, with activities and events for UiB’s students and staff, but also for a wider audience. K2 can propose contributions to the f

Faculty that will take this on to the Anniversary Committee.

K2 now asks everyone for:

1. Proposals for contributions this autumn’s Anniversary Week should be sent to the Head of Research, Silke Appel (silke.appel@uib.no) or the Head of Teaching, Mette Vesterhus (mette.vesterhus@uib.no) by 26/4.

Contributions:

• Can take place from the start of studies until the autumn and into 2021
• Can be lectures, podcasts, guided tours, debates, conversations, exhibitions, printed matter, concerts, readings, art projects, chronicles, etc

3. Not only retrospective topics, but also topics that are current, such as:
4. What role should the university play in the future in a world with fake news, alternative facts?
5. What will be the next pandemic? How should society prepare?
6. How far can one go in replacing human parts?

Hoping for many and innovative suggestions!

Have a great weekend,

Pål

Now you have the opportunity to suggest colleagues and groups that have excelled in the past year for prizes – it’s prize time! The faculty announces both research and teaching prizes and each department can nominate up to two candidates in each category, except for this year’s publication (that is 2020) where one proposal can be submitted.

The research prizes are: this year’s publication, this year’s PhD dissertation, and this year’s research and innovation environment as well as the dissemination prize. For teaching, up to three prizes are awarded for outstanding efforts in education. Of these, there is a main prize of NOK 150 000 and two prizes each of NOK 50 000.

Nominations for the research awards should be sent to The Deputy Director for Research Silke Appel (silke.appel@uib.no). Teaching award nominations should be sent to The Deputy Director for Teaching Mette Vesterhus (mette.vesterhus@uib.no). The deadline for nominations for all these awards is April 16. It would have been very nice if K2 stands out with many good nominations.

In addition, K2’s teaching prize will be awarded on the annual teaching day 19 May. Do you know anyone who has contributed to extraordinarily good student-centered teaching, or more organizationally; someone who have taken a leadership role and implemented innovative teaching programs? If so, send nominations to The Deputy Director for Teaching Mette Vesterhus us by 10 May.

You find more information on the prizes in K2-news week 12 (https://k2info.w.uib.no/).

REgarding teaching, the Norwegian Parliament has allocated a total of NOK 150 million to universities, colleges to pay students to provide academic follow-up to other students. Our faculty has received about 1 million kroner for this and the idea is that the funds will be used already this spring. Possible use is to pay experienced students to have group tuition for younger students. Here, however, the deadline is very short and the department must send proposals to the faculty as early as 12 April. Proposals are sent to Mette Vesterhus

Hoping for many nominations and proposals.

Eystein Husebye

As you may have noticed, our current Head of Administration, Julie Stavnes, is leaving. Julie has held the position for six years and has made a huge effort for the Department. Her background as a Master of Business Administration from NHH and the business community has been very useful in the demanding job of being Head of Administration for a department that is as large as several other faculties at the University of Bergen.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Julie for a wonderful effort, not only administratively professionally, but also socially and as a fellow human being. I think I can say on behalf of everyone at K2 that we will miss her very much. She goes to the position of Head of Administration at BIO, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and they are very lucky.

Julie will be difficult to replace. Hence, we hope to get good applicants. If you know of any good management candidates, you need to encourage them to apply. The deadline is the weekend after Easter.

I also take this opportunity to encourage everyone to respond to the ARK survey. It is absolutely central as an instrument for improving the working environment and preventing unnecessary health, environment and safety work (HMS in Norwegian) measures. Here, all voices will count and be important. A unique aspect of the survey is that it is repeated every few years so that it is possible to map changes in the working environment over time.

Dean Per Bakke has promised a free lunch with tall sandwiches and something extra for the department with the highest response rate. K2 is used to winning and this “gold is gonna go home”. Conduct the survey today!

HAPPY EASTER AND HOLIDAYS to everyone!

This year’s awards

The Faculty of Medicine will also this year award prizes for best 2020 publication, PhD work, research / innovation environment and outstanding research dissemination as well as outstanding measures in education. The proposals will go through the departments.

We ask for proposals for this year’s prices by Friday 16 April. Send these to silke.appel@uib.no. More comprehensive information can be found here.

Announcement of incentive funds for education 2021

For 2021, the University of Bergen is announcing a total of NOK 3.3 million in searchable incentive funds for quality-enhancing measures in the educations. The purpose of the scheme is to promote projects that are innovative, in line with UiB’s strategic initiatives or that contribute to achieving national goals for study quality and implementation.

Guidelines and application are linked here. We request that applications be sent to julie.stavnes@uib.no by Wednesday 7 April. The applications will be sent to the Faculty, which forwards the applications to UiB.

PhD positions at the Pandemic Center

The Pandemic Center at the University of Bergen invites to project sketches for two PhD positions. The call is open to all academic environments at UiB. Further information about the positions, requirements for project sketches and template for application form can be found below.

https://www.uib.no/pandemi/143366/pandemisenteret-utlyser-stipendiatstillinger

K2’s teaching prize

Our Department recognizes the importance of good teaching to the extent that we have a prize awarded to the person / teaching environment that has excelled during the previous year. It can be clinical or paraclinical, within the areas for which K2 has teaching responsibility. It can be directly close to the student or more organizational; to create a new study plan. Who do you know who has contributed to extraordinarily good student teaching, or more organizationally; gone in the breeze and implemented innovative teaching programs?

Please send an email to mette.vesterhus@uib.no by 10 May regarding your candidate and a brief explanation. The Department management will then select the best candidate to receive this year’s prize, which will be awarded on the Teaching Day on 19 May. :

Finally, I will again encourage everyone to vote in the election of a new rectorate.

Have a great weekend!