A few weeks ago I heard a talk by Professor Ulf Landegren from Uppsala University about innovation and commercialization of research. Landegren himself has developed innovative molecular tools for measuring DNA, RNA and proteins in blood and tissues, resulting in a large number of patents and companies including Olink (www.olink.com).
Landegren also delved on how governments and universities facilitate innovation and presented a figure that shows proportion of GDP spent on R&D in relation to number of scientists and engineers. The figure was taken from an article in Nature Immunology (Kollias and Lambris, 2015) in which Greek researchers pointed out everything that did not work in Greece in general and in Greek research policies in particular. They mention, among other things, politically driven research with no clear strategy, no real evaluation of money spent, and when evaluations are performed they lead nowhere.
Research and development (R&D) versus scientists / engineers per million. Size of the circle reflects the size of the amounts used for R&D.

Not surprisingly, Norway spends the lowest amount of money on R&D compared to our Nordic neighbors, despite broad political consensus that we should spend more. After all, we are “one of the richest countries in the world.” Another striking feature that puts us on what Landegren thinks is the wrong part of the ball park (with Greece), is that Norway has a high proportion of researchers per million inhabitants compared to available R&D funds. At first glance it may seem good to have many scientists, but limited research and innovation funds allocated to many scientists might produce mediocre results in many areas instead of groundbreaking research that can be commercialized and create new industries and jobs. In the opposite end of the field you find Israel as an outlier with a 4.3% share of GDP spent on R&D spread over about 1600 researchers per million. Perhaps there is a connection between this research policy and the fact that Israel produces more high-tech start ups than countries like Britain, Canada and China. Maybe we have something to learn by looking to Israel and our Nordic neighbors.

I wish you all a good weekend!

Eystein

Do the name ” Enhet for læring” or ”Unit for learning” sound familiar to you? Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry has , in collaboration with Haukeland University Hospital, employed an educationalist to strengthen the medical teaching competence. How this can help us in our teaching, you will get to know at the Teaching Day 2016 on 12 October.

We will arrange the Teaching Day together with K1, and this time as a full day seminar rather than two half days, like we did last year. The new curriculum Medisin 2015 has now been in effect for one year. During the meeting we will have an actual demonstration of Team Based Learning as performed during autumn term. This as an inspiration of how we may incorporate this technique in our teaching (even without having to refurnish the auditoriums).

Digital presentation; making a presentation where you as a teacher may show pre-recorded combined pictures and sound is now a valid option. This may be short presentations for the students to go through before a ”regular” lecture in the auditorium or as a full recorded plenary lecture as an alternative for individual students to physical attend. The program used for this purpose is named TechSmith Relay (additional information available at relay.uninett.no). During the Teaching Day we will show examples and practical tips on how to use this system.

Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Bergen has entered a collaboration with NTNU and UiT with the aim of strengthening the examination process by developing a huge common database of MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) for the Medical Curriculum. This to ensure examination uniformity throughout the different Faculties in Norway and give UiB the possibility to use MCQs developed in the other faculties. MCQ may well be used with a short clinical introduction (case description) followed by different questions regarding diagnose and treatment as well as basic knowledge (anatomy and physiology). To be able to develop GOOD MCQs we will build upon the experience from those in NTNU that have used this very structured during several years. We aim for all teachers being able to develop MCQs from their specific fields of expertise. This will ease the work of putting together an individual exam and the marking process will be automatic and less subjective!

Remember to set aside the 12th of October in your appointment schedule. Warmly welcome!

Jone

The relationship between jobs funded by the anuum (the basic budget from the government) and those covered through external funding, and the relationship between technical-administrative and academic positions always awakens interest. Some believe that the number of administrative positions at K2 increases at the expense of scientific positions. In short, that there is too much administration and too little science. Recent figures that illustrate these conditions are now available for the period 2013 to 2016.

Figure 1 shows number of K2 administrative, technical and academic positions funded through the anuum in the specified period. There has been a decline in number of academic positions (from 60.7 in 2013 to 52.8 in 2016), a slight reduction in number of administrative positions (from 14.5 to 12.5) and no change in number of technical positions (2013: 36.4 and 2016: 36.3). The ratio of scientific to administrative positions was 4.2 in both 2013 and 2016.

The picture becomes a little different when we include the externally funded positions (Figure 2). There has been a marked increase in number of academic positions salaried externally, while administrative positions with this kind of funding has remained virtually unchanged. The two ways of financing combined are visualized in Figure 3. The conclusion is that the relationship between number of scientific and administrative positions is moving in the right direction. This development (Figure 3) is deliberate and intentional, but it cannot continue like this uninterrupted. There is a need to strengthen the economy section, and a new economy consultant starts at K2 over the summer. We will also employ a research consultant to strengthen applications for external funding.

Per

The Department of Clinical Science is going to use the new strategic plan actively as emphasized in the editorial of Per last week. In one of the paragraphs on Recruitment Strategy (RIK1-T2), we wrote that:

Department of Clinical Science will stimulate group leaders to identify outstanding internal and external (foreign) candidates and submit names of potential candidates to the Department which will follow up these candidates with career counseling by the research advisor.

Aftergrowth is important for the Department. I encourage you all to let us know the names that may be relevant when the Department will plan future permanent academic positions. We wish to recruit outstanding candidates, whether they are located in Bergen or abroad. We have written merit-based criteria in addition to need-based criteria in the strategic plan. As merits we have emphasized high impact publications with high citation levels and key author roles, increasing trend in the publication quality and quantity, early achievement of a high h-index and demonstrated independence and ability to obtain external funding and teaching merits.

Helge

The new K2 strategy has been formally approved by the Institute board after the draft of the plan has been commented by various groups at K2. The plan is Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic and Time specific (SMART). The plan comprises the following areas: research, teaching, recruitment, infrastructure and competence as well as dissemination.

You might argue that it’s OK with a strategy plan. However it should not influence me and my daily work.  My answer would be that the plan will affect all of us in one way or the other, be it new teaching- or student evaluation methods, K2 support for grant applications, recruitment plans, HSE initiative in the labs or assessment of the psychosocial environment.

The strategy plan covers slightly more than one page. I expect all of you to read it. I can promise that the institute will use it actively and provide an annual update as to the status of the implementation of the plan.

Per

Our April Fool joke “Will make K2 international” was quite successful. Many thought the joke was funny, others reported that the idea was actually very good and wanted to join. Therefore, we will now consider the proposal – seriously this time. I can reassure everyone that the visit to an “elite university” in Hawaii is not included in the plan, but the department management will during 2016 visit UoBs new office in Brussels.

The head of the office, that is a collaboration with NTNU and SINTEF, is newly employed and his name is Kristof Vlaeminck. Vlaeminck has experience from both research and research funding and is currently national contact point for FP7 and Horizon 2020 and the Belgian delegate to the Horizon 2020’s program committee for the discipline “Secure Societies”.

The EU office has ambitions to keep UoB updated on the research developments in the EU, as well as being of concrete assistance to researchers who want to build networks or establish consortiums. They also have meeting rooms that can be used by researchers from UoB. The next few weeks Vlaeminck will visit UoB, and hopefully also our department, so that we can get “firsthand” knowledge of how best to utilize this opportunity.

The research department at UoB prioritises international networking and will provide support to researchers who want to establish contacts and write applications. Concretely K2 sent a COST action application this April, and the research department played a very central role in the writing process.

K2 is doing well in the international arena already, partly visible through numerous publications in very highly rated journals like the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature and Science in recent years. This illustrates the importance of international networks and how we can use these to become internationally leading.

Finally, we will use the leeway to employ a new research advisor, not to travel to Hawaii …

Good luck with network building!

Eystein

Do you feel that medical students receive (are offered) too scant teaching in your field of interest?
This is an opportunity for you to make a difference!

The new model being established contain optional modules, called “Elective periods”, and four weeks each spring semester 3., 4., 5., and 6. academic year are allocated for this. One of these modules will be reserved for working with their major academic assignment (Særoppgave). Thanks to those of you who mentor these!
The other three spring modules should contain different optional courses of two to four weeks duration.

These courses may preferably be interdisciplinary (utilize resources across subject specific fields) here are some suggestions for inspiration:

“Life-style as medicine”: nutrition, exercise, perspectives from different medical disciplines may elucidate what could / should be provided by life-style interventions at various levels of the health service.

“Future Medicine”, can we draw lines ahead; from basic science via present clinical aspects to possible future scenarios? The future is now!

A more practical approach is also welcomed:
“How to improve students’ clinical ability in my specific field” (to practice as a doctor with temporary license or a brand new fellow in my department). Focus on practical procedures/skills focused in one medical field.

“Sonography” is a method that students receive sparse practical training in present curriculum in spite of this modality is increasingly used by non-radiologists. Can we by an interdisciplinary approach contribute to such training?

“Research Methodology”; statistics, epidemiology, practical laboratory methods, laboratory animal courses? Is this a possible link in recruiting future PhD candidates?

Students themselves have suggested several possible subjects for these optional courses (from tropical to mountain medicine, mindfulness course to neurobiology science). Now is the time for us at Department of Clinical Science to consider and announce what we find beneficial for the students to learn and what we can contribute to achieve this. First course module will be scheduled spring 2018 but active planning must start now. Number of participants, cohorts (level/year of student experience) and whether the course could or should be taught in English should be considered.

The Study Plan Committee with responsibility for Elective periods is headed by Professor Christian Vedeler and they are eager to receive suggestions via this form. Please send to Dina Kristin Midtflø.

We hope all the research groups at K2 find at least one topic they want to offer!

Jone

The IT unit at UoB has developed a secure system for handling of sensitive personal information in research. The system is called SAFE. SAFE is the preferred system for all internally and externally financed research projects at UoB handling sensitive personal information. K2 supports this.

K2 research groups which already have data stored at the server at Haukeland University Hospital do not have to move their data, but can still use this server. The important issue is that this kind of data are stored according to the requirements. Storing sensitive personal information at a PC is not allowed, even if the data should be unidentified.

A significant advantage with SAFE is that is allows not only storing but also statistical handling of the data. According to statisticians at IGS, SAFE is very good system. More information about it may be found here (in Norwegian).

Per

The university has an increased focus on correct affiliation, not only related to publications, but also in contact with the press. In the latter case, it is important to check that we are addressed by the name of the institute and then University of Bergen. You may also want to first state the name of the research group, and that is of course OK. As to the title, we for are for instance professor at the Department of Clinical Science, UoB. Those who are also employed by the for instance Haukeland University Hospital or Stavanger University Hospital may be consultant, while not professor at the hospitals.

One may argue that the press will not accept such an affiliation as it is too extensive. However, Laurence Bindoff at K1 is a recent example that this is quite possible. When his research was presented in VG, he was addressed with Department of Clinical Medicine, UoB.
A good advice is to review the text prior to publication and this is an opportunity to also check the affiliation. My experience is that also the journalists want the content of their papers to be correct.

Per

The Department Management and Administration will take new paths to get research funding. In June the management lead by Per Bakke will embark on a 3-week trip to the world’s highest ranked universities, including Harvard, NIH, the Mayo Clinic and an elite university in Hawaii. The institute’s research will be presented and the management will learn more about how to apply for funding from the United States, including from the NIH and the industry.

The trip, including stay, board and travel (5 star hotels and business class due to tight itinerary) comes to about 500 000 NOK. This may seem expensive, but the potential is huge and we choose to use our leeway like this instead of hiring a research consultant .

The management wants 1-2 persons from the permanent academic staff to join the trip. For more information, or to register your interest, follow this link.

Eystein

These days we learn about Danish and Finnish universities that have to cut their budgets by 5-10% and lay off hundreds of employees. Fortunately this is not the case in Norway. UoB has to reduce its budget by NOK 70-100 mill as part of the efficiency program of the government. This is just a very minor part of the budget. However, it may still be wise to assess the way the university is run. UoB has established a “Steering group for development of efficient and future-oriented administrative and technical services”.

This sounds very boring and bureaucratic, and we may think that this has nothing to do with me. But it does and to a great extent. For instance, recruitment procedures, travel documents and establishing exams are tasks we are all engaged in. More important than making these tasks cheaper, is to improve their quality. This is why the work of this steering group is important to all of us, and I am sure that we will hear more from it.

In the meantime Easter is coming up, and I hope that we can all relax and have a good time.
Happy Easter!

Per

I grew up in a school system with a fairly even distribution of boys and girls with equal skills.

When I was a medical student (early 80s) we were also equally distributed (as opposed to the current situation with 70% girls), but the lecturers were essentially men, and women professors were a rare breed. (I can actually remember that Professor May-Elin Koller of the anesthesia department made an impression as an almost solitary swallow.) In gynecology I have always had many female colleagues and at KK the management also has a dominance of women now.

When I stepped into the University function however, it was like tugging “back to the 80s”: I experience that I am the almost single swallow! Look around your section: How many research groups, platforms or centres of excellence have female leaders? And in middle management, how is the situation there? In the hospital we can clearly see how male nurses largely possess such positions, and how is it for the Medical Laboratory Scientists?

Is this inequality a problem? Should we just sit around and wait for all the current female students and PhD students to grow up an hope that it will then even out? Or should we have an active equality policy where this is on the agenda? A friendly push; actively encourage women to apply for management positions (yes you ARE good enough!) and employ them! Should we have affirmative action? We are currently writing a new strategy document. Should a greater proportion of women in the scientific positions be an objective? If we do not mention it,it means we do not find it important (enough) to work towards. It is a choice.

Jone

Drafts for the Jebsen applications have been assessed by an external committee and four of the applicants have been invited to submit full applications. These are Eva Gerdts, Per Eystein Lønning, Eystein Husebye and Bjørn Tore Gjertsen. Even if this is just the first hurdle to pass and no success is guaranteed I am pleased to note that all of them are researchers at K2.

In a previous editorial Eystein has described the K2-review process for those who have submitted drafts of NFR applications. The review process includes an open meeting at which the applicants will be given feedback on their draft from experienced researchers. I encourage also those of you who have not submitted a draft, to attend the meeting. It is highly possible that that you may pick up valuable advices as to how to write an application. This applies to whether you are a PhD, post doc or sit in a fixed position.

Per

The new K2-strategy for 2016-18 is under development. The strategy plan is based on the suggestions brought forward at the K2 strategy seminar in January. At the seminar the leaders of the research groups and the platforms, as well as the members of the institute council participated. Afterwards, the department management has developed the plan further. The architect behind the plan is Vidar Steen. The plan is divided into sections on research, teaching, recruitment, infrastructure and competence, as well as HSE. Vidar has argued that the various aims in the strategy plan should be Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic and Time specific (SMART). The plan covers slightly more than one-1- page. This is so short that we will  hopefully remember it and make use of it.

The strategy plan attached to this editorial is the current version of the plan. It should be stressed that it is not final. I want everybody, you included, to read it and comment on it. All comments are welcomed. Send you comments to Irene within Friday, March 4th. The department management will then revise the plan and discuss it with the extended management team of the department. The final version of the plan will be approved by the Institute Council.

Per

Well, then you must at least apply!

The intention of small assets (SMÅFORSK) is to support groups that do not have major funding, to enable them to start new projects. SMÅFORSK is a joint funding from the NRC and the University of Bergen and it has to be used the year it is granted. Applicants can ask for covering of costs of travels, workshops, courses, material, technical and administrative assistance and other operating expenses. In line with the intentions, it is a requirement that the applicant is a permanent employee and an active researcher at the Department of Clinical Science. The Department management will emphasize that the applicants have applied for funding from other sources over the last two years.

Criteria and requirements

• The research group by its leader is the applicant and the purpose must be discussed and prioritized within the research group
• It must be documented that the group applied for other external research funding in 2015
• The funding is for one year and have to be used within the fiscal year, as the funds are not transferable to the next year.
• The funds will be granted to research groups that do not already have large assets
• Documentation on how the funds will be spent must be presented

Don’t do like he in the parable of the talents that buried it. Use SMÅFORSK to invest in larger future grants.

Good luck!

The Research Committee at the Department of Clinical Science allocates funds at the next meeting. Send applicaton forms to Siv Johnsen Eggereide siv.eggereide@uib.no
Deadline: 1st March 2016

Applicationform

Eystein Husebye
Deputy Manager

Helga

Tuesday was Helga’s funeral. The church at Storetveit was full to the brim. Several hundred people attended. The funeral was a beautiful, warm and a dignified farewell to Helga. For me the lasting memory is of her husband Pål and their fantastic sons who all held moving eulogies for Helga.

I have thought a lot about what Pål said in the church: Helga left life, but she did not leave us.

These are strong words. Although Pål might have meant their family by using the word “us”, I think it applies to us all. And that we should all try to follow up her example. Helga was exceptional at seeing those around her and giving them positive feedback. We can all learn from her.

Academia is very competitive, and so it should be. However, while fighting for positions and resources we should not forget that we are all vulnerable human beings. We must all try to take care of each other, including those who seem to always excel. That would be a dignified and fitting way to honour Helga’s legacy.
Per

Did you see the medical students with their green name plates on their white coats and expectant but uncertain gazes, swarming around the various departments January 13th and 14th?

THANK YOU for taking such good care of them! I have had the pleasure of reading their reports, which confirm that they were well taken care of by the entire chain of healthcare professionals that they met: the porter who showed them the right way through the tunnel, the biomedical laboratory scientist who patiently explained that this particular instrument measured hemoglobin, the nurse who looked after the student who nearly fainted in the examination room and all the doctors who explained why they said and did everything during an entire workday.

Getting this first insight into a day at a hospital, observing lots of good interaction and seeing that we all have our place in the diagnostic and treatment chain have given them an important insight into the life of a doctor. Observation of the doctor-patient meetings without the requirement of direct academic learning provides an opportunity for good role models; this is building professionalism!

Getting their noses out of the books and into the staff and patient rooms has aroused motivation; they see that also basic knowledge is necessary to understand complex medical conditions.

The fact that the same students will be back at your department, brings confidence for both them and us. It also provides an opportunity for the individual student’s local supervisor to follow her / him over time. In that situation it will also be easier to see if a student struggles, either with acquiring academic knowledge or with personal problems.

The students describe a wide range of pleasant workplaces that take good care of the workers, which is primarily a benefit for us who work there every day. Let us continue to be attentive to each other also when we are not showing our “best side” with a student in tow.

Jone

In the K2 editorial last week Roland informed that he will leave the position as vice chair for research at the institute. He has had the position since K2 was established three years ago. Roland has done a great job to promote research within the institute. He has also done a significant effort to put focus on working groups with relevance for PhD training and also on supervisor training, both nationally and at an international level. Roland has also contributed significantly to the integration of the various parts of the four old institutes into one. Well done Roland!

The new vice chair for research is Helge Ræder. He is a professor within Pål’s research group, and holds a BFS grant. I am sure that he will follow up the good work started by Roland to promote research at K2.

Per

At this time of the year the departments are preparing for their reports to the faculty – and I then particularly think about the PhD training and research reports. These are important documents that the faculty uses to inform and update the University centrally on their performance and long-term strategies. These reports therefore contribute to communicate the departments’ thoughts, desires and needs to UiB. Is there anything new to report or is this just the same litany as last year? Yes, there are actually new elements that have been added. For instance, what has the department accomplished when it comes to internationalization, career planning and publication? Although publications are always metioned, it will now be put more in focus. It will be especially important for Department of Clinical Science to focus on publishing, since we have had a decrease in the number of publications since 2013. But we’ve had a very good progress on external funding – not least the EU and NFR – which hopefully will result in increased publishing further on.

This is my last editor of “K2Nytt” since I after a 3-year appointment as Research Director / Deputy Head of Research at Department of Clinical Science is going to focus on other tasks. I will therefore take this opportunity to thank you all for three rewarding and exciting years – for good cooperation within the management team, the Research Committee, with the PhD coordinator and everyone I have been in contact with. Besides my responsibility as head of Broegelmann Research Laboratory and the research group for immunology and rheumatology, I have also been involved in several inspiring and stimulating working groups with direct relevance for PhD training and research. As I have previously mentioned in my editorials, I have participated in the OU-7 report on PhD training at UiB, the report on supervisor training at UiB (delivered to the university administration before Christmas), and I have also taken part of the UHR appointed national career group, and not least the ongoing international work carried out within ORPHEUS. So I will have enough to do also in the future.

Thank you,

Roland

I hope you have had a pleasant rest during Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The previous editorial mentioned that it is time for a new strategy plan for K2. The last two days the chairs of the research groups, the institute council, as well as representatives for various groups at the institute have been assembled to discuss a new strategy for K2. The new plan has to take into account the overall strategy documents of the university and the faculty, and also that of the university hospital.

The goals of the new strategy plan should be specific, measureable, ambitious, realistic and achievable within a given time. We will try to make a one page plan so that it is easy to understand and will be taken into account. When the draft of the plan is ready it will be presented in K2Nytt for comments from you. The final version will be approved by the Institute council.

Per

In this last editorial of the year it is time to look back at the K2 activities in 2015. With regards to education the main focus has been on the new curriculum in medicine. Although much work remains, the planning is well underway. Digital tools in teaching and examinations are coming. Although the vision of new, fully funded study places in pharmacy has not yet been realized, the Center for Pharmacy has made a great effort of raising the parliamentarians’ awareness of this issue. A new course in galenic pharmacy has been started.

The research activity and the outcome of grant applications have been very good. K2 researchers obtained seven new NFR projects this year, including a part in an infrastructure application that is coordinated from Oslo. K2 received about 60% of the new multi-year grants from Samarbeidsorganet as well as four new EU projects. The total funding received in various applications by K2 employees, will amount to approximately 93 million NOK which is 7 million more than we received from the government. There is however still a large potential for improved external funding.

The technical staff at the department makes important contributions to the successful research. I wish to give credit to Ersilia Bifulco, Jenny Zhang and Tove Folkestad who have reestablished the Forum for Technicians.

HSE is important to all of us. All the staff at K2 has received, or will be offered appraisal interviews annually.

A very tight department economy has left its mark on the activities this year. Although several research groups have received large grants, there are also groups that have not obtained external funding, and the department has had little to offer. I am grateful that people have shown understanding for the limitations linked to the tight budgets. On the bright side, the debt K2 gained by the reorganization of the faculty is now nearly liquidated. This means that in the coming years, there will be some money to promote the K2 activities.

Keywords for next year are the new curriculum in medicine, Ferdighetssenteret, The research unit for health surveys, a new strategy for K2, a structured process for grant applications, and the Forum for Technicians.

Finally, I would like to thank you all for a great effort in 2015, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Per

This week the institute arranged lunch for the Emeritus Society. The society consists of professors emeriti from K2. The emeriti make a very important contribution to the department in several fields, and are well worth a lunch.They manage most defenses at K2 as custos and are part of several committees that consider applicants for vacancies and applications for endowments. Several of them are still teaching, and last but not least, several of them still publish with K2 affiliation. All of this is free of charge for the Department!

The only thing they get in return is free access to university computer services, library services and E-mail lists. In addition they receive K2Nytt. The Emeritus Society is open to anyone who goes into retirement from a scientific position at K2. Membership is renewed annually.

We have good reason to thank the emeriti for the effort they make for K2!

Per

Most of us associate HMS with just that; health, environment and safety. If you look up the Norwegian abbreviation HMS in korrekturavdelingen.no, it is synonymous with health, environment and safety – that makes it easy for people who have Norwegian as their mother tongue to understand. A similar search in English will result in over 100 definitions of HMS. One of the more well-known is the Harvard Medical School. One may first think of Her Majesty’s Ship or be inspired by 007 Her Majesty’s Service, or the more unfamiliar might be the Hybrid Male Sterility and Happy Mask Salesman…

Where am I heading with this commentary? K2 is becoming more and more international, and the department has a significant number of foreign staff and students – therefore how we communicate is of the utmost importance.

This years HMS seminar was (unlike the previous meetings) held in English, which was very well received. Communication was a main theme in the group work. In the plenary session, Silke Appel had a proposal that all Ph.D. defences should be held in English. Rebecca Cox called for proper translation of K2Nytt into English – she occasionally had to consult the Norwegian translation to understand the English… However, everybody agreed that K2Nytt is useful, and most employees read it. There were calls for an improved “layout” and easy access to earlier editions of the newsletter.

We also discussed meeting places within the department. Shared meeting places that were highlighted where the scientific K1 / K2 seminars and the K2 HMS seminar. These are good venues to meet departmental colleagues for an informal chat, but they sometimes have poor attendance. Serving wine was suggested as a possible incentive to attend – it apparently worked in Denmark. One of the more specific forums the “Faculty lunch” has been initiated. There is also a plan to resurrect the Technical Forum. The K2 management will summarize all comments from the HMS day and will focus on implementing many of the suggestions.

Two important issues were presented by the HMS department at UiB; the new portal for reporting of adverse events and a new tool for risk assessment. These topics could potentially be very dry, but they were elegantly and inspiringly presented by Johannesen, including a Kohoot quiz, and Bjørn Arild Petersen from the Geophysical Institute (link).

There was also time for good breaks, including Godt Brød for lunch, a grand piano performance and the journalist Linda Eide spoke unrestrictedly on the theme “Ekte begeistring er ingen spøk” (Genuine enthusiasm is no joke). All in all, the HMS day was very successful, including a fire alarm rehearsal, all superbly directed by Irene, Ingvild and Julie. Those of you that did not come missed out on a good day!

Finally, let this seminar be a reminder that we all have responsibility for our occupational health, safety and environment. I wish you all a good weekend.

Eystein

The results of the applications of Samarbeidsorganets research grants were published this week. Applications from researchers connected to K2 did very well. Of a total of 12 PhD scholarships 5 was granted to candidates with main supervisors from K2. Corresponding figures for postdoctoral fellowships were 6 and 2. Funds were granted to 23 new multi-year research projects. Of these 14 (60%) were granted to projects where the applicant is affiliated with K2. Also for the one-year projects K2 employees were well represented. There is every reason to congratulate!

For those who did not get anything from this year’s applications: Though it is immediately frustrating, just keep applying and do better next time. In this connection I will remind you that K2 will run a structured support for NRC applications this spring and also for the EU projects. Further information will follow.

This column will also encourage Samarbeidsorganet  to look critically at the way the applications are assessed. Although there has been a clear improvement from previous since the committees that consider the applications now are external to Helse-Vest, there is always room for improvement of the comittees research expertise, and the way the evaluation is organized.

Per

The term career is by many perceived as a value-laden concept, but for those who work in academia this is a reality. At present there are great demands to recruit the best talents and follow them up so well that they remain at the institution, in our case Department of Clinical Science. This applies to ensure that Norwegian institutions will be able to assert themselves in the international competition for talents and research funding. To make this work, leaders at all levels need to prioritize good recruitment and career policy. Recently a working group appointed by UHR delivered an inspirational document with proposals for a coherent framework for career policy at Norwegian higher education institutions. The report can be found here (in norwegian): http://www.uhr.no/documents/230615KarrieredokumentetUHR.pdf

In the inspiration note Better Career Policies for academic staff in the higher education sector (UHR June 2015), that the report has been called, the working group proposes to systematise career and HR policy into four phases in a scientific career:

• Phase 1. Those who are in a doctoral program (PhD)
• Phase 2. Employees in qualification level (postdocs, researchers etc.)
• Phase 3. Permanent employees in combined positions (Associate professor, professor, etc.)
• Phase 4. Internationally leading professors

Career Politics is of course about the whole career path, from PhD to internationally leading professors. We should embark on and continue to work with this. The best time to bring this up is in the appraisal interview.

Roland

The office situation at K2 is a challenge. A large and pleasing increase in BOA activity has contributed to an increased demand for office space. The administration is going to take another round in K2 areas in the lab building to see if it is possible to exploit the areas better and make sure that people do not hold places they are not supposed to. In the allocation of seats, we will follow the already decided ranking for allocation of office spaces: Professor, Associate Professor, researcher, postdoc, PhD student, research line student, master’s student. In addition, we will strive to have people sit near their labs and close to their partners. It is possible that we also need to utilize some lab areas as office spaces.

Finally, it is important that people report their needs for office space to Irene: Irene.Hjelmaas@uib.no

It is in everyone’s interest that these rules are followed. If we all show agility this can easily go well!

Per

All permanent employees in main position shall anually be offered an appraisal interview. As department head, I have interviews with research group leaders, heads of platforms and permanent academic staff in main positions. Research group leaders must ensure that appraisal interviews are offered to other employees in the research group, including technicians. The head of administration will offer appraisal interviews to the administrative staff.

The appraisal interview is voluntary for the employee. The conversation will be confidential and address expectations both ways, as well as efforts and results. It should be very concrete, as that makes it easier to assess the impact of it. An important point is that both parties in advance think about what should be addressed.

The purpose of the interview is to help create a better working environment, at the same time as we improve, both as individuals and organization. Medical university work is carried out in a tight relationship. This makes the appraisal inerview particularly important.

Per

Linda Eide (the one with the matching tracksuit and “Norske attraksjoner”) will contribute with the lecture “La deg begeistre!” (Be inspired!) The Grieg Academy sets the tone for a more balanced mood.

What does this have to do with HMS (Health-Milieu-Safety)? Of course this is well-founded; after all we are academic staff:

Health: “Humor is the best medicine,” though with some reservation, see (1, 2).

Milieu: To meet in the Aulas magnificent environment facilitates communication / interaction both with close and often somewhat distant colleagues in K2.

Safety: Will be attended there and then (instant security; escape routes will probably be demonstrated). The fact that we become better acquainted with each other and practice communication will undoubtedly contribute to increased safety when we are back at the respective workplaces.

We will be presented with the Working environment survey conducted in 2015. Based on the results of this survey thereafter we will work in groups and discuss what each of us can do to contribute to further development.

The HMS department will also hold more targeted posts, and there will be a good lunch (from Godt Brød)! Food as medicine was however too extensive to include in the reference list ….

Welcome!

Jone

References
1. R.E. Ferner og J.K. Aronson: Laughter and MIRTH (Methodical Investigation of Risibility, Therapeutic and Harmful): narrative synthesis, British Medical Journal 2013; 347
2. Svebak S: Forlenger god latter livet? Tidsskr Nor Lægeforen 1997; 117: 4360-1

The extended leader group has just discussed application strategies for 2016. A review of our project portfolio showed that K2 has had great success in the competition for the NRC and EU grants in recent years. In 2013, 5 of the 18 applications to the NRC was funded (28 percent), while the figure for 2014 was 7 of 19 (37 percent). The total percentage granted in 2014 was 11 percent. K2 has also had success with their EU applications. Of 24 applications 4 have been granted (17 percent), including 1 where Helse Bergen is partner and UiB third party and 1 project where UiB is coordinator. The funding percentages in the first calls in the H2020-program have been at 5 per cent or less.

To succeed in fierce national and international competition one must work systematically. We believe that the approach we have used for writing of NRC applications in recent years has contributed to our success and increased our competitiveness. Good research advisers have also been instrumental and in many cases had decisive impact.

Thus, there was a broad agreement to continue our application procedures consisting of:

• Plenary proposal discussions
• Budgeting help from the administration
• Writing support from both research advisors and experienced colleagues

To take part in these “support services” it is necessary that applicants comply with deadlines. Participation is also an excellent opportunity to test and improve your own ideas and to help others improve their applications. To obtain funding it is often not enough to have a creative idea, a broad and multi-disciplinary approach to the problem is regularly required, including good plans for dissemination and research training. One can get input and ideas on all these areas in a structured process where everyone helps each other.
One thing is certain, -those who don’t apply will not get research money.
Good luck with this spring’s most important adventure.

Eystein