Many agree that this year’s HSE-seminar was «the best HSE-seminar ever».  We enjoyed a diverse programme consisting of group sessions with problem solving, a “feel good” seminar with Marco Elsafadi, and a panel debate on the issue – how can K2 become a better place to work?
The HSE-seminar is somewhat similar to Christmas services, it is nice and pleasant to hear about baby Jesus in the crib and sing Christmas carols, but then we forget about it until next Christmas.  This time I want at least some of the lessons and ideas to be remembered and implemented.

Marco Elsafadi talked about his experiences as an athlete and as head of a company, focusing on politeness and generosity.  He talked about Daniel who always greeted others by name, made coffee, and created a pleasant working environment around himself; about laughter and generosity.  It might sound like fluff for “hard core scientists”, but it is actually important that people are happy – the joy of work will increase, and productivity and creativity will rise.  You are all encouraged to greet everyone you meet at K2, and also to learn the name of someone you do not know.

The panel debate was constructive and engaging.  An issue raised by several contributors was common meeting areas.  The K1/K2 seminars and K2-news are both examples of meeting areas which I believe functions well.  Helge Ræder suggested a discussion forum such as Harvard catalyst.  As we do not have the possibility to create our own intranet at K2, we have this week launched the group “K2 katalysator” on Facebook as our “intranet”.  The idea is that the Facebook forum can work as a “water hole” where K2 people can discuss/ask about collaborations, advice when the PCR-reaction do not work, or put in a request for equipment or chemical badly needed.  Further, the page may be used to announce academic and social activities as well as to discuss other scientific or social issues related to K2.  You are all hereby invited to participate!

We will also present the summaries of the various group sessions at the HMS-seminar in upcoming issues of K2-news so that this work will not be forgotten either.  Thus, HSE is on the agenda throughout the entire year.

I wish you all a productive weekend and week.

Eystein Husebye

Acting Head of Department

Next week it is again time for the annual K2 HSE-seminar. As an attendant you will learn more about cooperation and work joy – important factors which contribute to making K2 a good place to work.
I am currently reading Sapiens – a Brief History of Humankind written by Israeli historian Yuval Harari. The book presents a fascinating overview of the history of Homo Sapiens – the wise human – or to use Harari’s expression: The deadliest species in the annals of biology.
One of the major upheavals in our history was the agricultural revolution which occurred in the Middle East approximately 12000 BC. Prior this this, Homo Sapiens was a hunter and gatherer (forager) moving around to wherever food was available. The agricultural revolution was brought about by knowledge on how to grow and cultivate wheat. Traditionally this is portrayed as a major historical advancement but Harari asks the question: did humans take control of the wheat or did the wheat take control of humans? The agricultural revolution made Homo Sapiens into relatively immobile farmers who had to work more and harder – sow, weed, fertilize and irrigate under a merciless sun. From being a relatively free individual capable of moving around and gather and hunt a diverse diet, the food now became less varied, and he/she became more vulnerable to how climate and weather affected the crops. As a result, malnutrition, hunger and death were constant threats. Furthermore unaccustomed, repetitive and unphysiological tasks brought new diseases and ailments related to strain. However, the great advantage was more efficient food production providing enough food to feed many more mouths. Cities and societies grew around the farming fields, but with them came disease and wars. The presumed advancement, which quickly turned out to be irreversible, had a lot of negative side effects.
Many parallels can be drawn to recent history. When I started working with research as a student we did not have PCs, www, or e-mail, all of which today have become indispensable (?) aids. Before, a letter would be written if one had something important to say. Now all of us spew out e-mails in at an ever increasing rate and quantity. Are we in control of the IT-revolution or have we become its slaves? – and how does this affect HSE at K2?
This is something we can perhaps think about while we await the HSE-seminar on November 05.
See you there!
Eystein Husebye
Acting Head of Department

This week’s K2Nytt is my last as editor. Starting next week, Ida Wergeland will take control over the editorial staff. In that respect I want to say a few words.

I started as co-editor in IFI-info in the autumn of 2012, with responsibility for the publications, and took over as editor in the autumn of 2013. In the two years I have been a part of the editorial staff there have been three major changes with our newsletter. The two first was mainly carried out by K2Nytt’s previous editor, André Sulen.

First, we created an English version of the newsletter, which essentially doubled the work load of the editorial staff, but was a great improvement because it became easier for our international colleagues and students to keep track of what is going on at the institute.
Then the faculty was completely reorganised at New Year’s 2012/2013. This turned IFI-info into K2Nytt. The gathering of research groups that used to be on different departments gave us more viewpoints on how the newsletter should be. We have tried to make K2Nytt into a newsletter for everyone, regardless of the department they belonged to before the reorganisation, and I hope we have succeeded at that.

In the autumn of 2013 we implemented the third major change. The server in which K2Nytt (and IFI-info) used to be stored was closed, and we had to find a new way to make the newsletter. We decided to use a blog format with WordPress. The transition itself took considerable work, but for the editorial staff it was a great improvement compared to the old PDF-format, since the editing of K2Nytt became much easier and more efficient. At the same time, the blog format is less flexible, and we did not manage to make it look just the way we wanted. Hopefully, this is something that can be improved in the future.

Finally, I want to mention the editorial staff. The total workload of making K2Nytt is about 1,5-3 days per week. This work is divided between a team of competent people. The editor, as well as Kristian Jensen, write and translate the texts, Lars Emil Mossefinn and Klaus Rehberg publish the texts and find suitable illustrations, Olivera Bozickovic takes care of the publications and finds a new PhD-comics (K2Nytt’s weekly highlight) and Irene Lavik Hjelmaas keeps control of the pages in the overhead menu and helps out when needed. In addition, Corina Guder collects application deadlines and meetings/courses of interest for the Department’s employees and students. Our new editor, Ida, has been an extra back-up in case of disease. I would like to thank you all for the great work you have done this last year, and for making the job as editor fun and rewarding!
Additionally, I want to thank the readers for your patience, for tipping us of things to write about, and for good and constructive feedback!

At last, I want to wish Ida good luck as editor in the months ahead!

Christine Haugen
Outgoing editor of K2Nytt

More collaboration between academia and the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly encouraged, not least through Horizon 2020. This innovative possibility to strengthen the research with our university clinics has not been sufficiently utilized.  The Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Norway (LMI) may, in this context, provide assistance in establishing such collaboration. LMI represents about 60 membership companies consisting of both international companies as well as smaller biotech enterprises. The companies employ approximately 4000 highly skilled staff where some membership companies also have their own production in Norway.

Demographic changes and an altered panorama of diseases provide the healthcare sector with challenges demanding better utilization of resources, higher efficiency as well as new and improved services. New technology and product development are keys to face new demands, maintain the quality of the health services as well as meet expectations for good welfare services and proper treatments. Within these challenges there is also a major potential for the creation of wealth and innovation. Biomedical and health-related research can meet these health challenges.

What characterizes the current situation? Sure, we have high research activity, but low innovation and way too low inclusion of the private sector. From the HelseOmsorg21 (in Norwegian) strategy we are encouraged to: Increase cooperation between the private and public sectors. More focus on commercialization of research. Increase the number of industrially funded clinical studies. The utilization of health data as a national asset.

The politicians thus have to provide the foundations for increasing the number of start-ups, as well as provide proper development conditions for Norwegian health industry. Simultaneously, the pharmaceutical industry is aiming for higher productivity and scientific excellence. This could be something that our PhD-candidates and post-docs could embrace in their career planning.

Roland

Department of Clinical Science encourage our PhD students, postdocs and permanent academic staff to travel abroad for shorter or longer research stays. Equally important, we want to welcome foreign researchers for similar visits to K2. UiB has a number of opportunities for internationalization that may not be as well known to everyone. At UiB’s website, under the tab International, there is a lot of relevant information. In addition, you can contact The Research Department for further inquiries. Some of the opportunities are:
Exchange agreements – UiB has agreements with the University of Washington and University of New Foundland. Funds for exchange visits for PhD candidates may be applied for.
Networks – UiB participates in several international university networks, including the World Universities Network and the University of the Arctic. These networks support research exchange and there are also research funding opportunities.
Funds for research exchange and international research – There are numerous programs within the EU’s H2020 program, including Marie Curie Actions, that are specifically aimed at research exchange. Furthermore, The Research Council of Norway has bilateral agreements with several countries (e.g. The Leif Ericsson Mobility Program). At UiB it is also possible to apply for SPIRE funds.
Norwegian centers abroad – UiB employees have access to Norwegian centers in several cities abroad, including Athens, Rome and Dubrovnik. These may for instance be used for meetings with international partners.

Explore the webpage International at UiB. Moreover, the Vice Principal Anne Christine Johannessen can assist with advice in international issues.

Good luck and good hunting

Eystein Husebye
Acting Head of Department

The autumn’s most important day is approaching: The K2 Exam and teaching seminar. At the registration deadline 69 lecturers had signed up for the annual supplementary training, which is one of K2’s most important efforts to elevate the teaching quality. What is actually required in order to be a good lecturer? Completed training in pedagogical competence? This is a demand for lecturers in principal employment, but not for the many lecturers employed temporarily or in co-positions. Is it important to implement e-learning tools? Or is it better to bring chalk along, so that one may use the blackboard in the auditorium? Is it perhaps most important that one learns how to upload pdf-versions of the lecture notes at My Page? Or is obtaining higher salary subsequent to the local salary negotiations what provides inspiration to do a good job as lecturer? Well, this, and many other issues, you may ponder and discuss with colleagues interested in teaching at Hotel Terminus on Wednesday 17.09.14. We begin with lunch at 12.

Eva

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

I recently observed how the final OSCE exam for medical students at the University of Oslo (UiO). An impressive organization in which the students were tested in communication skills, physical examination skills, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, palpation of mamma, and interpretation of preparations, ECG and medical radiological images. An impressive testing battery, which appears to be superior to the final examinations that we do at our institute. To this year’s K2 Exam and Teaching seminar which takes place at Hotel Terminus on Wednesday September 17, we have invited professor Kristian Bjøro who is in charge of logistics and practical organization of the final OSCE exam for medical students at UiO. He will talk about his experience and organize a practical workshop on how to plan an OSCE station. The Board at Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry will in autumn 2014 decide upon the types of exams to be used in the new study program for medicine. It is very likely that OSCE will be introduced also at our faculty for medicine. You should therefor reserve the date, so that you do not miss this opportunity to learn about OSCE.   

Eva

As is known, all PhD-candidates funded by the University have a four-year employment contract, where 25 % of the employment is allocated mandatory duty work. This work has to be planned each year in collaboration with supervisor(s) and employer. The faculty’s and the institutes’ executive officers for research education have reviewed this practice. It turns out that the amount of work time spent on duty work differs a lot between the PhD-candidates.  Currently, almost 50 PhD-candidates at K2 are UiB-funded, and when considering the fact that each of these PhD-candidates in theory should spend one whole year on duty work, we are talking about nearly 50 man-years available at the department’s disposal. Thus we should aim for a good structure in the organization of duty work so that this resource is utilized optimally.

Examples of actions discussed:

• All UiB-funded candidates and their supervisors must inform executive officer for research education about planned duty work ahead of each year.
• All scientific employees may, in addition, ahead of each semester submit tasks they wish to recruit PhD-candidates for, but where they have not yet obtained any.  This includes teaching tasks, communications work, conference/seminar organization, database work, supervision of Master students, etc.
• All new UiB-funded PhD-candidates will, together with their principal supervisor, be called inn for a short meeting regarding planning of duty work with executive officer for research education and head of research as soon as application for admission to the PhD-programme has been submitted.

Roland

University of Bergen, Helse Vest, The Norwegian Research Council, EU and other sources of funding urge Norwegian researchers to work abroad in order to return with valuable experience which may ultimately improve research quality here at home. UiB even funds a 4th year for postdoc year for those who leave the country.

Yet, there are many who obtain a master degree, PhD, and postdoc in the same research group. The reasons are complex, but partner’s job situation and family are factors which may hinder the desire to leave. If it is not possible to travel for one year or several years, an alternative could be short- and possibly repeated stays of 1-3 months at a foreign institution. This could provide access to methods and academic environments that are not available at home. Your research will obtain wider exposure and the new environment could provide valuable input. This will count when your competence and skills are evaluated for future funding and positions down the line.

Furthermore, it is equally important to stimulate foreign researchers to visit us for shorter or longer periods of time. Another option taken by some groups has been to invite top-notch scientists to evaluate their research on an annual basis.

There are many possibilities. Help K2’s research to achieve an even wider international visibility and impact.

Eystein Husebye
Deputy Head of Department

I will use this column to strike a blow for the Alumni Days. What is alumni? The word alumni is Latin and means former pupils at a school. Alumni enterprise means to establish ties between alumni and their university

University of Bergen invites for the first time to Alumni Days Friday 9th and Saturday 10th of May. It will be an eventful weekend with academic replenishment, happy reunion and social activities at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and the entire University.
Everyone who are studying, have studied or are employed at UoB is considered UoB alumni.

UoB Alumni is a meeting place for alumni, academic groups and students associated with the University of Bergen. The alumni portal UoB Alumni is the tool used to convey information and contact. Register as UoB alumni here.

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Easter and hope that people charge their batteries!

Per