Somewhat unfamiliar? This novel was released in 1986, with a Norwegian translation in 1987. The author Kazuo Ishiguro was awarded the Nobel prize of literature for 2017. The plot is set in the author’s country of birth Japan, and this is the connection with this editorial: the University of Bergen’s strategic partnership with Japanese research organizations. Together with NTNU and Innovation Norway, UiB have joined forces to approach potential Japanese collaborators in relation to research and innovation. During spring 2017 former Dean Langeland headed a delegation visiting Tokyo and Kyoto, where themes discussed spanned from stem cell research to geriatric medicine.

Japan is well known for technology (and labor effort). Do you have ideas/thoughts related to your research that may profit by Japanese industrial cooperation? Our Vice Dean of Innovation, Helge Raeder, is eager to convey ideas/contact/collaboration. A new Japanese visit is planned for spring 2018. Perhaps you should be joining?

Speaking of innovation and future research: Horizon 2020 hosts a kick-off seminar the 31st of October. Please sign up! Both the Head of Bergen University as well as “our” Dean Bakke is eager to encourage researchers to apply for international research funds. The institute has research advisors for helping you during such application processes; make use of them!

Another action point from the University leadership is increased digitalization: how may this be used to save resources? Are there tasks in your everyday work life better handled by a computer than by manual labor? I am unsure if the hospital’s speech recognition program is a very good example, but the principle is illustrative: instead of secretaries writing the doctors’ notes, the dictates are transcribed by a computer. And thanks to machine learning (!), the writings turn out as (a little) more understandable for every note I make. But in the beginning, there were a lot of absolutely incomprehensible phrases written in the patient files; almost as if one should be “An artist of the floating world”.

Jone

To follow-up the literary references: the title is from a play by Ludvig Holberg. This was also the title winning the Holberg high-school competition some years ago, a project dealing with fraud.

At the last meeting in the committee of extended research management, research fraud was pointed at as one focus area. We should strive to be attentive to this ethical aspect when planning, conducting and presenting our research.

Forging results we all acknowledge as fraud, but there are several more subtle areas where our ethical consciousness might be stretched to benefit ourselves. What about the tendency of selective citation of references; those supporting our own hypothesis are preferred to those disagreeing. Selective publishing is another; it is somehow more convenient to publish positive (meaning: statistical significant) results than those without differences. And what if the interesting (and significant) results from the former study of the newest promising biomarker could not be validated in the following study? We do however have a moral responsibility to publicly present our conducted research, both for the sake of those providing research funding and participating patients contributing with biologic samples/clinical data, as well as to not introduce new treatment algorithms prematurely. “The Invisible” (meaning unpublished) studies may in effect be one form of fraud.

And do we follow the Vancouver treaty? Holding the title as research group leader or head of clinical department, is that equivalent to actually plan, conduct, analyse and write every paper from the group/department? Or should some of these stated as authors in reality be the Invisible?

I would like to remind you all of the OSCE exam 8th of November; those not already having stated who will contribute: please do so to Ketil Grong (he is in need of more qualified helpers).

The Day of the Institute (K2) will be hosted the 29th of November. We do hope our new Head of Institute will be formally appointed at that time, and will actively contribute by presenting the upcoming visions for our Department of Clinical Science.

Jone

The office situation at K2 is a challenge. A large project activity has contributed to an increased demand for office space and working places for phd-students. The administration needs your help in order to know of changes in demand and supply of working places in K2 areas in the lab building. Please remember that your need for office space is to be reported to Irene: Irene.Hjelmaas@uib.no

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 students. 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.

We have recently been given access to some great, new offices in the fifth floor in BUS. These offices are provided in order to relieve the pressure on office places in the Lab-building for researchers and post-docs. The offices are newly furnished with adjustable desks and room for 2-3 people per office. Anyone interested in the new offices can contact Irene or myself.

Now to something completely different; Horizon2020 is about to embark on the last three years of its’ existence with a bigger budget than ever. On that occasion, the Division of Research Management at UiB and the Research Council of Norway arrange a Kick-off meeting. Please see the separate post further down in this week’s news letter for details.

Best regards,

Julie

In the new curriculum for the medical students at our faculty, Medicine 2015, it has been decided that what is referred to as OSCE examinations (O = objective; S = structured; C = clinical; E = examination) should be introduced and included. One of the main arguments for this is to secure a fairer evaluation and grading compared to the current clinical examinations. There are arguments both pro and con. However, we all must relate to this decision and make sure that these examinations are performed in a proper manner. The first ordinary OSCE examination will be on June 20th, 2018 for 160 medical students. The OSCE exam is a station-based exam (“circle exercise”), and all students are examined at all stations.

As announced since April/May, the fourth and last pilot-OSCE examination will be on Wednesday November 8th (in about one month). The pilot medical students to be examined this time are from Class 14-B. They have been medical students for about 3½ years by now. Altogether, 39 examiners are needed to run three parallel circles with 13 different active stations. Examiners from Departments of Biomedicine, Clinical Medcine, Clinical Science and Global Public Health and Primary Care will be more or less involved as examiners. There will be electronic and online assessment with laptop at each station.

This is an example of the checklist for the examination in one of the stations used in the pilot examination in May this year:

This example is related to the teaching in neurophysiology at the Departments of Biomedicine. The “objectivity” is secured by evaluating all candidates and issuing points on each single question/element in the checklist. A global score (totalvurdering) is the examiner’s overall and general judgement and impression of the candidate’s performance, independent of points actually obtained.

By a Single borderline score regression analysis, the global evaluation (Not passed, Borderline, Sufficient, Good, Excellent) is plotted on the x-axis vs. the points scored for every student (in this example 68) on the y-axis. If a score of > 40% of the points is preset as the limit for passing this station, 6 students have failed. In this example, the regression analysis will adjust the limit to ~ 60%, and 12 students will fail. The borderline regression analysis corrects for an easy station where many students obtain high scores and a more difficult task/station where many students obtain a low score.

This pilot OSCE examination will commence at. 08:00 a.m. on November 8th, and is finished by lunchtime.

Ketil Grong

This summer, at a time where most of us were out of office and enjoying much needed vacation, the new law for state employees was effectuated. The first effect was immediate, and some of you might even have noticed it; internal calls of positions is no longer a possibility. Due to this, some of the positions already called were withdrawn and then called again, but this time publicly. The new law states that the best candidate is to be recruited, not the best internal candidate. Hence, all calls must be public.

The purpose of the new law is, amongst others, to reduce the use of temporary labor, which has been one of the areas the current government has focused on. During the recent years, both the faculty and the university board have had an increased interest in the share of temporary labor within the university. The department has reported on how many of our employees are employed on a temporary basis.

In addition to the new law, the University of Bergen has decided upon even stricter goals in order to reduce the use of temporary labor, ref. University board matter 65/2017. The call of research positions for a duration exceeding 2 years is from now on as a main rule considered called a permanent position. Technical and administrative positions should, as a main rule, not be temporary. Substitute positions are still allowed, but the use of administrative employment without calling the position will be even more restrictive.

Currently, we do not have any well-suited working practices to handle this change, but the faculty is working on it. Even though some positions will be called as permanent instead of temporary, the wage budget distributed to the department will not increase. We therefore need good practices to ensure new positions and areas of work for permanent employees when current projects and tasks are completed. Preferential rights and knowledge must be considered in order to match available resources with project needs. The administration needs sufficient tools to help us organize this. We are all keen on complying with the new requirements from the government and the university board, but we must arrange for a suiting way to organize and follow up.

Best regards,
Julie

In continuation of citations from Brecht, with the following arguments:

– The University Headmaster has invited us all to attend this play.

– The good person: This week two prominent academics and social commentators left us: Per Fugelli and Frank Årebrot. Fugelli has formerly teached at UiB, and I still remember his speech to our freshman medical student group regarding egoism (pay claims) versus societal responsibilities (to promote patients’ and society’s best). Årebrot was an exceptional lecturer who really managed to create enthusiasm and interest for his subjects. They were proper role models! May they rest in peace.

– Szechwan: stated as a city in China. I do not find this on the map, but the region of Sichuan south-west of China, with the province capital Chengdu and it’s approximately 14 million inhabitants, may be the most appropriate analogy. This is really FAR away and definitely different from Norway and Bergen. What is the link to this editorial? INTERNATIONALIZATION. Bullet point number three on the Dean’s list of major commitments for the Medical Faculty.

Promoting cooperation across borders opens a larger potential “stock” of professionals to be attached to our Department. While scanning through the list of PhD students and Postdocs, I see many Asian and other non-Norwegian names. When receiving e-mail responses in English and the fact that we see the need (and value!) of publishing K2-nytt also in English, proves that many international employees are attached to (and hopefully attracted by) our Department. K2 will very much encourage their employees (as well as students) to work and cooperate abroad. I stayed half a year during my postdoc period in Hong Kong, a really exciting experience for the whole family! International schooling worked well, and my husband had a similar academic affiliation. Both educational and research cooperation were initiated and have been continued further on.

Many possibilities for international cooperation do exist; Horizon2020 (the EU research and innovation program) is but one. The University of Bergen hosts a kick-off seminar 31st of October (see separate announcement in this K2-nytt). The upcoming programs/work packages will be presented, including Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing. Do look out for interesting possibilities/subjects for your scientific environment!

Jone

While waiting for the next Head of K2 to be formally appointed (since Per Bakke left us for the position as Dean) I am acting Head and will to the best of my capacity try to take care of these responsibilities. To contact me, I have office telephone ((559)7 4295), cell phone (924 25 171) and e-mail: mailto:jone.trovik@med.uib.no or mailto:jone.trovik@med.uib.no Those of you in need of a personal encounter, are welcome to my office located at 4^th floor (Norwegian counting) in the Women’s Clinic (Department building for Obstetrics and Gynecology) in the corridor facing Ulriken. This takes a brisk walk from the BBB / laboratory building or the main hospital building (Sentralblokken), hopefully contributing to the recommended 10,000 daily steps to maintain good health!

In our Dean’s inaugural speech, he pointed out three main commitments areas for the Faculty to attend. For our institute to follow these (in his ranked order!), the following may be pinpointed:

1. Students in focus

As K2’s Head of Education (Yes, I do hold several roles at present ….) I am very pleased that this aspect is on top of his list! This main University activity has to be fronted EACH day. When positions are advertised/appointed we have to take educational qualifications seriously. Do consider what each post/person may contribute in relation to educational activities. And a reminder from the administrative educational section: all teachers, please remember to use Mitt UiB/Canvas to actively check your teaching schedule and distribute educational material electronically. No one else will take care of this on behalf of you. A special pedagogy course is to be held for PhD students / postdoctoral fellows / those in academic minor positions. We are looking forward to this.

2. Interactions with other Institutes and Faculties belonging to the University of Bergen

Cooperation across traditional academic areas will potentially give new ideas and strengthen the academic community. To achieve this, we need areas to actually meet face-to-face, actively communicate and find new partners. The first upcoming possibility is Digital Day for employees (Digital Myldredag) held in Grieghallen 4^th of October. Different ongoing digitalization projects, tools and methods will be on display by more than 20 different UiB groups. What are other groups using? How may this be modified for my setting/needs?  Maybe someone has a very smart solution to something I have been struggling with?

3. Internationalization

This will be commented in a later editorial.

And regarding the title reference to Beckett’s play: I do hope the communication within K2 is not considered as absurd.

Jone

“Peace and see you later” is common to say in Israel where I will spend the next semester as guest professor at The Weizmann Institute of Science. The sabbatical arrangement is a great opportunity to establish new collaborations, build networks and set of time to plan projects and write applications. The network is not only useful for the professor him or herself. It also opens up for exchange of younger researcher in the involved groups. Several of the groups at the institute have used this opportunity in an exemplary way, such as the diabetes and lung research groups.

Staying abroad requires planning not only of the academic project, but also of the practicalities concerning work and studies for any partner, school for children and housing. The faculty provide grants each year, and funds can also be obtained from Helse Vest, the Research Council of Norway, and other funding bodies. Application deadline for research terms is 1 May each year.

It is less common for foreigners to apply for a sabbatical at K2, but our goal should be to attract good researchers from abroad who wish to spend a year with us. Don’t forget this possibility

Finally, I would like to end my term as vice head and short guest appearance as head of department, by saying shalom ve lihitraot. Now, Jone takes over until the new head of the department is ready to start.

Good weekend and good remaining 2017.

Eystein

A researcher at UiB recently published a very interesting scientific work that could potentially pave the way for a new treatment principle to increase muscle strength. In an interview with the newspaper Bergens Tidende, the journalist asked if the discovery could yield income to the researcher or UiB. The researcher shook his head before he replied: I have not thought about it. I am most concerned about helping people. That’s why I’m a researcher. Revenue is less important.

It is understandable that the researcher wishes to have his primary focus on the discovery. But the findings have only a potential utility until someone finds some practical realization of the findings. Potentiality and realization marks the difference between research and innovation. And by practical realization of the findings the researcher, through his or her expertise, can shorten the path to patient care, while at the same time acquiring additional sources of external funding and also creating new jobs.

At the Department of Clinical Science, Audun Nerland has lead a group that has looked at conditions that can improve the innovation ability at the Department. The group points, among other things, to awareness-raising about innovation and commercialization, training in the stages of the innovation process, providing facilities and meeting places, providing information about innovation-oriented research support (e.g., NFR FORNY2020, BIOTEK2021, BIA) and giving merits if you contribute to innovation. Innovation is not only relevant in research, but also in teaching, as illustrated by the project of Professor Jarle Rørvik (K1) Adap (Adaptive Online Learning Environment).

I hope that everyone, besides publications and public dissemination of their research, also considers the potential for innovation. Then, as the newly appointed Vice Dean of Innovation, I will do my best to make the best possible arrangements to make innovation happen. One of my first tasks is to find residents to the new Incubator Building, which is planned on the parking deck behind the Laboratory Building, in such a way that it promotes a culture of innovation.

Helge

Dear all K2s,

Welcome to a new semester as teachers and facilitators / contributors to all the teaching we perform at UoB and K2.

Medicine 2015 (“New Study Plan in Medicine”) is rolled out, and this autumn the old “propedeutics term” is completely reorganized. There has been an increase in research in research / journal writing, and we need urgently more fresh effort to participate. That is why all fellow students have received an email from me to request for contributions to this course now. But we also need contributions from other disciplines, so I have asked for information about each individual’s background. We will probably come back with requests for other teaching later.

Teaching is one of the main areas of responsibility for the university, and all fellows are also supposed to develop teaching skills (dissemination) during their PhD course. We therefore hope that both fellows and supervisors see the importance of contributions into teaching, also for those who have a scholarship outside of UoB.

I have received MANY positive answers. Thank you very much to those of you who show interest in contributing, and to those who have not yet answered, I hope to receive a feedback.

Wish you all a good teaching autumn!

Jone

Many of us witnessed how Karsten Warholm became world champion and won 400 meters hurdle in London on Wednesday. An amazing achievement that shows how a talent can, with systematic work, set the highest goals and reach them

Let this be an inspiration for us at K2. UiB, like Ulsteinvik, is not the metropolis for science and sport, but we can still deliever achievements in the top international level in research, teaching and dissemination. Although Warholm’s success is first and foremost his own profit, it is also the result of good helpers and an organized environment. Therefore, it is important that the university, the faculty and the department all make it possible for talent to develop and showcase. K2 will work for everyone at the department to be among the best in their area, and the new head of department will be central to this work.

When the application deadline for the position as Head of Department expired on August 4th, 4 highly qualified individuals had applied. Now the committee will look forward to finding the best suitable applicant, whom we hope to get to work on September 1st. Until then I will lead the Department.

With the hope of a productive autumn

Eystein

Acting head of department

This is the last K2Nytt editorial before the summer vacation and my last as head of the Department of Clinical Science. I will take the opportunity to express my gratitude to all of you. More than four years have passed since K2 was established, and a lot has happened these years. It has been ups and downs, but I have always felt a very strong support and kindness from every corner of K2.

With 320 employees coming from four different departments, it has for sure been conflicts of interests and different opinions of how to cope with various challenges. However, I have always felt that people have taken a strong interest in where to go, and have sincerely wanted a good solution. The occasions when some did not have it their way, the final solution has always been accepted.

There will soon be a call for the position as new head of K2. I hope that many will consider applying. It is a very rewarding job. It is a fantastic bunch of people at K2, be it the administrative, technical or scientific staff. I want the next head of K2 to be met with the same kindness as has been offered me. There are still many tasks to take on at K2.

Thanks a lot, all of you!

Per

Bob Dylan sings that it’s time to wake up for the times have changed; also for UiB and K2. The UiB Board made two decisions on June 1st that will affect us. One seems unimaginable; We are now going to be called “The Faculty of Medicine” – simple and straightforward, but at the same time clear and powerful. The second decision that Per Bakke is offered the position as Dean touches us more. I received the news with mixed feelings. I was very happy on Pers and my own behalf; The Faculty of Medicine receives a new and visionary leader. The backside, however, is that K2 will soon be without a leader.

Per has led the department through a major and extensive reorganization and has managed to get groups from different institutes to work well together with a low conflict level. Under Press Management, the business has had impressive growth. K2 researchers regularly publish in “top tier” journals, receive grants from national (K.G.-Jebsen, NFR, Cancer Society) and international funds and organizations (EU, Novo Nordisk). We have managed to pay off debt and have provided us with an action room that enables strategic measures to further improve the quality of research, teaching and dissemination.

Per, in other words, leaves an institute with good vitality and little obstructivity. When he on July 31st, extends his right arm with the baton, who is ready to grab it and the challenge of leading K2 futher?

The Department Management thinks that it will be possible to conduct own research while leading K2, as Per has shown possible with about 130 articles published since 2010. The new department head gets its own post-doc position, a reliable management and the ability to build up a senior management team – all to facilitate high academic activity.

We hope that «The Times They are a-changin» in a positive way and that many, both internal and external, see the opportunities that lie in the position of head of department and apply.

Eystein