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