Leader of the week - Silke Appel

Dear everyone!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone has had a few quiet days during the Christmas season and has started 2026 with new energy.

2026 will bring a number of changes, among other things, the financial officers from the faculty will move to the "PhD office" on the 8th floor of the lab building and be co-located with "our" financial officers (who are also employed at the faculty). This entails some relocation of office space for PhD candidates and postdocs, I apologize for the inconvenience this causes for those affected. Before the economists can move in, some rebuilding is required, but I hope that it does not take too long.

Let me also use this editorial to congratulate Professor Edvin Schei from IGS and his project group PROFMED (Medical Students' Professional Identity Formation During Practice in Hospitals), which was awarded the Western Norway Regional Health Authority's education award last night at the Western Norway Regional Health Authority's education conference. PROFMED aims to improve medical students' hospital placement learning, and support the development of a professional physician’s identity by: 1) systematically preparing students for workplace participation, and 2) educating the hospital physicians who interact with the students.

The project has been very successful, and the application of the knowledge from it will have a great effect on the successful completion of the hospital placement with many more students than before.

Have a great weekend!

Silke

Friday waffle with Wafflepitch at Eitri

Friday waffle with Waffle Pitch at Eitri: Master's students in innovation and entrepreneurship in practice in spring 2026? HVL invites start-up companies, companies, institutions and clusters to apply.

  • Friday, January 9, 2026
  • 13:00  14:00
  • Location: Eitri, Haukelandsbakken 31, 5021 Bergen

Welcome to the Rector's special concert 2026

Dear colleagues,

Principal Margareth Hagen is pleased to invite you – with a companion – to this year's Principal's Gala Concert with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 | Concert starts at 7:30 PM | Grieghallen

Dørene åpner kl. 18:30 for sosialt samvær og mingling. Vi byr på et glass musserende (med eller uten alkohol), og baren holder åpent frem til konsertstart. Konserten avsluttes ca. kl. 20:20.

About the concert

Conductor: Sir Mark Elder | Program: Orchestral music by Richard Wagner – LohengrinThe Master Singers of Nuremberg

“Richard Wagner’s music says something extraordinary about the human condition,” says Sir Mark Elder. In Lohengrin (1848) we encounter both romanticism, medieval legends and the germ of the musical expression that would later revolutionize the history of opera. Twenty years later Wagner composed the cheerful and uplifting The Master Singers of Nuremberg – et verk fylt av kraftfull orkestermusikk og storslåtte temaer.

Enrollment:

Sign up here: https://billetter.harmonien.no/nb/specialoffer/tickets/42932/
Deadline: January 14, 2026

Course for employees at the Library of Medicine in spring 2026

The Library for Medicine offers courses with registration, for employees and fellows at the Faculty of Medicine and employees at Bergen Health. The courses are held on Zoom.
Students are usually given their own, customized courses as part of their study plan. The following courses are offered this fall:

  • Search course in PubMed and Embase
  • Introduction to Endnote
  • Introduction to Zotero
  • Introduction to systematic reviews
  • Literature assignments for students

Course dates, registration and more information can be found at https://www.uib.no/ub/126018/kurs-og-veiledning#kurs-med-p-melding
If a group of employees needs courses beyond our course offerings, please contact us to arrange a customized course or department visit (email: ubbmed@uib.no).

Best regards,
Library of Medicine, BBB

Reminder when registering holidays and absences

All holidays must be clarified with the immediate supervisor before applying for holidays in the self-service portal and entered in the comments field: "Holiday has been clarified with the immediate supervisor."

In the event of sick leave, the employee must notify their immediate supervisor on the first day of absence. If self-reporting is used, the self-reporting must be registered in the self-service portal as soon as work resumes.

Refers also to the Employee Handbook

University of Bergen :: Employee Handbook

The research program is seeking new research projects and supervisors for cohort 25.

The research program at the Faculty of Medicine is currently recruiting students from the 2025 cohort for admission in the fall of 2026. The faculty encourages research communities to submit project proposals that are suitable for the research program, and reminds that the students are motivated, but often without previous research experience and therefore need close follow-up at the beginning.

A total of 17 positions are being advertised – 15 for medicine and 2 for dentistry – and the deadline for submitting project proposals is January 23, 2026.

The research line also invites you to a "mingling day" on February 3, 2026 from 10:15 am to 12:00 pm at BBB, where the research communities can meet the students and present themselves at stands.

Read rest of the story here:

Quantum physics could be the key to detecting cancer early

Imagine a blood test that could function like the dashboard of a car, alerting you before cancer develops. Researchers in Bergen are now using quantum physics and diamonds to make this happen. “When you drive a car, warning lights on the dashboard tell you if something is wrong. Our own bodies don’t have anything like such a dashboard. Fever or pain can mean many things. We don’t have a good way of knowing if cancer is developing at a very early stage. We want to put these missing indicators in place,” says physicist Justas Zalieckas at the University of Bergen.

Read more here: https://www.uib.no/aktuelt/180968/kvantefysikk-kan-v%C3%A6re-n%C3%B8kkelen-til-%C3%A5-oppdage-kreft-tidlig