Dear all

Since the last newsletter a Department meeting (10 September) and a VIP meeting (23 September) were held and some of the information provided at the meetings will be repeated below. The present time is very busy at the Department due to teaching, application deadlines, articles, etc. – and quite understandably the reason why many of you cannot find the time to attend the meetings.

Construction
The construction project was on the University Board’s agenda on 25 September and we got the green light to go ahead with our construction plans. One of the next issues is to make a detailed plan of the moving processes - that is, who, when and where to (re)locate people.

Staff Development Dialogue interviews
The tenured academic staff (VIP) have been invited to SSD (staff development dialogue) with the undersigned and the two vice Department Heads Thomas Corydon and Morten Nielsen. The SDDs  turned out to be a great success. The dialogues have been enriching, and we are grateful for the confidence shown by meeting up and talk openly and honestly about the various topics. In the future we will do what we can to alleviate some of the problems that emerged.

In October/November the technical/administrative staff (TAP) and the non-tenured academic staff will be invited to SDD. The dialogues will be with the immediate leader of the individual research groups and buildings managers. In December there will be a second call for support to courses which the immediate leader and the employee will have agreed to be suitable for the employee to participate in. In January the SDDs will be evaluated by the local cooperation committee.

Follow-up of the psychological APV (workplace assessment)
The departmental APV group, consisting of the undersigned, Steen Vang Petersen, Ole Sonne, Anne Marie Bundgaard, Birgitte Lüttge, Majken Sand, and Annette Kudahl has studied and discussed the material from the psychological APV and we have had a number of special retrievals  to obtain a clearer picture of what lies behind the numbers/information.

With regard to our action plans we have chosen to focus on those areas where the APV shows special challenges. The reported problems are about bullying, uncertainty about the future and severe stress. Uncertainty about the future and severe stress is a problem especially among the academic staff, and a special retrieval shows that the problem is particularly expressed among the non-permanent academic staff (PhDs and postdocs).  As for bullying, the number of incidents levels the number at the faculty level, but there is a slightly higher incidence in one place (in the biochemistry building) and we have therefore decided to make an effort there. We have begun to examine the reason for the uncertainty about the future and severe stress. During the SDDs held with the tenured academic staff the undersigned and the two vice Department Heads have discussed possible causes for the uncertainty as to the future and why so many feel seriously affected by stress. The most common answers to the questions were as follows:

• Increased competition for funds
• Management changes *
• The administrative changes
• Several tasks including more teaching

* especially UNI- management communication, less democracy, leadership is further away (large organization) , lack of appreciation.

In the near future the management team and the members of the various departmental committees are going to discuss what we can do to alleviate some of the problems.

New prestigious articles from the Department

• Natasha Fedosova the Department is co-author of the Science article: Crystal Structure of the Na +, K +-ATPase in the Na + -bound state . Nyblom M, Poulsen H, Gourdon P , Reinhard L, Andersson M, Lindahl E, Fedosova N, Nissen P. Science. 2013 September 19 [ Epub ahead of print ].
• Thomas Vorup is co-author of the PNAS article:Structural insight on the recognition of surface-bound opsonins by the integrin I domain of complement receptor 3 Bajica G, Yatime L, Sim RB, Vorup-Jensen T, and Andersen GR . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 September 24 [ Epub ahead of print ].

Congratulations to both.

Coming meetings – in addition to the meeting plan posted in the August newsletter
The Faculty’s Animal Facilities Committee will be holding a user meeting on Wednesday 2 October at 14.00 to 16.00 in the Main Hall (the AULA). Future animal facilities, phenotyping and a presentation of the work of the animal facilities committee will be on the agenda.

The annual Christmas party is planned for Friday 13 December and will be held in Stakladen.

Other dates
AU Communication offers courses in media training for university employed researchers on 22 October and 19 November. Read more.

Kick-off conference on the new EU innovation and research programme, Horizon 2020 on 29 October 2013. Read more.