Department meeting on 21 May attended by the future rector Brian Bech Nielsen
The attendance and atmosphere during the Department meeting when Brian Bech Nielsen visited was fine. Brian Bech Nielsen first made a short presentation of the University which was followed by a lively discussion, including issues on external research funding, the new building, the large Department and administrative problems. Prior to the Department meeting Brian Bech Nielsen had met with the management team and Department Forum where mainly administrative issues were discussed.

Deadline application for financial support of TAP courses is 1 June 2013
The next deadline application for support of TAP courses is 1 June. Hence forward, applications will be considered every other month, as decided by the cooperation committee (LSU), meaning that the deadline after 1 June will be 1st August. See Rules, application form etc.

Deadline application for support of VIP travels is 1 September
Further information on travels.

Employee Performance Interview (MUS)
Employee performance interviews have started. The management team has been interviewed, and the permanently employed scientific staff is being invited. After the summer holiday there will be an information meeting on interviews of persons who are in charge of employment performance interviews.

Hearing statement regarding Molecular Medicine
A report on training in Molecular Medicine has been drawn up and discussed by the Department’s teaching committee. The Department has subsequently prepared and forwarded a response. See the response (in Danish).

The Danish Diabetes academy awards new grants and professorships
There is a possibility of partial financing of PhD grants (deadline 13 June), full funding of postdoctoral fellowships (deadline in November this year) and professorships. Further information is available on the academy’s website. Our Department was granted one of the first postdoctoral fellowships (for Janne Lebeck), which will be officially announced on 6 June.

A draft of the departmental guidelines for research funding - and the resulting expenses – has been circulated to all permanently employed members of the scientific staff (VIPs).
The draft proposes among other things:

• All applications over DKK 500.000 should be seen by the Head of Department
• Development of procedures for the improvement of applications
• The budget for applications including a 44% overhead remains unchanged
• The budget for other applications are considered according to category.

Meetings at the Department in the next semester
Two Department meetings are planned for the next six months (topics include employment performance interviews and follow-up on the psychological workplace assessment (APV)), house meetings, meetings for senior scientific staff at the former departments. There will also be individual meetings with the staff responsible for teaching for each discipline. In addition to the "regular" meetings: meeting of the cooperation committee (SU), Department Forum, the research committee and the teaching committee.

Event for young talented students
On 13 May the Academy for Young Talented Students in Central Denmark Region, consisting of approx 160 of the brightest secondary school students, visited the Department. We had arranged a presentation on giraffes, donation to science, and gene ethics from Emil Brøndum, Peter Holm-Nielsen and the undersigned. The event went well, and the young people made a good impression.

Deadline application for AIAS Fellowships is Friday 7 June
The call is for a total of 15 fellowships including both a junior programme (postdoctoral level) and senior fellowships (associate professor and professor levels) and the chances for applications from Health are good especially from the "dry" areas. Although it appears in the advertisement that "AIAS Fellows are expected to be physically situated in AIAS’ buildings on campus (...)", the AIAS now accepts that applicants from Health perform a considerable part of their work at the Department/centre.  Applicants - AU employees and external candidates with whom you will be cooperating - can get assistance with their application from the Health team at the Research Support Unit. The call is available at: http://aias.au.dk/currentcalls/. The Research Support Unit.

For Women in Science prizes for young female scientists are now being accepted
For Women in Science prizes are awarded to promising female researchers based on their project evaluated by a scientific review committee with representatives from the three participating parties. The presentation ceremony will take place at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen on 15 January 2014. More information is available at: www.unesco.dk and www.forwomeninscience.dk
Call and application form are available at: www.royalacademy.dk. Application deadline is 16 August 2013.

Health Finance moves to new location
On Friday 31 may Health Finance will be moving from the School of Dentistry and restart from new premises as from Monday 3 June at the address: Building 1532 Katrinebjergvej 89 F, 2nd floor, 8200 Aarhus N. Telephone numbers and email addresses of the staff remain unchanged. Friday 31 May and Monday 3 June the Health Finance employees will to some extent be absorbed by the move. You are still welcome to come by the centre and discuss matters with your business controller or project economist, just as the Health Finance staff will be open for meetings with us at the Department.

New Credit Card
All employees with an AU credit card will automatically receive a new credit card which will be sent to their private address mid-June. Until receipt of the new credit card, the old credit card can be used. The replacement comprises all MasterCards from Danske Bank. At the beginning of June all current card holders will receive an e-mail with additional information on the replacement of credit cards. The replacement takes place because the Danish state ? after a tender ? has selected SEB Kort instead of Danske Bank as its new supplier of credit cards for a five-year period. The new credit card is a Eurocard/MasterCard which can be used in the same places as the current AU credit cards from Danske Bank. Reimbursement of credit card transactions will continue via AURUS.

So much for now.
Thomas

Translation: ZGN