First alumni day was a success
AGRO’s first alumni day, which was held together with ANIS, went off without a hitch.
When ST decided that all departments for the first time should have an alumni day on April 5, 2018, AGRO and ANIS agreed to have a shared alumni day in Foulum for our Agrobiology and Agro-Environmental Management graduates as well as previous PhD students. Current students and employees in AGRO and ANIS were also invited.
It turned out to be a good decision – both the part about having a shared day and the part about having it in Foulum. Despite the fact that our degree programmes have only been in existence since 2008, so that we just started getting the first alumni in 2011, there were about 80 people who signed up for the event. There was a nice mix of current and previous students as well as employees from the two departments.
Classmates met each other again, new and experienced in the sector exchanged news and knowledge during the breaks, and the talks were listened to and eagerly commented.
The first couple of talks involved previous students who told about their career tracks since they graduated, with PhD student Lone Juul from AGRO representing someone who has chosen to go the way of researcher and Anne Berg Olsen from the co-op dairy Thise Mejeri as a representative for someone who has chosen to work in the commercial sector.
Lone Juul share her experience as a PhD student: 
After half an hour and the possibility to network it was the researchers’ turn to take the floor. They did this seriously but still in a laid back, relaxed and good-natured manner. This part of the meeting was divided in two where the first part concerned ideas about how the future will be and the other part about current research in ANIS and AGRO.
Three of the speakers chatting during the break. From the left it is Søren O. Petersen, AGRO, Anne Berg Olsen Thise Mejeri, and Klaus Lønne Ingvartsen, ANIS:
The first ones to speak were the two heads of department Erik Steen Kristensen and Klaus Lønne Ingvartsen from AGRO and ANIS, respectively. They presented their ideas about how we can contribute to achieving some of the UN’s sustainable development goals and if there is room for farm animals in the future. This was followed by two talks by Uffe Jørgensen, AGRO, and Søren Krogh Jensen, ANIS, who in an inspiring manner explained how grass can play an interesting role in fulfilling climate and environmental goals while at the same time providing animals and humans with protein.
Jørgen Eriksen and Søren O. Petersen from AGRO spoke about nitrogen, the aquatic environment and climate, while from ANIS Jan Tind Sørensen gave a talk about animal welfare and Søren Østergaard spoke about big data and management systems.
Finally, there was a guided of the biorefinery and dinner.
The participants praised the alumni day as a good initiative with a good programme, and there was great interest in continuing with alumni days and other alumni activities in the future. There was satisfaction about the focus on agriculture – and only agriculture – but also that the meeting was across animal and agroecology. There were several good proposals and comments to the form of the meeting and its content. These will be included in the evaluation of the meeting and preparation of future alumni activities.