Good impressions from GRUS

In other areas, we are in a new normal. We are seeing major changes in the university educations, where our task is to build new educations at AU Viborg. At the same time there are major changes in the structure of the master programmes. The green transition of agriculture is still far from the target, and there is an enormous need for research and development, as also described in many roadmaps. We also see that private research foundations play a significant role in research funding. This means that our department grows by approx. 10% per year, but in some areas, we are still challenged in terms of capacity and generational change.

These challenges were the basis for many of the GRUS carried out over the past months. Different sections and units had each chosen to organise GRUS in their own way. Most topics for discussion were selected in advance – sometimes in plenary, other times in groups. It worked well in my opinion.

In many areas there were local problems which were discussed and which I believe we can soon find solutions to. This concerns, for example, a working environment with unsuitable working positions or sufficient introduction to laboratory work. Other local issues were about office, laboratory, and experimental facilities, which are challenged due to growth in activities and staff.

However, more general issues were also pointed out, including:

• Onboarding of new employees. Here, more needs to be done, especially in terms of getting new PhDs and postdocs introduced to our laboratories and research stations. There are also many different systems that need to be learned, in the future the department will offer a joint introduction four times a year.
• Better talk about career development for younger researchers. In the future, this must be included in MUS to a greater extent, but the department will investigate the possibility of making special measures that can strengthen career development.
• Better interaction between researchers and the lab and field units, especially through earlier involvement of technical administrative staff in the planning.
• Strengthened cooperation between sections with a focus on the themes in the department's strategy.
• Better assurance of sufficient guidance for PhDs and postdocs, for example through the involvement of more supervisors. This applies especially to PhD students with main supervisors, who are very busy.

I thank you for well-prepared GRUS and for constructive dialogue in a good atmosphere.