It’s time for the annual senior VIP meeting!
You will be doing yourself a big favour by participating in the annual senior VIP meeting even though it means taking a couple of days out of your busy schedule.
As is customary, the annual one and a half day senior VIP meeting will be held in November. The programme and event have shaped up nicely with scientific content from the sections spiced up with external speakers (this year it will be Kim Holm Boesen from the Danish Agricultural Agency), and half a day with themes that are timely. This year, for example, the topics on the agenda are sustainable intensification (read AGRO and the concept sustainable intensification) and the issue of competitive bids for policy support.
At first glance it may seem somewhat annoying to be asked to interrupt your otherwise busy schedule, but you can also look on the bright side. The meeting gives you the opportunity to lean back and hear about what preoccupies your colleagues in other sections, groups and flagships and what projects they are working on.
The meeting gives us the chance to delve into details and hear about the interesting projects that the PhD students and postdocs are working on. At the same time, it also gives us the opportunity to learn about and discuss research on a more overall level either via the scientific talks or during the ensuing café discussions.
The meeting thus provides us with a chance to get a really good feeling for the incredibly many – and very diverse – scientific competences that are present in the department. This also gives us great opportunities to probe for new possibilities for collaboration either at the meeting or perhaps it will cause the name of someone who can help you solve a scientific problem pop up in your head later on – or maybe someone who masters just that technique or method that you did not yet know that you were missing.
Of course, we should not expect collaborative projects to come rushing forth from day one, but if just one new collaboration or even a project sees the light of day as a result of the meeting, then I believe the meeting has been a success. We must also not underestimate the value of putting a face on the many names in the department either via the scientific talks, a conversation in one of the breaks or perhaps over a beer… so it becomes easier to find exactly the right person who can contribute to the progress of your project.
In the previous edition of Biweekly, Lis Wollesen de Jonge wrote in her editorial asking us to put on our yes-hats; do not hide your yes-hat too far away!
Unfortunately, I cannot attend the meeting this year – and will probably get teased about it – but my absence should not keep the rest of you from attending the senior VIP meeting no matter whether you are coming from a section in Flakkebjerg or Foulum.