Greetings from the department – 9.6.2023

Well, then only the last push is left before a well-deserved holiday is at the door for all of us. With a record number of master’s exams and many students on the various courses, there are still a few busy weeks left for most.

In the Environment and aquaculture biology group, we have just celebrated Nina Ellingsen’s who is leaving after an impressive 43 years at UiB, during which time countless pieces of tissue have been cut, stained and put in a careful system to the delight of all aquaculture and fish health students who have learned and will learn about the structure of fish and histology. We have also celebrated Patrik Tang’s doctorate with a proper “hanging” in the lunch area, which means that the new doctor hangs a picture of himself on the wall, so that we have an overview of our important contributors over the years. In this connection, we used the opportunity for a joint “hanging” also of doctors Yasaman Pakdaman and Enrique Martinez who defended digitally during Covid.

Now we are starting the master’s exam for 15 civ.ing. students in aquaculture, 6 master’s students in aquaculture biology, 2 in developmental biology and 3 in environmental toxicology, a total of 29 students who will defend their thesis in the next few days, so we have an incredibly hectic schedule this year. One of the most rewarding parts of the job is being part of the incredible transformation that happens with the students through the master’s. How unsure students fumble at the beginning to find a task and are unsure whether they can do their own research, – until they have carried out experiments, analyzed and processed data, made figures, read literature and seen their results in a larger context and finally written a task. This opportunity to research and find new important results is something that profoundly helps the students to grow and it is very rewarding for us supervisors to be part of this process and develop the students into more independent people and good employees.

Good luck with the exam to all master’s students and good luck with the exam completion for all the staff

Best wishes,

Vidar

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Jon Vidar Helvik

Faggruppeleder

Environment and aquaculture biology group