Foto: Eivind Senneset
It was truly inspiring to kick off the first bioTHURSDAY yesterday. It was fantastic to see such a great turnout at our first bioSEMINAR! A big thank you to Peter Manning and Andreas Borchel, who delivered excellent scientific presentations in the best possible way! These two not only represent the high level of science happening at BIO but also showcase the breadth of our research, as clearly reflected in the titles of their presentations: “Linking Biodiversity and Land Use Changes to Societal Impacts” (PM) and “Salmon Skin’s Secrets: Decoding the Transcriptomic Defense Against Salmon Lice” (AB). Next week, same day – same time, we continue with bioLUNCH in K1/K2. There will be two shorter presentations and some general updates from the department. At the same time, you will have the opportunity for an informal chat with good colleagues over a coffee (feel free to bring your lunch). bioTHURSDAY will be in addition to our regular staff meetings, which will continue as before. Stay tuned in bionytt for updates.
These days, we are launching a broadly composed working group to evaluate the organization of subject groups, research groups, and the leadership team at BIO. The goal of this work is to strengthen research and teaching leadership and to optimize communication and information flow between the department leadership, research groups, and subject groups. This will be an exciting and demanding task that I look forward to tackling, and it will continue throughout the spring semester.
Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap AS (VIS) assists numerous researchers with innovation and commercialization. Traditionally, BIO has been a significant contributor of ideas, but in recent years, the number of new ideas has declined. I want us at BIO to reverse this trend together with VIS. To strengthen this collaboration, VIS will have a more active presence at BIO, establishing regular office hours every Wednesday before lunch (2nd floor, Block A, Biologen). Please reach out to “our” VIS contact, Randi Taxt, if you have an idea or a project that you think may be of interest (see more details in a separate news article in this issue of bionytt). I also challenge all research group leaders at BIO to invite VIS to a meeting to establish a dialogue and learn more about the opportunities available.
Have a great weekend!
Ståle