BIO News

Greetings from the Department

Instituttleder Ørjan Totland. Foto: Eivind Senneset, UiB

Hei alle sammen,

It is now finally clear that Ståle Ellingsen will be the new head of department at BIO. He takes office on 1 September. I will write more about the change of head of department later, but for now, I just want to say that I am very happy that Ståle is taking over. I am absolutely certain that it is a very good choice for BIO. Congratulations Ståle!

Kjersti Sjøtun has recently retired. Kjersti has made a formidable effort in teaching and research on marine macroalgae and has had a great impact on the academic profile of our marine science environment. When Kjersti has now left, we will lose an important part of the professional breadth at BIO. Many thanks to Kjersti for her efforts. For me, it has been a great pleasure to have had you as a good, constructive, committed and skilled colleague here at BIO. I wish you all the best in your retirement.

Professor John-Arvid Grytnes will leave BIO on 1 August and start a new position as professor at NMBU. John-Arvid has made a huge effort for BIO over many years, as course manager for BIO102 and not least as subject group leader for Ecology and Evolution. It is of course unfortunate for BIO that John-Arvid will now be grazing new pastures, because he has really had a great impact on BIO, but I know he is leaving us with a strong desire to continue ongoing collaborations. Many thanks for your efforts John-Arvid and good luck in your new position at NMBU.

On 19 April it is time for a new party for PhDs and post docs. Sign up (see advertisement elsewhere in this BIOnytt) and meet new and exciting friends and participate in the academic-social community.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Hilsen Ørjan

BIO News, HSE

Success! – Feedback after the fire-alarm drill Wednesday April 10th

On Wednesday, April 10th, there was a fire drill in Thormøhlensgate 53A/B. The exercise went very well. I see this as a common success for whole BIO, or at least for all the users of the mentioned buildings. The HSE coordinator, the fire user representatives and Knut Olav have together put a lot of effort into updating and reorganising of the fire safety handbook for the Department of Biological Sciences. The new handbook is available on the Departments website, FIRE SAFETY HANDBOOK FOR DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

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BIO News

Report on the technical staff survey 2023 – hearing

The working group’s report with an assessment of the current organization and proposal for a process for the distribution of technical support is now ready and can be read here:

https://mitt.uib.no/files/5802527/download?download_frd=1 [Norwegian language] Please note that you need to be logged in to mitt.uib.no to open the file

We hereby invite all employees to provide input and comments on the report. Use this form to give your feedback:

https://skjemaker.app.uib.no/view.php?id=16770360

Buildings and operations

Notice regarding planned rehabilitation work in the area between Thormøhlensgate 55 and 53A/B

ILAB has sent this notice with regard to upcoming maintenance work in the area between TM55 and 53A/B:

Nature and extend of work

Surface rehabilitation of the external contact chamber located underground between Thormøhlensgate 55 and 53A and B. Here, parts of the area will be blocked off for normal traffic, and the work will also cause noise at times.

Work is planned for approximately 5 weeks.

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BIO News, Society

Nytt debattinnlegg: La oss bruke naturen smartere

«Utbygging av fornybar energi har tradisjonelt sett ført til store naturinngrep. Fornybar kraft har lagt grunnlag for norsk industrivekst og velstand i godt over hundre år. Dersom teknologien skal hjelpe oss gjennom det grønne skiftet og inn i framtidas fornybarsamfunn er det én avgjørende forutsetning for å lykkes: At selve bruken av arealene må på agendaen i mye større grad enn før.»

Dette sier forfatterne av debattinnlegget i Klassekampen med tittelen “La oss bruke naturen smartere”, Dagmar Hagen|Tine Uberg Nærland|Vigdis Vandvik|Kristin Tolstad Uggen

Les hele artikkelen her

Calls, Research, UiB News

Funds for collaborative projects and professional meeting places within Global societal challenges 2024

[Our translation]

Global societal challenges (GSU) is one of three priority areas where UiB wants to utilize and develop the broad university’s unique opportunities for professional mobilization, deepening and collaboration across subject boundaries. GSU wants to stimulate professional meeting places and collaboration across the faculties and is advertising seed funding for the purpose. A minimum of two faculties must be involved in the collaboration and the activity should be linked to the themes highlighted for the period 2023-2025: democracy and human rights, global health, migration, diversity, resources.

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External events, Research training

Summer school on climate – CATER school 2024

Photo: https://caterschools.net

We are excited to announce the 2024 CATER School<https://caterschools.net/2024-school>, the second instalment in our series of annual summer schools, as part of the CATER project on transdisciplinarity approaches to climate resilience research. CATER is led by a broad coalition of climate researchers and educators from Norway, South Africa, and France, with an aim of moving science into action and vice versa by developing immersive schools.

The application deadline is April 19th, 2024.

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