SUND NEWS 3

SUND NEWS 3January 2012

The Faculty of Medicine began the new year with a friendly get-together, where we also “took the temperature” of the now 1-year-old child: the child is doing well, has found its rhythm - but it is also a lively and surprising child full of energy. What can’t this child do when it’s 5 years old? 10 years old?

This issue of SUND NEWS will give you an impres-sion of the many different activities taking place at the Faculty of Medicine, made possible by our dedi-cated and talented staff and students.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your efforts during the previous year. We are

already in full swing with 2012. We know we’ll have to work very hard if we are to achieve our ambiti-ons. And we know that our success is entirely de-pendent on our working together openly and wit-hout bias, acknowledging the efforts that we each provide, regardless of work role.

Welcome to 2012. Welcome to SUND NEWS 3.

Egon Toft, Dean

SUND NEWS 3

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E d u c a t i o n & Te a c h i n g 4 - 9

O r g a n i z a t i o n & R e s o u r c e s

1 0 - 1 6R e s e a r c h

1 7 - 2 1

The newsletter is first and foremost for all emplo-yees associated with the Faculty of Medicine, i.e., staff at the departments and in the faculty admini-stration. But SUND NEWS is also available to eve-ryone on the website and we hope that students in the health science programs as well as internal and external partners will also find SUND NEWS relevant. Ideas, suggestions and comments are welcome and can be sent to Bodil Brander Chri-stensen ( [email protected] )

The deadline for the next issue of SUND NEWS is April 13, 2012.

Contributions to SUND NEWS are most welcome and can be sent to Ann Karina Schelde ( [email protected] )

About SUND NEWSSUND NYTMaj 2011

Contents

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In all study boards, the student representatives nominate a candidate for Teacher of the Year for a given study board. The nomination must be justified by commitment and ex-cellence in teaching, teaching materials and the planning of teaching.

The teachers of the year for the Faculty of Medicine’s two study boards were revealed and honored at the New Year’s Reception on January 3, 2012. Jesper Franch, Head of the School of Medicine and Health, gave a speech for the two prize winners, based on the students’ nominations.

The Teacher of the Year for the Study Board for Medicine is Parisa Gazerani, Associate Professor, and Teacher of the Year for the Study Board for Health, Technology and Sports Science is Carsten Dahl Mørch, Associate Professor.

In his speech honoring Parisa Gazerani, Jesper Franch noted:

Your commitment to teaching and research coupled with your pharmaceutical background makes you an excellent teacher and supervisor.

Your teaching is enthusiastic, systematic and always well planned and prepared. Your use of effective examples makes complex issues more accessible to students.

You are a master of the traditional lecture as well as jour-nal clubs, group discussions and supervision. You always make sure that students are actively involved and benefit from your teaching. Your positive approach and great pa-tience ensure a very good learning environment which the students appreciate.

When honoring Carsten Dahl Mørch, Jesper Franch noted:

Your teaching of physics for the 4th, 5th and 6th semesters in biomedical engineering is very engaging and lively, and you manage to make even a tough subject like physics inte-resting and you do so without losing the students.

You are always well prepared, and your lectures are of a very high standard. You also prepare lecture notes for the students, which students really appreciate, since the notes help them have an overview of the entire course and pro-vide good support for exam preparation.

You contribute much more than good teaching. Through your humor and your attentive approach to the students you create a great study environment. And last but not least, the students look forward to being taught by you in the future.

Faculty of Medicine Teachers of the Year

Education & Teaching

Teachers of the Year, Parisa Gazerani (left) and Carsten Dahl Mørch, are presented with their awards and flowers by Jesper Franch, Head of the School of Me-dicine and Health.

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Lab experiments with stem cells that inhibit the growth of cancer cells have secured five medical students from Aal-borg University a prestigious talent award at a conference in Berlin. The group’s promising findings surprised even them and now they will be involved in more in-depth stu-dies.

The five students from the Medicine with Industrial Spe-cialization program have worked with the effect of stems cells from fat on a particular type of cancer, in conjunction with their supervisor, Meg Duroux, Associate Professor at the Laboratory for Stem Cell Research.

The European Students’ Conference (ESC) in Berlin, held this year for the 22nd time, is the largest biomedical con-ference in Europe organized by students. It attracts seve-

ral hundred participants from all over the world, and the theme for 2011 was ”Perspectives and Challenges in Rege-nerative Medicine.”

The Aalborg group was both Winner of the Day and overall winner of the ESC Research Award for best poster presen-tation. The group is: Heidi Guldborg Møller, Hjalte Holm Andersen, Anders Christian Kaa, Andreas Pagh Rasmus-sen and Kasper Bendix Johnsen.

Read the full story here www.en.aau.dk/News+and+Events/News//cancer-experiment-secures-research-award-for-aau-medical-students.cid51287

Cancer Experiment Secures Research Award for AAU Medical Students

Education & Teaching

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Novo Nordisk scholarship for Biomedical Engineering and Informatics student

Juri Osmolovski has been granted a one-year scholarship by Novo Nordisk, starting September 2012, where he will be studying methods for prediction and prevention of hypoglycaemia (dangerously low blood glucose) in peo-ple with diabetes.

The work will be based on high quality data from Steno Diabetes Center in Copenhagen. The data was collected as part of an industrial PhD collaboration between Novo Nordisk and Aalborg University and Juri’s scholarship will enable him to contribute to this collaboration.

Juri will base his work on metabolic models of the carbo-hydrate metabolism using signal processing and pattern recognition methods. Juri’s main supervisor is Professor Ole Hejlesen from the Medical Informatics Group at the Department of Health Science and Technology. Co-su-pervisors are Toke Folke Christensen, MSc BMEI, PhD, modelling scientist at Novo Nordisk, and Lise Tarnow, MD, DMSc, manager at Steno Diabetes Center.

Juri Osmolovski starter september 2012 Novo Nordisk scholarship

Education & Teaching

Michael Sloth Traberg, MR Aalborg

Medicinerrådet, a new asso-ciation is established

By Michael Sloth Trabjerg, MR Aalborg

After five months of hard work and meetings every other week, the medical students at Aalborg University have a new association, Medicinerrådet (the Medical Student Association) Aalborg.

MR is an independent, voluntary student political asso-ciation intended to represent medical students at AAU internally in the program and with the management of the university.

The association was officially established December 15th, where 16 medical students participated in the founding general assembly. Twelve medical students were elected to the board of representatives, four from the 1st seme-ster and eight from the 3rd semester. MR Aalborg is loo-king forward to good and constructive collaboration with Aalborg University and MRs in the country’s three other medical programs.

In our first year, MR wants to work on issues such as how students and management, in both the short and long term, can improve the medical program, so that students gain further knowledge and skills.

For more information: www.mraalborg.dk

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Master’s in Public HealthThe Faculty of Medicine has gotten approval for a new program in public health that will be starting Septem-ber 2012.

The two-year master’s program will train graduates who can handle functions related to development, implementation and impact assessment of prevention and health promotion activities. Students will learn to conduct surveys and translate knowledge into action so that new knowledge quickly benefits people.

The program consists of four semesters and a problem-oriented project is done in each semester. Typically, students work on current issues in conjunction with public and private companies on indications for and management of risk factors for disease, concerning de-velopment and impact assessment of prevention or he-alth promotion activities.

Project work is supplemented by courses including un-derstanding of health, risk and prevention; epidemio-

logy and statistical methods; organization, strategy and management; health economics and prioritization; as well as learning and processes of change.

Admission Requirements

The following bachelor’s programs provide entry to the Master of Public Health program: Sports Science, Medicine with Industrial Specialization, Medicine and Public Health.

Assuming a minimum of 10 ECTS credits in epidemio-logy and statistics, the following professional bachelors also have direct entry to the program: Nursing; Nutri-tion and Health; Occupational Therapy; Physiotherapy; and Midwifery.

Education & Teaching

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Education and Teaching

IMCC – When you want to try out your studies in actual practice

By Henriette E. Callesen, outgoing chair, IMCC Aalborg

On October 2, 2011, 84 students from Farsø Efterskole were visited by eight students with the title ”Sexpert” who set the agenda. Topics included sex, contraception and STDs, but unlike normal sex education, topics were addressed by students with a health science as well as an entertaining ap-proach.

“Sexperts” is one of a number of projects offered by the na-tional organization IMCC (International Medical Coopera-tion Committee) that in Aalborg consists of students from Medicine with Industrial Specialization, Medicine as well as Biomedical Engineering. The organization is for students who want to do volunteer health work in areas such as relief work, education and exchange. Besides ”Sexperts” there is also the project ”Research Exchange,” which sends students out into the world to get experience with professional re-search on their own.

IMCC is a member of the large, worldwide organization IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students’ Asso-ciations) that twice a year holds its annual general meeting attended by several hundred health profession students from all over the world. In the last year and a half, IMCC Aalborg has sent students to these highly inspiring meetings, and in March 2012, Søren Knudsen, IMCC Aalborg’s new chair, heads to Ghana to represent Aalborg.

On the home front, IMCC Aalborg had a massive increase in its membership in 2011, which means that more projects get-ting started. The new projects are:

3om1 -finding sponsors for schoolchildren in India

First aid for public schools - teaching first aid to public school students

Children’s Hospital - reducing children’s fear of hospitals and doctors

In addition to offering experiences in Denmark and in most of the rest of the world, IMCC also provides the chance to make a difference for others. IMCC is a good opportunity to both grow personally and to learn a lot about things like organi-zation work, leadership, project management and working across studies and municipal boundaries. Last but not least, IMCC is known for great parties, fun and just being together.

So if you are a student in the health area, and you want to try out your studies in actual practice, we’d love to have you on the team. You can learn more and contact us at www.imcc.dk.

Henriette E. Callesen, outgoing chair, IMCC Aalborg

Søren Knudsen, new chair, IMCC Aalborg

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Education and Teaching

”Den Hvide Verden”

By Jane Jacobsen, Communication, Faculty Office for TEKNAT/SUND

In 2012, the Faculty is taking part for the first time in the fair ”Den Hvide Verden” which takes place 8 February, 15 to 17.30 at Aalborg Hospital’s South Section. The fair is organized by the North Denmark Region and is aimed primarily at young people age 13-25, who are conside-ring an education in the health area. At close range, vi-sitors will be able to experience what happens when a patient is brought in under an emergency response, and they will meet various professionals from the hospital and program counselors from UCN and AAU. At SUND’s stand area, the young people can experience the interaction between programs within technology, sports science and medicine, while they receive a he-alth check and have their reflexes and muscle activity measured.

See and learn more about “Den Hvide Verden” http://www.denhvideverden.rn.dk/

Sille Jensen (right), program counselor in Medicine with In-dustrial Specialization, is one of the four program counselors you will meet at the SUND stand on 8 February.

New doctor – CongratulationsStephen E. Rees, Associate Professor at the Department of Health Science and Technology, defended his docto-ral dissertation on December 2, 2011 and was awarded a higher doctorate (dr. techn.) in Engineering by the Aca-demic Council.

The dissertation is titled ”The Intelligent Ventilator (INVENT) project: The role of mathematical models in translating physiological knowledge into clinical prac-tice.”

Computer systems and mathematical models can im-prove the clinical management of patients in hospitals, but it is difficult to translate models to easily usable practical solutions, concluded Stephen Rees in his doc-toral dissertation.

Research

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Sapere Aude Award – CongratulationsThe Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF) has just given 45 young researchers a career kick. One of them is Claus Graff, Department of Health Science and Techno-logy, who apart from the honor also received a share of the large amount money. Awards are made within the research council’s elite program, Sapere Aude DFF – Young Elite Re-searcher, that contributes to research careers with grants of between one and 4.5 million kroner.

Claus Graff receives DKK 3,187,998 for the project ”Electro-cardiographic Risk Stratification of Patients with the Early Repolarization Syndrome.”

Project description: Heart rhythm disturbances cause about 200,000 deaths annually in North America and Europe. In many cases there are no known symptoms, but we know that up to 80 percent of the people who survive cardiac arrest have an anomaly in the heart’s electrical impulses – an ano-maly called early repolarization, measurable with electrocar-diography (ECG).

Early repolarization occurs in up to 13 percent of the popu-lation, but we currently have no tools to distinguish between cases of early repolarization that eventually develop into ar-

rhythmia and those that do not. In conjunction with Copen-hagen University Hospital’s Heart Center, Copenhagen Ge-neral Practitioners Laboratory and researchers in the U.S., we will perform computer-based analyses of ECGs from more than 410,000 patients to examine whether we can identify the characteristic patterns that may predict risk of life-threate-ning cardiac arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death.

The analyses are matched with the public health register that contains information about disease and death. In cooperation with Copenhagen University Hospital’s intensive care de-partment we will also characterize early repolarization pat-terns during long-term ECG recordings of comatose patients who have survived a cardiac arrest. These measurements allow us to gain insight into the dynamic aspects of early repolarization that precedes arrhythmias in patients during hospitalization. The goal is to achieve better risk assessment in patients with early repolarization and thus more targeted treatment.

Research

Claus Graff, Sapere Aude Award recipient

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By Lars Arendt-Nielsen, Professor, SMI, Department of Health Science and Technology

SMI was established as a ”Center of Excellence” in 1993 with support from the Danish National Research Foundation. The center is part of the Department of Health Science and Tech-nology.

SMI is an interdisciplinary, international center that over the years has grown from eight to 80 employees. Additionally, a number of project research staff are affiliated. SMI’s policy has been one of interdisciplinarity (doctors, engineers, phar-macists, physiotherapists, dentists, etc.) as well as internatio-nalization, with a goal of fifty percent of staff coming from abroad (more than 20 different countries are represented). SMI occupies approximately 1,500 square meters of office space and 750 square meters of modern and fully equipped laboratories.

SMI receives funding from numerous private foundations, national research and research training programs, interna-tional programs (EU and NIH) and industrial collaborati-ons and has an annual external turnover of approximately 30 million kroner. More than 100 externally funded projects are administered. A significant resource is research collabo-ration and partnership established with numerous national and international organizations, research centers, hospitals and businesses.

SMI collaborates with 45 national and international compa-nies and with more than 85 organizations in 25 countries.

In addition, SMI is active in a number of institutional net-works in biomedical engineering, neuroscience and clinical disciplines.

SMI is led by Professor Lars Arendt-Nielsen and a manage-ment group consisting of the heads of the four RIGs (Re-search Interest Group).

The center is structured around three main activities: re-search, education and innovation.

Research: SMI’s research is organized in four RIGs:

Integrative Neuroscience (Head: Ole Kæseler An-dersen, Professor)

Neural Engineering and Neurophysiology of Move-ment (Head: Winnie Jensen, Associate Professor)

Pain and Motor Systems (Head: Thomas Graven-Nielsen, Professor)

Physical Activity and Human Performance (Head: Pascal Madeleine, Professor)

SMI has published a total of more than 1,600 peer-reviewed scientific articles (more than 100 per year) in internationally recognized journals. Fifty percent of these are published in conjunction with international researchers, and articles from the SMI have been cited over 80,000 times. SMI has acquired 28 patents and over the years its research has resulted in more than five spin-outs and three proofs of concept. Moreover, se-ven inventions were submitted in 2010-2011. SMI is annually host to various large meetings, conferences and other events and is active in many networking activities and development projects with industry.

Education: Attached to SMI, the International Doctoral School in Biomedical Science and Engineering was estab-lished in 1997 and in 2006, it was expanded to include a re-search training program for elite students (the only one of its kind in Denmark), and was later designated as a ”European Marie Curie Training Site”. The doctoral school, now headed by Professor Thomas Graven-Nielsen, is currently under the Faculty of Medicine and has enrolled more than 80 doctoral students and conferred more than 150 degrees over the ye-ars. SMI also contributes to the study programs in biomedical engineering, medicine and sports science.

Innovation: With grants from the then North Jutland County and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, SMI launched an innovation program in 2006 where SMI research activities were further developed in conjunction with biome-dical and pharmaceutical companies.

In 2011, this resulted in the establishment of a new center in welfare technology (e-Health Tech Center) and the business park (Eir), both of which are anchored in SMI and led by Pro-fessors Ole Kæseler Andersen and Lars Arendt-Nielsen. The-se initiatives are described separately in this issue of SUND NEWS.

For further information about SMI, contact Susanne Nielsen Lundis, [email protected], tel.:+45 9940 8828.

Research

Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI)

SUND NEWS will regularly present research centers and groups at the Faculty of Medicine. In this issue, we begin with the Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI)

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Research

Research on learning, project work and competence development in SUND’s pro-grams

By Diana Stentoft, Assistant Professor, Department of Learning and Philosophy

At the Faculty of Medicine, we teach students who upon graduation will come to play many and varied roles in society. This places demands not only on the quality of academic content, but also on the way we teach and train our students. All programs at the Faculty of Medicine are designed with emphasis on the problem-based approach to learning, and it is this approach that is the focal point in one of the education research projects that began after the faculty’s establishment.

The project, running over a period of years, will identify and follow students’ experiences with learning, project work and competence development for all full-time pro-grams. The first phase of the project was launched with a larger survey of students in the first year of study. Que-stions included their expectations for teaching methods prior to the start of their studies, their use of study skills in various learning situations, such as lectures, project work, case work and individual study and their employment ex-pectations upon graduation.

This part of the investigation will be used, among other things, to establish a clearer picture of how students expe-rience learning with a problem-based approach, how they think about learning, and how they weight the various stu-dy skills in the learning situations they encounter in their program. It will also be possible to see if students in the participating programs are experiencing learning and the problem-based approach to education differently. The data will be analyzed during the spring and summer of 2012, after which the first results will be available. The research project will contribute to further development and docu-mentation of the pedagogical model for the health-related programs. The project is being conducted by Diana Sten-toft, Assistant Professor from the Department of Learning and Philosophy, in close cooperation with study program management and the dedicated teachers at the faculty.

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There were celebrities on stage at Comwell in Rebild when the Brains Business Award 2011 was presented on 17 No-vember. TV’s Line Baun Danielsen was master of ceremo-nies; star of the small and the big screen, Mads Mikkelsen, was the speaker and presenter; and Professor Steen Andre-assen, of the biomedical engineering research and inno-vation world, was the recipient of the award – a sculpture by artist Thorvald Odgaard and an inspiration trip of his choice.

Among six nominees from the bustling Northern Jutland ICT industry, Steen Andreassen received the Brains Busi-ness Award because:

- Professor Steen Andreassen serves as a role model through his unique talent for going from his own research at the highest international level to developing new innovative knowledge-based products and commercial and business areas in biomedical engineering and ICT.

And there is good evidence for this statement. Steen An-dreassen, who holds a dr. techn. degree, has been, among other things, the founder of no fewer than six successful companies, several of which produce products that have significant influence on daily life in hospitals worldwide. The six companies that Steen Andreassen has helped to

create are: Hugin Expert A/S, OBI Aps, Judex Data Systems A/S, Treat Systems Aps, Cephalon A/S and Mermaid Care A/S. Through these companies, he has been the architect behind innovations such as:

Viking and MUNIN - systems for the diagnosis of neuromuscular disorders

Glucosafe - a system for the regulation of blood glucose in patients in intensive care

TREAT- which can significantly improve antibio-tic treatment of serious infections, an invention that in Denmark alone can save over 1,000 lives a year

INVENT- which focuses on achieving a better ba-sis for decision making in treatment of patients with respiratory diseases.

When Professor Steen Andreassen launches something, it stems from his research at the Center for Model-based Me-dical Decision Support at the Department of Health Science and Technology, where he is Head of Center.

HST Professor Wins ICT Innovation Award

Research

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Eir – Empowering Industry and Research

By Charlotte Villadsen, Technology Scout, Department of Health Science and Technology

A new Northern Jutland research and business park will strengthen research-based innovation health science and technology in conjunction with national and international industry.

Eir aims to facilitate research-based business develop-ment, innovation and entrepreneurship between resear-chers and industry. Eir is also intended to attract new knowledge-intensive companies and pool competences across Aalborg University, North Denmark Region ho-spitals, municipalities in North Jutland and that part of industry working with technology solutions for the health sector. Many companies are already attached to the pro-ject that has a special focus on international, knowledge-intensive industry.

The overall vision is to make North Jutland the focal point for development and testing of new health technology and medical solutions. The new initiative has a total bud-get of approximately 38 million kroner, half of which is

granted from GrowthForum, North Denmark Region. Per Christiansen, CEO North Denmark Region, chairs the ste-ering committee that includes Egon Toft and Lars Hvil-sted Rasmussen, Director of Research, Aalborg Hospital.

Professor Lars Arendt-Nielsen is the general manager of Eir.

For further information on Eir, contact Charlotte Vil-ladsen, [email protected], tel.: +45 9940 8867.

Research

PhD DegreesIn 2011, the Academic Council of the Faculty of Medicine awarded 17 PhD degrees. In the last issue of SUND NEWS, the first 13 of that year’s PhDs were presented. Here are the last four. Congratulations to all.

Carina Graversen, December 9, 2011Classification of electroencephalography for pain and phar-maco-EEG studies

Yuka Oono, December 2, 2011Conditioned pain modulation (CPM): Experimental studies in the craniofacial region in healthy humans

Rebekka Ryder, October 28, 2011 FoxP3 mRNA splice forms in arthritis patients

Peter William Stubbs, September 20, 2011Short-latency crossed spinal responses in the human soleus muscle during sitting and walking

For further information see the Faculty’s website http://www.sundhedsvidenskab.aau.dk/Forskning/Ph.d.-for-svar+2011/

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e-Health Tech – A new center for individual welfare technology

By Charlotte Villadsen, Technology Scout, Department of Health Science and Technology

For many years, Aalborg University has intensively condu-cted research in biomedical engineering and built a strong interdisciplinary international environment, ranging from ”cell to system.” Focus has been on diagnosis, monitoring and care in specific disease areas.

A new interdisciplinary center, e-Health Tech has been estab-lished to meet the increased interest in individual welfare technology and to utilize the university’s complementary ex-pertise in areas such as computer science, wireless communi-cations, medialogy, robotics etc.

E-Health Tech will focus on individually customized welfare technology solutions, including researching methods to im-prove the registration of health parameters from individuals, both those in contact with healthcare systems and healthy in-dividuals through their active lives.

Innovation will constitute a large share of the activity in e-Health Tech. E-Health Tech will closely partner with Eir on external activities and innovation, making use of Eir’s infra-structure and its many offerings. More than thirty entities – companies, municipalities and regions – have shown interest in both research and innovation activities.

E-Health Tech is supported by the TEKNAT and SUND fa-culties.

For further information on e-Health Tech, contact Profes-sor Ole Kæseler Andersen, [email protected], tel. +45 9940 8816.

Research

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By Marianne Sørensen, Head of Section, V-CHI

The Virtual Centre for Health Informatics held E-sundheds-observatoriet’s Annual Conference on 11 and 12 October at Hotel Nyborg Strand. Over 600 interested participants atten-ded, and a range of suppliers displayed their current health IT solutions at 28 exhibition stands. The conference is the twelfth in the series and attracts more and more participants every year.

The conference covers a wide range of important initiatives and achievements in e-health in primary and secondary sec-tors in municipalities and regions, including hospitals. Most of the key players in health IT contributed presentations to the conference, and 16 organizations were represented in an advisory group ensuring that the conference covered current topics and focused on the challenges ahead.

The theme was ”Changing focus from illness to health: E-health as leverage for renewal of the health care system.” Patients, relatives, health professionals and those in health management have different needs for information to support prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, and these issues were presented, discussed and put into perspective at the conference.

The conference ran five plenary sessions and 12 parallel ses-sions where a total of 62 speakers shared their knowledge and experience. Selected from 107 proposals submitted, a number of speakers from Denmark as well as a number of international keynote speakers contributed their inspiring experience from their organizations, including Steve Brown, Veterans Administration, USA; Jesús Maria Fernandes, Mini-ster of Health and Regional Director, Basque Country, Spain; Adam Hobsgood, Healthways, USA; and a panel of Nordic colleagues who provided a status on the development and implementation of e-Health in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Conference coordinators were Christian Nøhr, Stig Kjær An-dersen, Pernille Bertelsen, Søren Vingtoft and Marianne So-rensen, Aalborg University.

See more at www.e-sundhedsobservatoriet.dk

Research

E-sundhedsobservatoriet’s Annual Conference 2011

The panel Nordic Observations on the first day of the conference provided a status on developing and implementing e-Health in the Nordic countries. (From left) Arild Faxvaag, M.D., Ph.D. and Director of the Norwegian Centre for EHR Research, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway; Hannele Hyppönen, Research Director, Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare; Åke Waldius, Senior Researcher, School of Computer Science and Communication, KTH, Sweden; and Christian Nøhr, Professor, Virtual Centre for Health Informatics, Department of Development and Planning, Aalborg University.

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Organization & Resources

Rules to live by at AAUAalborg University’s management and the central consultation committee have been the principal organizers of a pro-cess addressing how we should “behave” at Aalborg University. This process has been based on an interesting discus-sion paper, authored by AAU’s HR department. The key rules of conduct are summarized as follows:

1. Live according to the core values at the univer-sity and in the public sector

2. Be a good colleague

3. Create cooperation and dialogue

4. Communicate openly and professionally

5. Use opportunities for influence - get involved in university issues

6. Know and use the university’s PBL principles

7. Take responsibility for student learning and de-velopment

8. Contribute to the university’s good reputation

9. Handle conflict constructively

10. Be open and consistent if you end up in a cross-pressure situation

11. Bullying, harassment, discrimination, differen-tial treatment, and threatening or violent be-havior are unacceptable – do not participate in these and take some responsibility if you find that others are exposed to them.

Lone SarauwHR staff, Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering and Science

”As an HR staff person, I’ve chosen to focus on the three that I believe can contribute most to employee well-being and job satisfaction:

5) Use opportunities for influence - get involved in university issues.

If you want to influence your own working conditions then it is important to engage. Instead of succumbing to a ”cul-ture of complaint” where we as employees see ourselves as powerless victims of the whims and orders of “the powers that be,” we should get involved by taking some responsi-

bility and trying to influence conditions we are dissatisfied with.

10) Be open and consistent if you end up in a cross-pressure si-tuation.

Openness is the only possible way out of a cross-pressure situation. Although it may be difficult to speak up for your-self, we have to practice doing it because our leaders are not always aware that they expose us to cross-pressures. Therefore, we have to help them by making them aware of it and speaking up.

11) Bullying, harassment, discrimination, differential treatment and threatening or violent behavior are unacceptable – do not participate in these and take some responsibility if you find that others are exposed to them.

Bullying, etc., are extreme expressions of a poor work cul-ture, so all of us should make an effort every day to en-sure we have a decent tone and that we respect each other despite our differences. It is part of the university that we are trained in the critical thinking behind good research, but critical thinking should not influence our dealings with each other. Well-being and job satisfaction for me are fun-damentally about practicing communicating in an open and considerate manner so that we have better coopera-tive relations with our colleagues and that we respect each other for our different competencies and personalities.”

SUND NEWS asked some colleagues the question: ”Which three of the eleven rules do you find most important, and why?”

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Meg Duroux Associate Professor, Department of Health Science and Technology

”My three choises are:

2) Be a good colleague.

This means that you help each other with administrative and teaching duties. You respect other people’s ways/modes of working and you keep to deadlines. A good colleague helps to create a harmonious work place.

7) Take responsibility for student learning and development.

As a teacher and researcher, it is important to provide a sound foundation in order for the students to learn and grow throughout their studies. As a teacher, you have to be accessible to the students when needed and provide the correct framework for them to develop in-

dependently.

11) Bullying, harassment, discrimination, differential treat-ment and threatening or violent behavior are unacceptable – do not participate in these and take some responsibility if you find that others are exposed to them.

These are very important to be aware of and react to. Discrimination, bullying and lack of respect within the hierarchy do not make for a healthy working environ-ment. Under all circumstances, it should be a policy that this is not proper conduct in a professional working en-vironment. Work together to support those that need help.”

Lisbeth PalmelundHead of Division, Department of Health Science and Technology

”I think many of the eleven rules are interrelated and if one lives by one rule, it will have a spillover effect on the others. But I have chosen three of the rules that I think are very fundamental to our way of working and how we act at AAU.

3. Create cooperation and dialogue

By having good cooperation and dialogue between col-leagues and between technical-administrative staff and academic staff and dealing with each other constructive-ly and openly we avoid many conflicts. At the same time it creates a good working environment and promotes both research and innovation at AAU.

4. Communicate openly and professionally

With open and professional communication we meet each other on equal terms and this makes for a much ea-sier dialogue, just as misunderstandings that are due to, for example, different nationalities and cultures diffe-rent use of humor can be avoided. Professional commu-nication also means that you can have a dialogue with

everyone, regardless of how and where you are emplo-yed at AAU.

5. Use opportunities for influence - get involved in university issues

You might not be able to change the big things, but you can participate in discussions about university issues and provide input and experience from where you sit in the organization. It is important that all groups within the organization are heard since this promotes motiva-tion and job satisfaction at AAU.

Common to all three rules is that it is the individual employee (ourselves) who is responsible for adhering to the three rules. If we all think a little more about fol-lowing these rules, it will be easier to handle conflicts, prevent bullying, harassment, etc. And understand each other across nationalities and cultures. This in turn will contribute to the university’s reputation.”

Svend BirkelundProfessor, Department of Health Science and Technology

Before taking a position at Aalborg University March 1, 2011, I was employed at Aarhus University for 27 years. I would really like to comment on the rules because to my surprise there are very large differences in univer-sity ”tone” at the different universities in Denmark.

One reason for the differences probably lies in rule 7: ”Take responsibility for student learning and develop-ment.” In the case work at MedIS, you get a thorough understanding of student learning and what they have difficulty learning. This means that you can quickly ad-just your own teaching when you realize what the stu-dents have not understood, although you believed that what you said in lectures was obvious.

One thing that is possible at AAU is rule 5: ”Use the op-portunities for influence - get involved in university is-sues” because there is a simple structure you can act in when the department and the faculty are perceived as entities that communicate with each other and you feel that your involvement in university issues is heard.

Rule 2 ”Be a good colleague” is essential for a positive collaboration between all categories of employees. I see this one as one of most important since good working relationships require good colleagues, and good work-ing relationships are essential for the success of univer-sity work.

Organization & Resources

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Organization & Resources

25th AnniversaryOn Monday 12 December, the Department of Health Science and Technology celebrated technician Merete Fredsgaard’s 25th anniversary. Merete started at Aalborg University as a lab technician student at the then Department of Water, Soil and Environmental Engineering at Sohngårdsholmsvej and after graduation got a permanent position there. Over the ye-ars, Merete has been affiliated with various research groups at Sohngårdsholsmvej until 2008 when she decided to try something new. The something new was Professor Torben Moos’s group in biomedicine in HST, where Merete got to be part of building an exciting research environment, and also

helped to support the teaching of the new MedIS and Medi-cal students.

Merete is active in many areas, including union representa-tive for the lab technicians at AAU and is on both the depart-ment and faculty consultation committees. Merete enjoys the trust and respect of her colleagues, and she is never afraid to express her opinion along with a helping hand.

We congratulate Merete.

Merete Fredsgaard with Professor Torben Moos, Head of Department Kim Dremstrup and Dean Egon Toft

Pedagogy Day 2012 for AAU academic staff In 2012, a pedagogy day will be held at Aalborg University. Please reserve Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 9:00 to 16:30.

The morning will be for all faculties, while the afternoon will be organized by the individual faculties.

Notice

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Organization & Resources

Representatives on the council, boards and committees Faculty of Medicine (period of service beginning February 2012)

Academic Council

Academic representatives: Pascal Madeleine, Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Carsten Dahl Mørch, Associate Professor, Dept. of He-alth Science and Technology

Lasse Riis Østergaard, Assistant Professor, Dept. of He-alth Science and Technology

Torben Moos, Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Diana Stentoft, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Philosophy and Learnng

Student representatives: Kasper B. Johnsen Søren V. Knudsen

Observers: Susanne Nielsen Lundis, Head of Division, Dept. of He-alth Science and Technology

Else Ramsgaard, Librarian, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Kirstine Rosenbeck Gøeg, PhD student, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

PhD Board

Academic representatives: Ulrik T. Baandrup, Clinical Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Ole Kæseler Andersen, Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Stephen Edward Rees, Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Trine Fink, Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

PhD students: Jacob Lund Dideriksen, PhD student Mads Dyrvig Johannesen, PhD student

Study Board for Medicine

Academic representatives: Jeppe Emmersen, Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Parisa Gazerani, Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Meg Duroux, Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Trine Fink, Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Torben Moos, Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Student representatives: Søren V. Knudsen, Medicine Nanna V. Jensen, Medicine Heidi G. Møller, MedIS Andreas P. Rasmussen, MedIS Sofia Kunø, MedIS

Study Board for Health, Technology and Sports Science

Academic representatives: Kenneth Larsen, Teaching Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Erika Geraldina Spaich, Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Pia Britt Elberg, Teaching Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Winnie Jensen, Associate Professor, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Lasse Riis Østergaard, Assistant Professor, Dept. of He-alth Science and Technology

Student representatives: Jesper H. Rasmussen Mathias A. Boysen

Department Committee, Dept. of Health Science and Technology

Academic representatives: Mark De Zee, Associate Professor Ole K. Hejlesen. Professor Ole Kæseler Andersen, Professor Thomas Graven-Nielsen, Professor

Technical-administrative representatives: Knud Larsen, Laboratory Engineer Susanne Nielsen Lundis, Head of Division

Jesper Franch and Jeppe Emmersen compete on skis20

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Jesper Franch and Jeppe Emmersen compete on skis

Attendees listen intently to the dean’s speech

Music by Henrik Vardinghus, Søren Lundbye and Olav Gudnason contributed to the atmosphere

Egon Toft and Annette Lorentsen

Organization & Resources

SUND New Year’s Reception 2012The dean extended an invitation to the New Year’s Reception held January 3, 2012. The dean delivered his New Year’s address, the teachers of the year for the two study boards were honored, and the reception featured music and skiing.

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