Newsletter 57 from the Head of Department

INTERNAL NEWS

We got to know each other better when the Dean's office visited IOOS
On Thursday 20 April, the Dean and Vice-Deans for research and education visited the institute. After short presentations from Anne-Mette Hvas, Lise Wogensen Bach and Hans Erik Bøtker, there was time for questions. There were many good questions, and they covered everything from the relevance of broad job advertisements, recruitment of international employees versus the authorities' requirements for Danish authorization and future prospects for younger researchers, international ranking, the students' well-being and the physical working environment at the clinics.

It is my impression that the visit gave an insight into what the Faculty of Health is working with and towards, and that the discussions made the Dean's office more knowledgeable about IOOS and the topics that concern us. Thank you to those of you who had the opportunity to participate - next year we will plan it later in the day, so that all clinical staff have a better opportunity to participate.

The IOOS Secretariat gets a new sub-unit: Analysis and Planning
I am happy to announce that we from 1 May this year creates a sub-unit in the IOOS secretariat, which will be called "Analysis and Planning". The unit will primarily analyse, plan and implement operational and development measures within the educations and clinics and continue to ensure strong support for these core tasks. However, the educational and clinical areas will still be broadly rooted in the secretariat.

The new unit consists of seven employees and has Julie Bladt Goodall as acting team leader. I hope you will welcome the initiative, and if there are any questions, please contact Julie Bladt Goodall or secretariat manager Jan Ulrik Rasmussen.

Pilot project: Security check of new, international employees
The security political world order is changing, and this also places demands on the universities to sharpen their attention to the risk of espionage and data leaks. Therefore, together with the colleagues at the Department of Public Health, we are involved in a new pilot project at the Faculty of Health, which is about security checks for new colleagues from what are defined as 'high-risk countries'. This is a ministerial order, which PET is helping us to test. In practice, it will be an additional link in the HR process we already know.

We naturally continue to invite applicants from all over the world to apply for our positions, just as we employ the most suitable candidate regardless of national background. It is therefore also important to emphasize that as soon as a new colleague is approved in the security screening, he or she is of course employed on exactly the same terms as everyone else.

The preservation of Aarhus University must be reviewed
Perhaps the legal authority of the recent preservation of Aarhus University - which also includes one of our buildings - is not quite in place. In any case, the Danish Palaces and Culture Agency has withdrawn the decision while they investigate whether there is legal authority for the preservation. The Danish Building Agency, which owns the university and the park, has complained and raised doubts as to whether the preservation is covered by the regulations used in the Building Conservation Act. We'll wait and see how it all lands.

A small fire caused the fire brigade to move in and the employees to move out
It was a fire in a dustbin on the 3rd floor of building 1613 that set off the fire alarm and the evacuation on Friday 14 April. The fire brigade came, but could quickly establish that there was no danger.

The whole ordeal was due to a faulty Bunsen burner which did not ignite with the usual ignition clicks. Therefore, a student used a match, which was then thrown into the bin - but as the flame was not completely extinguished, it ignited the contents of the bin. Neither people nor other equipment were harmed during the incident - and we can conclude that the evacuation procedure worked.

RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND TEACHING

New funding model underlines the importance of how we apply for research funding
Aarhus University has adopted a new model for how the departments contribute to financing the university's expenses for our common basic structure – e.g. library licences, IT infrastructure and research support. This means that in future we must contribute proportionally with the research funds we receive.

This underlines the importance of all researchers also applying for funding for the many derived costs and expenses involved in doing research. Otherwise, the department's basic research funds must be used to a greater extent than today to cover the common expenses.

Read more in the article "It costs money to receive money", where Dean Anne-Mette Hvas explains the background to the new model, just as there are answers to some of the questions the financing model gives rise to.

Article: Great expectations for our new professional bachelor
The magazine DENTAL [In Danish] mentioned in the March edition our new professional bachelor's degree for clinical dental technician, which admits the first students after the summer holidays. The National Association of Clinical Dental Technicians expresses joy in the article that the education is getting an academic boost. Helle Hornhaver, who is project manager for the development of the new education, also contributes to the article, which can be read on pages 20-21.

Invitation: 50th anniversary of the dental nursing and dental hygiene educations
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the dental nursing and the dental hygiene educations in Aarhus. We celebrate that on Thursday 22 June at 15.15 - 17.00 in Apollonia (1612 - 018E) with guest speaker and layer cake in Grønnegården, and we hope to see many of you - an actual invitation will follow in the inbox.

It's no secret that it will also be a bittersweet event, as the dental nursing education closes at IOOS this year. But the anniversary is a good occasion to  celebrate the many, many skilled dental nurses and dental hygienists who have been trained here over the years and it is a good reason to celebrate the skilled teachers who have trained them.

Come along to the IOOS graduation on Friday 30 June
Again this year, we celebrate our fully qualified dental hygienists, dentists, clinical dental technicians and dental nurses at a festive graduation. It takes place on Friday 30 June from 9-11 in Aarhus University's Aula - the ceremony itself lasts approx. an hour, and then we hold a reception in the Vandrehallen and the Antique Museum.

Anyone who has the opportunity to participate is welcome. Remember to register by email to atc@au.dk no later than May 15.

The dissemination of our research has great and untapped potential
We carry out world-class research, so I would encourage us to get our orofacial research results out further than to peers. It helps feed an ecosystem of greater awareness, more publicity, more grants and stronger recruitment. This not only benefits the individual researcher or the department, but the entire orofacial field.

Julie Pajaniaye, dental hygienist and study assistant from the Section for Oral Ecology, seized the opportunity when they had published the scientific article "Effect of Smoking Exposure on Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy: 1-Year Follow-up". The popular science article "Heavy smokers with severe periodontitis receive no benefit from treatment" has reached the world - from Danish magazine Helse to the American Dental Tribune and the Indian Health Care News, to name just a few.

Contact our communications partner Lise Wendel Eriksen when you have peer-reviewed research results on the way: lwe@au.dk.

NEWS ABOUT NAMES

Odontological Regional Knowledge Center gets a new leader - from IOOS
From 1 June 2023, the new Head of the Odontological Regional Knowledge Center [In Danish] at Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) is called Casper Kruse – for a little while he is still an Assistant Professor at the Section for Radiology and Endodontics at IOOS. Our Highly Specialized Treatment Unit has a good and close collaboration with the knowledge centre, and I am sure that this can now continue with Casper Kruse as the leader at AUH. Congratulations on the great position. We will miss Casper Kruse as a skilled researcher and an excellent teacher in endodontics, but we look forward to the continued collaboration.

Jan Wolff is 'tech-savvy' at the digitization conference
Jan Wolff, who is professor and head of the Section for Maxillofacial Surgery and Oral Pathology, is moderator and presenter at the conference "Digitalisation of dental care in Denmark and the rest of the world - what can we expect? [In Danish]", organized by the Danish Dental Association on 1 .September 2023. Jan Wolff, who is presented as 'tech-savvy' in the course material, must, among other things, talk about artificial intelligence and how the new technology is used in dental procedures.

Staun and Stoustrup in the media
It also often happens that the media turn to us and request our expert knowledge:

• Assistant Professor Line Staun Larsen, Section for Oral Ecology, participates in an article at Employed Dentists Organization (ATO), where, together with Professor Emeritus from the University of Copenhagen Svante Twetman, she nuances and qualifies the debate and the growing opposition in parts of the population to the use of fluoride in toothpaste. Line Staun Larsen urges caution and gives good advice in the article "Fluoride - can the wonder drug be dangerous? [In Danish]"
• At the beginning of April, a major Danish orthodontic chain went bankrupt, leaving many customers in a difficult financial and dental situation. DR covered the story and contacted associate professor and head of the Section for Orthodontics Peter Stoustrup, as an independent professional expert in the coverage of the case: "Bankruptcy leaves customers with crooked teeth and financial pain [In Danish]".

Best wishes,

Siri