Newsletter 49 from the Head of Department
Dear All, The exam time is already on the doorstep. So is our IOOS Joint Day on June 29 – remember to sign up in the invitation you have received by email.
INTERNAL NEWS
Section change on the way - how do we create the best framework for our work tasks?
The Section for Pedodontics, the Section for Periodontology and the Section for Oral Ecology and Caries Control have expressed a wish to investigate how we can strengthen the professional and social environment and create more rational workflows in their sections. That process is now underway.
In the first instance, we investigate whether a section merger can meet the wishes and create better workflows. David Kraft has been appointed as coordinator for the process, and based on conversations with both employees and managers in the current sections, he prepares a draft organizational description of a new section.
The work with the three sections is a good opportunity to think about task solution and division of responsibilities in new ways, and that new thinking is not limited to the employees directly affected.
Therefore, I would like to encourage you to come up with good suggestions and ideas for how a new section organization can give us the best framework for solving our core tasks. The process is open and dialogue-based, and nothing is given in advance.
If you have input - and I hope so - send suggestions for new thinking as well as questions about process and purpose to David Kraft before the summer holidays.
Aarhus University's declaration on freedom of expression for staff and students
"At a university, opinions must be able to be broken freely - and you must endure meeting views that you absolutely do not like." This is what Aarhus University's chairman of the board Connie Hedegaard says in an article for the university media Omnibus [in Danish]. The reason is that the board has approved the university management team's statement on freedom of expression for employees and students at Aarhus University. After a long consultation period, we now have a final declaration on freedom of expression that defines the framework and cements the university's value base: staff and students are free to express themselves. Read the statement on freedom of expression on the employee page.
Signs of stress?
If you, one of your colleagues or employees experience symptoms of stress, then there may be help to be found on AU's stress website. The website has just been updated and contains guides and tools to prevent, detect and manage work-related stress. The website also has inspirational material and guides that can help managers and work environment organizations with the preventive stress efforts.
Our workplace assessment (APV) results showed that stress and the balance between work tasks and time available is a challenge. The same picture emerges at the rest of the university. Our opinion is that work-related stress is a common challenge and a common responsibility. The new stress website reflects this, but it is of course also a topic we will continue to work on in our local APV follow-up.
RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND TEACHING
Seven students screened teeth and gums for the Special Olympics Sports Festival
On the weekend of May 20-21, seven dental hygienist students paused the exam preparations for a while and went to Kolding, where the sports festival for the disabled and mentally handicapped ‘Special Olympics’ ran off the stack. Our volunteer students gave some of the participants a dental check-up and a subsequent prophylactic instruction. In addition to competing in various sports, the developmentally disabled participants were also offered a health check, including a screening of teeth and gums. Dental hygiene student Laura Hollerup Christensen was one of our students who helped to lead a healthier lifestyle and improved health along the way.
90 participants, 16 nationalities and 25 years of orthodontics course at the department
The Section for Orthodontics is currently holding the second part of our international short-term course in orthodontics. The course has existed for approx. 25 years and is a form of professional DNA in all the specialist dentists who are trained in Aarhus. On the occasion of the almost-anniversary and post-corona joy, Course Directors Susanna Botticelli and Morten Godtfredsen Laursen, and Head of Section Peter Stoustrup decided to make an ‘open short-term day’.
They invited current and former residents as well as friends of the section to a professional and social event on Saturday, May 7, and there turned out to be overwhelmingly interest. 90 participants with 16 different nationalities flew in from all over the world to join. It testifies how strong an international alumni network our recognized and sought-after short-term course in orthodontics creates. See a picture from the day on the faculty's LinkedIn page.
NEWS ABOUT NAMES
The department receives a million grant for research in nutrition and pain
Professor Lene Baad-Hansen, Section for Orofacial Pain and Jaw Function, is one of the 10 researchers from Faculty of Health who this year have received a grant from the Danish Independent Research Foundation. She has received 2 million DKK to investigate whether nutrition plays a role in temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD). She does this by examining the mother's nutrition and lifestyle during pregnancy and the baby's ditto while growing up. Congratulations - it is strong that we play in the super league of grants. See more about the project in the news on the website.
NIOM's 50th Anniversary featuring Bahram Ranjkesh
This year, NIOM - the Nordic Institute of Dental Materials - can celebrate its 50th anniversary. Since 1972, the five Nordic countries have collaborated on safe and effective dental materials in the Nordic countries, and on that occasion an anniversary book has been published, which both looks back at history and writes about contemporary research. Assistant Professor Bahram Ranjkesh from our Section for Prosthodontics has been a guest researcher at NIOM several times, and has been selected to participate in the anniversary book with both an interview and a photo portrait. I have the anniversary book in my office, and you are welcome to come by and borrow it.
Best wishes,
Siri