Newsletter 68 from the Head of Department

INTERNAL AT THE INSTITUTE

Assessment of the clinical study environment: The next step is group interviews
The questionnaire survey, which is the first part of the external survey of the clinical study environment at the department, is now completed, and thus the survey enters the next phase; qualitative group interviews with groups of employees and students.

According to the original process plan, the group interviews were to take place mainly in February, but it has proved difficult to gather people, and therefore the group interviews extend into March. The employees whom Falck Healthcare would like to invite to a group interview will be contacted directly. You can see the updated process plan on the department's website: Assessment of the clinical study environment.

As you know, it is Falck Healthcare who takes care of all parts of the assessment process, including the processing of data to which we do not have access at the department. Falck Healthcare expects to deliver a report with recommendations based on the assessment results in April, and we will subsequently process it in the relevant forums at the department. You will of course hear more about the conclusions and recommendations from Falck Healthcare.

The independent university media Omnibus also follows the assessment and the raised criticism of the clinical study environment and has most recently written the article "External investigation of the study environment at the Department of Odontology and Oral Health is underway [In Danish]".

Our external website is under reconstruction
Together with Health Communication, we are in the process of rebuilding our external website, i.e. the part that addresses the outside world. This means that:

• The Dental School, the part that is addressed to patients and professional dental staff from clinics across the county, has got its own Danish site: www.tandlaegeskolen.au.dk and is no longer part of dent.au.dk.
• The Department's website, the part that deals with research, education and the organization and is addressed to collaboration partners within research and education, as well as the outside world in general, has become purely English: www.dent.au.dk in line with the Faculty of Health's other departments.

Some things have been given new places – for example, the much-used clinical guidelines now live on the Dental School's website: https://tandlaegeskolen.au.dk/for-fagfolk/kliniske-vejledninger.

There is still a bit of fine-tuning and rewriting of some texts on the external website, and the search engines also need some time to find the new dental school site. But if there is something you are missing, or if you experience errors and problems, please contact the web team at Health Communication: health.webredaktion@au.dk

WPA: Now we will soon have to assess our working environment and daily well-being
In week 9, Aarhus University conducts a workplace assessment - WPA. Tuesday 25 February 2025, all employees will therefore be sent a link to the WPA questionnaire, which we can complete up to and including Wednesday March 12. And I hope you will.

The WPA questionnaire contains questions about the work situation, professional development, day-to-day management and, not least, the physical framework for work. As something new, WPA 2025 contains questions about inclusion in the workplace, and the questions about offensive behavior have been expanded so that you can now answer in a more nuanced way.

The WPA is of a different and broader nature than the external assessment of the clinical study environment, which Falck Healthcare is currently carrying out at the department.

I would therefore encourage you to take part in the WPA survey, so that we get a more comprehensive picture of the working environment at the department, which can be compared with previous years' results.

Our local liaison committee and local occupational health and safety

committee have promised cream puffs to the group of employees who have the highest response rate, so everyone to the keys and evaluate our shared workplace, so that we can find out what can be done better and do more of what we can see is working well.

Information security: Who keeps the hackers out? We do
Firewalls, two-factor authentication and antivirus programs are some of the technical measures that protect Aarhus University's data from falling into the wrong hands. But the technical solutions fall short when we as employees and human beings forget to pay attention in a busy everyday life.

That is why the university has launched an information security campaign with six basic tips and rules to remember. If we remember the advice, it would make a big difference to both our own safety and that of Aarhus University - so therefore:

• Never share your login.
• Lock your PC when you leave.
• Only use your AU password on AU.
• Be alert on the move – on the train, in the cafe, abroad...
• Keep confidential information confidential.
• Think before you click.

The Dean's office is visiting IOOS
Our Dean Anne-Mette Hvas, Vice-Dean for Education Lise Wogensen Bach and Vice-Dean for Research Per Brøndsted Höllsberg are visiting IOOS on Monday, 17 March at 15.15-16.15 Epione (room 1613-135).

Show up and ask about what interests you at our joint workplace. Alternatively, you are also welcome to send me your questions before 23 February, then I will bring them to the Dean's office so that they can be well prepared.

Remember to report sideline employment in Pure before 1 March
If you have other jobs or employment besides your main employment at Aarhus University, you must remember to report it before Saturday, 1 March 2025. This applies to all employees.

Examples of sideline employment could be:

• employed dentist or dental hygienist in practice
• paid consultant for agencies and councils
• paid teacher in another auspices.

It is crucial for both our own and the university's credibility that there is transparency and that we disclose openly if we have sideline employment or otherwise have interests that could potentially cast doubt on our impartiality and independence.

Sideline employment must therefore be declared - therefore remember to inform the university as the main employer and to enter it in Pure so that it appears in your Pure profile.

If you are in doubt about how much or how little you should enter, or how to do it, you can read more on the employee website.

RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND TEACHING

New curriculum for the master's part of the dental education has been approved
Now the new curriculum for the master's part of the dental education has been approved by all higher authorities and is ready for implementation from the autumn semester 2025. Here, the first dental students who have completed the new bachelor's curriculum will transfer to the master's part, and thus we can soon have a whole generation of dentists trained according to the new curricula.

With the approval of the master's curriculum, we have reached a huge milestone, because we have now reached the goal of reorganizing all our educations so that they can play together in The Aarhus Model of Dental Education. Our initial vision for the orofacial educations in Aarhus, when we began the whole process, has moved a big step closer, and it is an impressive achievement that resonates in the world of education.

It has been an extensive and long process to get here, and it has required an extraordinary effort from many of you, and in connection with the visions and development of the dental education in particular, it is Associate Professor and Head of Studies Irene Dige, who with great dedication, impressive overview and knowledge, and communicable commitment has led the project from end to end.

We are well underway with the implementation of the new bachelor's curricula on both the dental hygienist, clinical dental technician and dental education programmes, and from September this year the implementation of the master's part of the dental education is thus also expected.

Implementation is also demanding, so thank you for the effort, congratulations to all of us that we have reached this far and wishes for continued good work in getting the new study programmes off to a good start with the adjustments that will always prove necessary when it is the first time it runs through.

In January this year, Postdoc Emilie Leth Rasmussen and Irene Dige published an article in ‘Aktuel Nordisk Odontologi 2025’ with the title: Dental education of the future - Perspectives on development and educational content. This describes our way of thinking about the dental education of the future with examples of how we have worked.

Health Research Support is 'open for business'
At the Faculty of Health, we have now got our own unit for research support. And although the organisation and the framework are still under construction, Health Research Support is more than ready to help us succeed with funding applications. Health Research Support can strategically help target our applications to relevant funds, and on a practical level, the unit can help us qualify specific applications and budgets.

Contact Division Manager Anne Cathrine Thorup if you need help.

NEWS ABOUT NAMES

Louise Hauge Matzen is this year's PhD supervisor at Health
Huge congratulations to Associate Professor and Section Head for Oral Radiology and Endodontics Louise Hauge Matzen. Louise has been named PhD supervisor of the year at the Faculty of Health after an impressive nomination by several PhD and research year students. She shares the JCD (Jens Christian Djurhuus) award, which is a recognition of extraordinarily inspiring and committed supervisors, with Associate Professor Oleguer Plana-Ripoll from the Department of Clinical Medicine, as there was a tie between the two nominated researchers.

"I have never had a great need for awards or honors, but the JCD award is different. To be nominated by my students is incredible recognition and proof that they value my work," says Louise Hauge Matzen in the portrait article from the Faculty of Health's newsletter.

Big congratulations to this year's teachers at IOOS
Every year, the students choose the teachers of the year for the individual study programmes. The students have voted, and here are the teachers of the year 2024 at IOOS:

• Charlotte Huber, dental hygienist education
• Vibe Lindhardt Ishiwata, clinical dental technician education
• Britt Hansen Bomberg, dental education.

The teacher of the year receives a diploma and a check for DKK 5,000. Congratulations on the recognition to all three of you - it's a great honour.

See the impressive nominations from the students in the article "Congratulations to the teachers of the year".

Sahar Assar receives a fully funded PhD stipend from Faculty of Health
Twice a year, the Faculty of Health awards fully funded PhD stipends to researchers with a promising career ahead of them. In the last selection round in 2024, Sahar Assar, Section for Oral Ecology, has passed the eye of the needle and is now being enrolled as a PhD student. Over the next three years, she will conduct research into biofilms in connection with periodontitis under the project title "The subgingival biofilm matrix as a new target for periodontal therapy'". Professor Sebastian Schlafer is the main supervisor. Big congratulations.

Grant of DKK 700,000 to investigate periodontitis, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes
Congratulations to Postdoc Fernando Valentim Bitencourt, Section for Oral Ecology, who has received a strategic partnership postdoc scholarship of DKK 700,000 from the Danish Diabetes and Endocrine Academy (DDEA). The money will be used in a project entitled 'From Gums to Heart: Untangling the Link Between Periodontitis and Cardiovascular Disease in Type 2 Diabetes'.

A good DKK 700,000 for research into biofilm and caries
Aarhus University Research Foundation (AUFF) has granted DKK 720,000 to Professor Sebastian Schlafer, Section for Oral Ecology, under the Foundation's NOVA programme, which is about innovative ideas and ground-breaking research. The research grant will be used in the project ‘The Proton Trap: How Biofilms Cause Dental Caries’. Big congratulations.

Cavities in the teeth of the media
Is it best to brush your teeth before or after breakfast, and should you replace cola with juice if you want to avoid cavities? A Ritzau journalist asked Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Line Staun Larsen about it shortly before Christmas, and it was the starting point for a long series of articles in the Danish media, where Line shared her expert knowledge - e.g. in North Jutland and in Zealand Media [In Danish].

At the end of January, Weekendavisen set a clear mission: zero holes [In Danish] (behind a paywall) and that in the fight against caries we should perhaps not (only) think of bacteria as the enemy that must be brushed away. This is Sebastian Schlafer's field of research, which is why he contributed as an expert.

Super important that you share and translate your complex research into understandable knowledge for the benefit of us all.

Have a nice weekend or winter holiday,

Siri