Newsletter 78 from the Head of Department

INTERNALLY AT THE DEPARTMENT

We are celebrating the Department's 10th anniversary after the summer break
In August, it will be 10 years since we became the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health. We will celebrate this, and we have therefore planned two anniversary events:

• We will kick off the celebrations with a pre-party for the Faculty Party on August 21 at 4:00 PM in Grønnegården, and then we will continue the celebration at the Faculty Party in DGI-Huset.
• We will mark the anniversary for both employees and students on Friday, September 25 at 2:30 PM–4:00 PM, also in Grønnegården.

You have already received invitations in your Outlook calendar, so remember to sign up – also for the Faculty Party itself – so that we have enough anniversary treats 🎉

I look forward to celebrating the milestone with you.

Visit from the University of Southern Denmark
In May, we were visited by a small delegation from the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). They would like to see our simulation and clinical facilities in connection with the establishment of a third dental and dental hygiene education in Odense. We also talked about what it takes to deliver research-based education within the orofacial area. There is no doubt that it is a lot of work to start new health science, licensing education programmes. According to the plan, SDU will admit the first dental and dental hygiene students from the summer of 2027.

AU Motion moves closer
In August, Aarhus University's exercise club for employees, AU Motion, will move from Vestereng to new premises on Trøjborgvej at Universitetsbyen (buildings 1914 and 1916). From 10 August, team training and indoor sports will start at the new address – the fitness and spinning activities are ready to move in at the end of the year. So now there is another good – and nearby – reason to exercise more in everyday life.

RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND TEACHING

Course days on feedback for clinical educators
This June, we held four days of workshops on the theme of feedback for all clinical educators. Psychologist Caroline Ahlgren Tøttrup from the consultancy UKON led the workshop, and she specialises in team collaboration and feedback, especially in educational and research environments.

It was instructive to practice the different types of feedback in different situations and to have it emphasised how important framing and alignment of expectations are in the complex clinical learning situation. We also gained important knowledge about being “clear and kind”, as Caroline Ahlgren Tøttrup put it; to be a supporting, professional hand in the back without compromising the professional level. And to remain calm, as the professionals we are, and lend our calm nervous system to the students in those moments when a situation or treatment is difficult.

If some of you as clinical educators missed the course days, there will be a follow-up during the autumn. Training sessions will be in both Danish and English.

New subject area affiliation at the graduate clinic
From the autumn semester, the clinical educators at the master's clinic in the subjects of Odontologic Clinic 1-4 will have a subject area affiliation with either prosthetics or cariology/periodontology.

The clinical educators will continue to function as a team at the clinic, helping each other and covering all subject areas. The new organisation means that the clinical educators will be especially equipped for treatments within their subject area affiliation.

International collaboration on sustainability in oral healthcare
Education coordinator Helle Hornhaver has applied for and received funding through Circle-U – the European university collaboration – for a visit to King’s College London.

Together with colleagues from King’s College and the University of Oslo, she has developed a joint elective course: Sustainability in Oral Healthcare. It will be an online course at bachelor's level, and it is expected to be launched in the fall of 2027.

We are short of external examiners - become part of the national external examiner corps
We have suffered from a shortage of external examiners for several years - especially for the dental education - and there is a need for us to get more people into the external examiner corps nationwide. This is important for the education programmes and for the quality of our graduates.

Therefore, applications and subsequent appointments to the external examiner corps have now been opened at the national external examiner secretariat, meaning that the application opportunity has been reopened until 24 February 2027.

Of course, there is an arm's length principle, so if lecturers from Aarhus University are admitted to the external examiner corps, you will become external examiner at the University of Copenhagen.

You can read more about the external examiner task, requirements for qualifications, fees, and application form here: The external examiner corps for Dentistry, Dental Hygiene and Clinical Dental Technology educations [In Danish].

NEWS ABOUT NAMES

Fernando Bitencourt collaborates with WHO on the connection between oral health and diabetes
Postdoc Fernando Valentim Bitencourt, Section for Oral Ecology, is researching the connection between oral health and diabetes, and since the late summer 2024 he had the opportunity to work with the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Oral Health Programme. Fernando has helped compile knowledge that has been published in The Lancet and now forms the basis for a technical brief  on oral health for people living with diabetes from WHO – work that can make a difference globally.

Read more about the collaboration and the scientific results in the article “He collaborates with WHO to advance evidence on oral health and diabetes”

The profession journal “Tandplejeren” has spoken with the internship coordinator
Our internship coordinator Sisse Claudia Korsholm has given an interview to the professional magazine “Tandplejeren” about the transition from student life to working life. It's a great article where Sisse talks about how important it is to find a workplace with a good working environment and time for professional sparring rather than getting a high starting salary as a new graduate. The article was published in the April issue (pp. 14-16).

Irene Dige was “Full of Knowledge in the Researchers’ Friday Bar”
At the end of April, Associate Professor Irene Dige participated in two podcast episodes entitled: “That’s why you get cavities – and how to avoid them”. The episodes were part of the professional, popular science communication series called “Full of knowledge – the researchers’ Friday Bar”.

Irene talked about biofilm and caries in a way that made an otherwise complex area of ​​research understandable and relevant to people without specialist knowledge – and also gave good advice on dental health and good oral hygiene. Listen to the episodes – including here: Biofilm and caries: That’s why you get cavities – and how to avoid them (PART 1) [in Danish]

I am the new chairperson of the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Committee for Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunities
Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities are important, and that’s why I agreed to head the Faculty of Health Sciences’ committee. Our work on this must be felt in everyday life. Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities are an important leadership task in line with economics and professionalism. You can read more in the article that has just beenpublished in the Faculty of Health Science newsletter.

Summer greetings 🌞

Siri