Proposer
- Postdoctoral Fellow Monica Hermann, School of Pharmacy, MN
Platform
The fixed-term academic staff are a very large and important group of employees at University of Oslo. They produce a majority of the research published at the university and many are involved in teaching. It is important that our voice is heard at the University Board – that is the only way we can influence and improve our working situation.
I have been employed as fixed-term staff since 2002, and have had many different positions – PhD student, researcher, post-doctor and associate professor. I have been interested in university organization since I was a student. I have therefore been involved in Board of Studies, “profileringsutvalget” and the Board of Administration at School of Pharmacy for a total of five periods. I have also been PhD representative in revision of the PhD program at School of Pharmacy, Tromsø, for The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT). I have through more than ten years experienced UiO as both organization and employer and I wish to use this experience to improve the situation for the fixed-term academic staff.
There are many positive things about UiO, but we still need to focus on:
- Have a complete plan for the PhD period for all PhD candidates at UiO. It would be a great improvement if everybody were connected to “National Research Schools”. It is important to secure that all candidates get information of their rights as employed at UiO, that all have a clear plan for their research project and that the mandatory courses are relevant and available. It is also important that UiO give their PhD students an idea what the options are after their PhD period is finished.
- UiO should have a complete plan for how they could strengthen their young researches, either for recruitment at UiO or to other research- and teaching institutions. I have experienced several attempts to strengthen young researchers, but it has been only partial and not good enough. We also have to focus on better stability and clearer career paths for the fixed-term staff at UiO.
- We need to secure that the fixed-term academic staff is represented in all relevant boards at UiO. Only by being represented where decisions are made, we can influence our working situation and future.