Nominated by
- Henriette Cecilie Jodal, PhD Candidate, Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine
Election platform
The group of temporary scientific staff is an important driving force in the university. This group of skilled, hungry academics is necessary to make the University of Oslo a leading institution for research and education. For many employees, these temporary positions are a great opportunity and a springboard for outstanding careers in academia or in other industries with a high level of competence. Unfortunately, the term "temporary" indicates short-term, unpredictability and lack of mutual commitment. This is worrisome for the individual employee, it weakens the incentive to develop a wide range of academic skills, and it promotes quantity rather than quality in research. It also complicates the recruitment of the best candidates, and good long-term planning of the university's activities.
Having a temporary academic position provides great development opportunities, but the benefits of such a position are variable. A person with experience as a scientist from the University of Oslo should not only hold a solid academic level, but also good skills in dissemination, innovation, organizational understanding and leadership. Obviously, the individual's efforts and willingness to seize opportunities play an important part in their own development, but also advice and mentoring, and the desire of the environment to facilitate the best possible career development is important. I myself feel very privileged: Early in my academic career I became responsible for large, complex research projects, and was involved in teaching, supervision and administrative work at various levels of the organization. This has given me an opportunity to develop a wide range of academic skills and to get acquainted with many aspects of the organization. It has also motivated me to bring forward the same opportunities for my good colleagues.
As a representative of the temporary academic staff at the university board, I wish to:
Focus on research education
- Strengthen the Master-Apprentice Relationship. Many parts of research are a craft that you learn through training under close supervision. That young researchers in many environments receive little follow-up inhibits the education of good researchers and academics and leads to low-quality research.
- Better understanding of research ethics, community contribution to and benefit from research. As a researcher, it is easy to become narrow-minded and only see the usefulness of your own field of study. Seeing the research in a larger perspective contributes to better research, greater opportunities for funding research projects and better utilization of limited resources.
- Strengthen supervisor skills to promote career development. Young academics who are involved in education and administration in addition to research, improve their understanding of how the institution works, and make it possible to create a professional network that is essential for career development.
Focus on ambitious research environments
- The ambitious research environments raise the brave, unanswered questions, and these are the questions we want answers to.
- The strong research environments emerge because they are able to translate good ideas into knowledge and disseminate it.
- The strong research environments have the best prerequisites for educating young scientists and hold on to the talents through access to external funding.
Make sure that the academic staff has time to do their primary tasks
- Create automated reporting systems. Reporting occupies an ever-increasing share of working time for the scientific staff, and this reduces both the amount and quality of research and education.
- Reduce barriers for access to research data. Spending years to gain access to research data can be devastating to a young researcher career. As a temporary academic employee, you are dependent on delivering results within a limited period of time.
Work for predictable career ways for academics
- Create more entry-level positions. The chance of recruiting and holding the most attractive candidates for academic positions increases if the conditions are predictable and good.
- Better information and guidance on different career ways. By having knowledge about different opportunities in academia and in other sectors, you can make strategic choices to build an attractive profile for further development.
- Encourage and improve the system of exempt from academic duties for scientific staff. This mechanism allows younger colleagues to fill a full academic role and thus acquire invaluable experience.
Background
- Cand.med. (NTNU 2001-2007)
- PhD (UiO 2011-2015)
- Fulbright scholar (Harvard University 2013-2014)
I have been employed at the Faculty of Medicine at UiO since 2011, both as a PhD-fellow, lecturer, postdoctoral fellow, and since 2016 in a temporary position as associate professor responsible for the program for knowledge management, leadership and quality improvement at the Medical School. This year I have taken over the job as Head of Education for the Medical School at the Department of Health and Society. I am a second substitute representative for the temporary staff of the Faculty Board at the Faculty of Medicine.