Nominators
- Inga Solgård Juvkam
- Ingeborg Nymoen
- Anniken Hotvedt Sundby
- Jakob Graabak
- Dongho Kwak
Election platform
I am running to represent all temporary scientific staff at all the different faculties, institutes, centers, and museums at UiO. I want to work to ensure that we have better working conditions, a good framework and a more generous personnel policy that ensures good opportunities for work and research after the end of the contract.
The last two years I have been the 1st substitute for our group in the university board. It has been exiting to follow the work closely, but now I want to contribute as representative for fixed-term employees.
I have chosen three focus areas for which I will work on the board:
1. Generous and including framework conditions for temporary employees
For many, being temporarily employed comes with lots of uncertainty. UiO’s HR-policy must be predictable and facilitate good and generous framework conditions that ensure security and development opportunities. Both during, but also after the period at UiO. Plans and strategies that are already in place must actively be followed-up and updated. An especially important cause for me are restarting grants. It takes time to get back into research after a prolonged absence due to illness or parental leave and this should be compensated.
2. Language policy
In the coming year, UiO will create a new language policy. It is important that the new language policy benefit us employees. We must strengthen the opportunity, and make it easier, to learn Norwegian, while at the same time strengthening the good work that is already being done with parallel use of English and Norwegian. The university is becoming increasingly internationalized, and this means that it is increasingly important to involve the international temporary staff largely in university democracy. It is a democratic problem that a huge group of employees has no real opportunity to participate in board work or to inform themselves about ongoing matters.
3. Reform in the higher education sector
The government's announced reform of the higher education sector involves a strengthening of technology and health subjects. It is important that UiO is vigilant in this process, and that the board actively works to ensure that this does not come at the expense of the social sciences and humanities. We must make use of the leeway we get in the process and use this to strengthen and modernize all the university's subject areas and educations.
My background
I am a trained chemist from UiO. My bachelor's degree is from the Department of Biosciences and my master's degree from the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. During my master's degree, I worked in close connection with the Center for Excellence Hybrid Technology Hub - Center for Organ on a Chip-Technology to develop a system for testing medicines without the use of animals. For this interdisciplinary work, I was awarded the prize for best master's thesis 2019 at the Department of Chemistry. I have also made a short film about this work, which was awarded a prize at an international conference in Milan.
After completing my master's degree, I worked as a principal engineer at the Faculty of Medicine on the same project. I am now working on further developing this system for drug testing as a PhD candidate at the Department of Chemistry.
I have extensive experience from youth politics and the School student union of Norway. Since my school days, I have worked to improve the framework conditions and working environment for my group. As a student, I have been involved in student politics and the student committee at my faculty and have been a student representative on the faculty board at MatNat. I am the representative of our employee group in the board at the Department of Chemistry and have been 1st deputy on the university board for two years.
Detailed platform
Language policy
- Offer to all international employees a free Norwegian course.
- Strengthen cooperation between board representatives at all levels and UiOdoc and similar organizations.
- Summaries in English of all board matters must be made openly available to everyone.
- UiO's digital self-study program (MOOC) Introduction to Norwegian should be made available to everyone who wants it.
- Ensuring that UiO's new language policy benefits the employees.
- Actively strengthen the parallel use of English and Norwegian for inclusion and better information flow.
Better framework conditions for temporary employees
- New system for compulsory work.
- A comprehensive, fair and predictable system for compulsory work. The system must be based on clear guidelines for how hours are to be registered, work tasks must be clarified and duties and rights highlighted. The system should be the same throughout UiO.
- Career path and career planning.
- Career guidance and planning shall not be dependent on a supervisor. All fixed-term scientific staff should be offered a career interview with a qualified adviser at an early stage.
- The mid-term evaluation of PhD students must also include a part on career planning.
- Clear opportunities to qualify for permanent positions at UiO or externally.
- UiO should have clear career paths, so that fixed-term scientific staff can qualify for permanent positions.
- Permanent employment should be the main rule. UiO's funding situation is far more predictable and stable than other research institutes and comparable institutions, but still has a higher percentage of fixed-term contracts than others have.
- All newly hired PhDs and postdocs must be able to demand to be allowed to teach and supervise students, if they wish.
- The minimum term for postdocs should be at least three years.
- Better opportunities for fixed-term employees to apply for external or internal funding.
- Qualifying for permanent positions and good for further career opportunities. Enabling the realization of own ideas.
- Research support for applications to NFR, foundations and institutions.
- Helps to find relevant announcements and write applications (formal requirements, etc.).
- Can be introduced as a center throughout UiO or be at faculty level.
- Offer of a collegial mentor scheme for support for application writing.
- A special focus on mental health and clear low-threshold offers
- Look at the possibility that fixed-term employees can use SiO’s services for mental health, including counseling, psychologist, psychomotor physiotherapy, etc.
- The assessment period of scientific work for permanent scientific positions should be extended when the candidate has been on parental leave, breastfeeding leave, care leave or has had significant continuous sick leave during the assessment period. This extension of the assessment period should correspond to the time the candidate was on leave.
- Restart scholarship (additional one month contract extension) for all fixed-term scientific staff who have been absent for more than 6 months due to parental leave or continuous sick leave. This will compensate for the time it takes to get back into one’s work.
- Fixed-term employees with teaching duties should be able to apply for a means-tested tuition leave for up to 6 months in connection with resuming work after parental leave or sick leave of more than 6 months duration.
Reform in the higher education sector
- The government's upcoming reform must not come at the expense of the social sciences and humanities.
- UiO should use the room for action the reform entails to strengthen and modernize all subject areas and educations.