MED-nytt, no 18 – 2023

Editorial

Boost needed for the study of Medicine at the UiO

The University of Oslo urgently requires a new mandate from the authorities in order to resolve the societal challenge of training too few doctors.

Read the full editorial

The Management Column

RCN's course evaluation of medicine and health sciences 2023-2024

The Dean of Research, Jan Bjålie, applauds the efforts made by the researchers, research administration and web editors at the Faculty in connection with the RCN course evaluation.

It has been well over a decade since the previous evaluation. The evaluation will have major implications for funding opportunities for at least the next ten years.

Read the full article in the Management Colum.

The Anders Jahre Award ceremony and lectures

The Anders Jahre Awards was presented on Wednesday 9 November in the University auditorium. At the traditional Anders Jahre lectures, Maiken Nedergaard, the recipient of the main award, delivered a lecture on the brain’s cleaning system, and Marcus Buggert, the recipient of the Anders Jahre Award for Young Researchers, talked about his research into the immune system.

Read the full 'welcome to the Jahre events' article in the Management Column

News about MED

RC Synergy Grant awarded to Nils Chr. Stenseth

Professor Nils Chr. Stenseth, Deputy Director of the Centre for Pandemic and One-Health Research at SUSTAINIT, has been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant of ten million euros for plague research.
Read more on the SUSTAINIT web page

New CoE: CRESCO officially up and running

The new Norwegian Centre of Excellence (CoE) is officially open. The goal of CRESCO is to gain important new knowledge of biological processes in the very first phases of life.
Read more on the Institute of Clinical Medicine web page in Norwegian.

Innovation

Applied knowledge: NOK 5 million in backing for UiO researchers

Eleven of our innovative researchers have achieved early-phase funding for innovation projects. Congratulations to Emilie Kildal, Gunnveig Grodeland, Hilde Loge Nilsen, Johanne Tracey Jacobsen, Magnar Bjørås, Vibeke Ansteinsson, Guro Haugen Fossum, Joel Glover, Merethe Blandhol, Stefan Schauber and Zhi Zhao. The funding is being awarded by the UiO under the auspices of the Value Creation Growth House.
Read more on the Growth House web page.

Briefings

• Faculty Board Elections at MED. During the autumn of 2023, one representative and two deputy representatives will be elected from temporary academic staff, including temporary adjunct professors. The term of office for this group is one year, i.e. 01/01/2024-31/12/2024.

• External cultural events for employees: UiO employees have access to some outstanding offers from the National Theatre and other cultural institutions.

  • The National Theatre's Christmas concert – all shows in November. Price per ticket: NOK 250.
  • The National Theatre: Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox – Price per ticket: NOK 200
  • Frankenstein at Oslo Nye Theatre. – Friday 17, saturday 18 and tuesday 21 November. Price per ticket: NOK 195

• Unfortunately, the University management has now notified us that it will not be possible for the Institute of Health and Society and the Faculty Administration to move into shared premises at Slemdalsveien. The Institute of Health and Society will retain its premises at Frederik Holsts hus and Forskningsveien for a few more years. Any co-location with the Institute of Health and Society does not look set to happen before 2030.

• Excavation work at Domus Medica, see information from Sykehusbygg and phase plans.

• Social debate: Eradicating cervical cancer in Norway? It’s time for a solution: preventing cervical cancer shouldn’t be a competition. That is what Emily A. Burger, Kine Pedersen, Eline Aas and Ivar Sønbø Kristiansen from the Institute of Health and Society wrote in an op-ed in Aftenposten.

• Social debate: The GPs of the future: sustainability agents. Health qualification programmes must develop students’ ability to manage the challenges associated with sustainable decisions, write Nina Køpke Vøllestad, Mette Brekke, Trygve Skonnord and Kristin Heggen from the Institute of Health and Society in an op-ed in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association.

Management meetings

Lederforum (Management Forum): Overview of meeting dates. The next meeting is on 28 November. Cases can be reported and case papers submitted up until 12:00 on the last Thursday before the meeting. Minutes from the previous meeting will be published here. 

Overview of the Faculty Board meetings. You can find the agenda and minutes here. The next meeting is on 12 December. 

University Board meetings in 2023. These meetings are live streamed and are open to anyone who would like to watch. The next meeting is on 5 December.

Opportunities and deadlines

• See all important deadlines regarding applications for research funding in Funding opportunities.

  • ERC Synergy Grant. Deadline 8. november.

• Award announcements: Keep track by visiting the annual cycle for award announcements.

Courses and events

See the University of Oslo’s course calendar for an overview of all available courses. See also updated overviews of courses from UiO:IT and the Medical and Science Library. 
Updated overview: Upcoming public defences.

• Postdoctoral programme: Open registration for career-enhancing courses
  The courses are part of a career development programme tailored to provide support to the faculty’s postdocs and other researchers in the start-up phase. Spaces still available!
  • 22. - 24. november: Writing grant applications
• The Brain in the Centre: An event series at Domus Bibliotheca, the University of Oslo’s arena for dialogue and dissemination.
  • 29 November, 18:00 – 19:30 Personality
• 14. november: Want to understand Norwegian Working Culture? The working environment is full of social norms and unwritten rules. The aim of this very popular workshop is to provide participants with interesting and fun, but also important and useful insights into such norms and rules. The workshop is highly recommended for both international and Norwegian staff at UiO.
• Universitetsplassen 14 december under the auspices of the Centre for Medical Ethics: Participants from the Better Family Involvement project will summarise five years of research and implementation work in mental health care.

Research News

You can also follow what is happening at the Faculty of Medicine via facebook, twitter, Linkedin and Instagram.

Medisinbloggen: An unknown risk of cardiovascular disease by Sigrid Eine Naas in Norwegian. Lipoprotein(a) is an inherited risk factor for cardiovascular disease. High levels can give you up to three times the risk of heart attack and stroke, yet the risk is unknown to many.

Medisinbloggen: Health in the very first phases of life by Arne Klungland in Norwegian. Even before egg cells are fertilised, they undergo processes that affect how we develop. These crucial processes continue when the fertilised egg cell develops into an early embryo.

Aftenposten/ nrk: “Cathrine Abrahamsen, GP and PhD candidate at the Institute of Health and Society, has developed and tested a conversation tool for use between GPs and patients with medically unexplained problems and symptoms (MUPS). Read more in Aftenposten  or on NRK.no (both articles in Norwegian)

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