Leaders

The University of Oslo is now intensifying the preparations for moving into the Life Sciences Building in 2026. At the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MN) we have had years to make plans for moving the Department of Pharmacy and the Department of Chemistry into the new building. Last year the University Management opened for the possibility of moving all or large parts of the Department of Biosciences as well.

Dear colleagues, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break! The new year is well underway, and many challenging and exciting things lie ahead of us.

We had the pleasure of witnessing the launch of the position paper "The Twin Transformation Century" at Norway House in Brussels, presented by our own Morten Dæhlen, now head of the center dScience. 

Society is undergoing significant changes, with a climate crisis, energy crisis, war in Europe, security crisis, impending aging population, and a pace of digitalization that society is struggling to keep up with. These factors also influence our sector, both economically and in terms of the expectations placed upon us by society. Therefore, over 100 leaders from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences participated in a seminar at the end of April with the theme "The Higher Education Sector is Changing”. The goal of the gathering was to broaden the perspective of the leadership group and gain deeper insights into the framework conditions and important issues through academic lectures and input from key stakeholders. A shared understanding of these matters is important as a basis for identifying the Faculty's field of action and preparing our leadership to face upcoming challenges.

Then it is settled: The Research Coulcil of Norway reports that the government allocates NOK 200 million over 8 years to a National center for nuclear research(Norwegian). Congratulations to center manager, Sunniva Siem at the Department of Physics and colleagues who are participating! Congratulations also to our partners at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE)! Here, Norway's leading professional communities meet to strengthen and complement each other in the professional area. The aim for the center is to strengthen Norway's research capacity and expertise within nuclear scientific research through long-term investment in nuclear physics and chemistry.

Creating a new and innovative arena for collaboration with business and public sectors was a key reason for establishing dScience – Centre for Computational and Data Science. Now, the dScience partner program is a reality, and through this program, we look forward to furthering our cooperation with business partners and the wider community.