April 20th 2020

From the management

We are experiencing difficult times which inevitably will affect our work in multiple ways. It is important to remind ourselves that what we are doing is important as a contribution to make the world sustainable! And most work at CEC continues as usual, with modifications, but still towards the same long term goal. Below some examples, as well as information on what’s going on at CEC.

We are pleased that more than 100 persons now have registered for the CEC conference Science says! Mobilizing the knowledge of our time: The IPCC and IPBES reports, 23 April. The program has been adjusted and will go online via Zoom with 2 sessions open for everyone at CEC and as planned before, a third session will be held the 24^th for those connected to BECC, MERGE and ClimBEco. A broad range of keynote speakers and moderators have accepted and the program is filling up with a posters and yoga session as well. Did you miss to register before deadline? You will have the opportunity to do so today as well!

Registration for the CEC Staff workshop on Stress management on May 19 is now open. We hope you will participate in this online opportunity.

Unfortunately the two measuring stations used by ICOS and ACTRIS have had two incidents last week. In Norunda a fire destroyed a separate building containing measuring equipment. Luckily there was staff present to handle the situation quickly and no one was injured. In Hyltemossa there was a burglary and a customized trailer was taken. Neither here any person was injured. The police and insurance company have been contacted, and in both cases the incidences are reported in the LU work environment system.

The application period for undergraduate education for the autumn semester 2020 is now closed. The Bachelor's program in environmental science has 30 (34) first-hand applicants and the Bachelor in environmental and health protection 12 (7), last year’s numbers in brackets. The Master's program in Applied Climate Strategy has reached an all-time high with 70 (46) first-hand applicants. The Master in Environmental and Health Protection has also increased from last year from 12 (includes both 1- and 2-years Master's) to 23. Other masters; Natural Sciences (Water management, Soil Management, Chemical Hazards) and Strategic Environmental Management are the same as last year 13 and 17 applicants, respectively. All courses and programs will be opened for late registration.

The application period for project financing from the Swedish Research Council (VR) and Formas’ Research Council is also closed. From CEC in total three applications was sent in to VR and eight to Formas. Well done all of you who has participated, and good luck!

People

We are happy to announce that Jenny Hansson is back from her parental leave working as a communicator in Sustainability Forum. Nikos Alexandridos will stay at CEC for some time more working with models for evaluating the effects of push-pull technology for sustainable agricultural intensification in East Africa, and the resilience of the system during climate change.

On April 27 we welcome a new PhD student in Environmental Science, Jesica Andrea Murcia López, who is also a student within the Agenda 2030 graduate school. Her work will focus on land use for a sustainable future, her supervisors being Ola Olsson, Deniz Koca and Lars Eklundh.

Open position at the CEC please spread the word: Researcher in Environmental Science, deadline 23 April

Dates

For an updated list of events see the CEC calendar (English version).

Online events for everyone at CEC are using Teams. You should have received an invitation to the team “CEC“ – if not, use this link to join it or use the code: 293u3aw in the “teams” panel to the left.

CECs Friday talk is via the Teams group ”CEC” at 10:15. Tomorrow Yann Clough will talk on the CEC work environment survey results and the forthcoming stress management workshop. Next Friday there is no Friday seminar due to the BECC-MERGE Spring meeting taking place, more info below.

Join the daily CEC Fika Online – every day at 10.00 and 15.00 via the Teams group ”CEC”. Everyone at CEC has been invited. If you have problems with logging in – contact Cerina Wittbom.

On April 22 there is an online talk on AI in society and the AI LU Cooperation initiative (in Swedish) arranged by the Corporate Communication at LU. Please register to get a link for access.

On April 23 the CEC conference Science says! Mobilizing the knowledge of our time: The IPCC and IPBES reports, takes place. The program has been adjusted and will go online via Zoom with 2 sessions open for everyone at CEC and as planned before, a third session will be held the 24^th for those connected to BECC, MERGE and ClimBEco. A broad range of keynote speakers and moderators have accepted and the program is filling up with a posters and yoga session as well. Did you miss to register before deadline? You will have the opportunity to do so today as well! Please, contact cerina [dot] wittbom [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Cerina Wittbom) or lina [dot] nikoleris [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Lina Nikoleris) if you have any questions.

Corona update

Please keep yourself updated on the university management’s guidelines due to the Coronavirus spread here. These are the latest updates:

Most importantly – please stay home when you are sick, even if you only have mild symptoms. Report sick leave in Primula and to you line manager.
All staff should work from home if the line manager decides that it is possible when taking both the tasks and the work environment into account.
Only business trips within Sweden that after consultation with your line manager is deemed to be necessary are allowed. This includes field trips.
As far as possible, all meetings or other gatherings are to be conducted remotely using digital tools. This also includes small meetings! If a (small) physical meeting is deemed necessary, you need to carefully consider social distancing! When using common areas such as the lunch room, please keep an appropriate distance and don’t be too many persons in the room at the same time. Please see the Swedish Public Health Agency rules concerning everyone’s responsibility to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

These changes will affect our day-to-day operations in several ways, for example:

The administrative staff at CEC will work as usual, but to a larger extent from home. This will happen gradually, and when necessary they will continue come to the office to for example handle signatures.
The IT-support in the Ecology building will from now on mainly be carried out online. Contact helpdesk [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se (helpdesk[at]biol[dot]lu[dot]se). If needed, one of them will come to the Ecology building.
All entrances to the Ecology building is locked. Please use your card and pin to enter. The entrances for deliveries will be accessible.
To help each other to endure this tumultuous time, please keep in touch with your colleagues at a regular basis!

CEC in media

Below you can find an example. You can find the total coverage here, but only in Swedish. To read the full newspaper articles for free, search in the Media Archive available via the LU Library portal here.

Sydsvenskan has reported on Lund’s Climate Policy Council’s report about the municipalitys climate policy. Johanna Alkan Olsson, Markku Rummukainen, Fredrik N G Andersson and Roger Hildingsson are some of the members of the council. You can also read an article (in Swedish) about their work at CEC’s webpage.

Teams, Zoom and IT-security

As you might have heard there have been some security problems linked to Zoom The advice from Lund University’s Security Coordinator is to use Teams for work, and Sunet’s Zoom for education. Free ware-Zoom and Skype should not be used. For more info on digital meetings please see here. A guide for using Teams is also included. To use the LU VPN when working from home, please see the guides for Windows 10 and Mac.

The Biology Library

For now, the library will be open as usual, but that may change. If we have to close or restrict our opening hours, you are still more than welcome to email us with your questions. As employees, you have access 24 hours a day to the library with your LU card. If you need to borrow something and we’re not there, just leave us a note on the desk. Here follows some important general information:

Accessing electronic resources from home

To access electronic resources (articles and books) from home there are several options:

1) Use the links to the different search tools from the Biology library webpage (right hand margin). Log in with your LUCAT ID.

2) Use LUBsearch to find publications. Log in with your LUCAT ID.

3) Add the text ”http://ludwig.lub.lu.se/login?url=” before the web address of the source you would like to access. This is particularly important when sending links to your students! Log in with your LUCAT ID.

4) To avoid logging in with your LUCAT ID all the time, you can set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network) from your home computer. Go to https://luservicedesk.service-now.com/support_en and search for VPN to find out how you can do this.

Borrow books
To borrow printed books, you need to activate your LU card as a library card. To do this you log in to our library catalogue LUBcat. You don’t need to do this to read eBooks. As long as we are open you can return your books as usual. If all libraries were to close the return date will be postponed until we open again.

Important links
· Biology library webpage: https://www.biology.lu.se/biology-library

· Direct links to all important online journals in Biology: http://www2.bibl.biol.lu.se/fulltextlistan.html

· Problem with accessing articles: http://libguides.lub.lu.se/c.php?g=297537

If you find any good eBooks that would be good for our students, please let us know and we will try to get access to them!

You are welcome to contact us through email on biologibiblioteket [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se (biologibiblioteket[at]biol[dot]lu[dot]se). As long as we are open you are also welcome to the library with your questions.

//Frida, Anja and Johnny (Biology library staff)

LU news

Vice-chancellor interviews deferred due to the coronavirus

The Recruitment Committee has decided to reschedule interviews for candidates for the position of vice-chancellor of Lund University. Moreover, instead of proposing a new vice-chancellor at its June meeting, the University Board will decide on a proposal at the board meeting in September.

The reason is uncertainty concerning the coronavirus. The Recruitment Committee deems it important that interviews with candidates can be conducted face to face, which is hard to arrange in the next few weeks.

Eight candidates are called for interview. In the revised schedule, the candidates’ first interviews will take place in June. Those who are subsequently called for a second interview will be interviewed in August. In September, the Electoral College will make a statement on one or more final candidates. The University Board’s meeting is on 18 September.

The Doctoral Degree Conferment Ceremony – the ceremonial highlight of the spring – is postponed

Lund University will not hold its traditional doctoral degree conferment ceremony this spring. This is because the ceremony involves many participants and guests from different parts of Sweden and the rest of the world. In addition, the conferment ceremony procession between the main University building and the cathedral attracts a large crowd.

“The doctoral degree conferment ceremony is the University’s most important academic celebration where we celebrate research and the doctoral graduates who have completed their research studies and defended their theses. This has not been an easy decision to make, but there is too much uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus for us to be able to plan and carry out a major ceremony in May and we are therefore postponing it until next year”, says Lund University’s Head of Special Events and Protocol, Carin Brenner.

The doctors who would have had their degrees conferred at the faculties’ joint ceremony on 29 May, together with the jubilee and honorary doctors, will therefore be invited to a rescheduled ceremony next year.

“We are now working very intensively to see how we can provide all those who have looked forward to the conferment ceremony this spring with a classic and beautiful ceremony in May 2021”, says Carin Brenner.

Skissernas Museum introduces digital creative workshops and guided tours

Do you want to do something creative with your children at Easter? Perhaps transform an Easter egg into your own work or art with a secret world inside? Let the art teaching staff at Skissernas Museum be your guide. Now Skissernas Museum is on Youtube to provide you with a new way to share its collections and activities during the museum’s temporary closure due to the coronavirus.

Coronavirus-related matters

The structure for overall internal communication about the coronavirus has been divided up to serve specific groups – students, staff and others – on the LU website. This means that the information is now spread over several pages. Redirections have been made so that the old links work, but get in touch if you note that something is missing.

Information for staff is, as usual, on the Staff Pages.

At the faculties, there is also a growing need for faculty-specific information, therefore we refer back to the different faculties’ information pages about the coronavirus, see faculty page.

Questions related to vital societal functions
Many have questions related to vital societal functions. In normal circumstances, Lund University is not considered to perform a vital societal function. However, in the prevailing Covid-19 situation, certain vital societal functions may need the help and support of Lund University and its staff. This could, for example, involve staff within healthcare, staff for the analysis of samples, medical expertise and assistance with access to laboratories and analysis equipment relating to Covid-19. If you have not been contacted you are not included in a vital societal function. Read more at FAQ for staff.

Messages from the vice chancellors:

The Vice-chancellor Torbjörn von Schantz has recorded a message on account of the coronavirus to our staff and students (in Swedish), see video
The Pro vice-chancellor Stacey Sörensen has recorded a message on account of the coronavirus to our international staff (in English), see video
The Deputy vice-chancellor, Sylvia Schwaag Serger has recorded a message on account of the coronavirus to our international students (in English), see video.

Pictures and videos during your time at CEC – GDPR

During your time at CEC there will be pictures taken and videos shot at staff meetings etc. If you do not wish to appear in photos, videos etc. please notify anna_maria [dot] erling [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (anna_maria[dot]erling[at]cec[dot]lu[dot]se) or stina [dot] johannesson [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (stina[dot]johannesson[at]cec[dot]lu[dot]se). See more information about data protection at Lund University.

About the newsletter

The CEC newsletter is sent to employees and those that are associated with CEC. The newsletter is sent out on Thursdays every second week. If you have anything you would like to add to the newsletter, please send your information to Karin Hofvendahl, no later than Tuesday the same week.