April 30th 2020

From the management

We would like to thank all of you who participated in the online CEC Science Says! conference – BECC-MERGE spring meeting, April 23-24! A big thanks for interesting presentations, fruitful conversations and sharing of expertise and thoughts from all participants – we could not have done this online event so successfully without you! From your discussions on how BECC and MERGE can integrate knowledge from IPCC and IPBES reports, key research topics will be extracted to suggest future joint efforts between BECC and MERGE, which can be used for setting up workshops, starting new Action Groups or short projects, writing syntheses or comments and so on. A summarizing report of the conference will be published shortly. If you have any thoughts regarding the online format, please send your feedback to cerina [dot] wittbom [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Cerina Wittbom).

Please take the opportunity to register before May 8 for the online CEC Staff workshop on Stress management on May 19 from 9:45-15:00. The staff day is open for CEC employees, PhD students in Environmental Science and teachers and researchers of the CEC collegium. The theme is a measure following up on the CEC work environment survey from 2019. The workshop will be held by Katarina Billing from INDEA, and will include both a lecture and exercises, reflection and conversation in groups.

The graduate research school ClimBEco and the Climate Research School at the Bolin Centre for Climate Research now has an agreement to collaborate. The aim is to combine strengths and areas of expertise in order to, for example, offer PhD students access to courses and other activities. More information will soon be available via the ClimBEco web.

Normally the week end of Last of April/Walpurgis Night and 1st of May is filled of traditional events in Lund. This year some of them are arranged in an alternative way, please read more here (in Swedish). Tomorrow you can watch the Lunds Studentsångare choir giving their spring concert from Lund in Swedish television SVT.

We wish you all a happy Last of April and 1st of May with some more music: singers from all over Sweden participate in singing a traditional spring hymn in Swedish Radio P2 and a Drive-In concert from the LU Brass Band.

Reconstruction of kitchens in the Ecology building starts

The reconstruction of the new lunch room at floor 3, that CEC will share with Biodiversity, will start on May 11. It will be located were the Biodiversity lunchroom is today, and be expanded and renovated into a similar one as that on floor two. The mail boxes will be moved to the eastern end of the corridor, furthest away from CECs offices, and the conference room Communis will be turned into a part of the new lunch room area. The video conference equipment in Communis will be moved to the conference room Museet.

The work will last for about 8-10 weeks. During this period it is not possible to pass the lunchroom via the main corridor, you will have to use the northern corridor. As the lunchroom will be considered a building site, you are not allowed to pass through it at all. To get access to the offices on the third floor in the E-corridor (the Biology Museum) you will thus have to use the stairs in the E-building. The elevator closest to CECs offices and the corridor to the building site will be used to transport materials. Around 5 builders will be working in the building at the same time.

When the new lunch room is finished, the builders will move on the current CEC kitchen, probably by the mid-end of July. That will be transformed to office space for PhD students, teachers in the CEC kollegium or guests using the CEC office temporarily. This transformation will take approximately four weeks and be finished before the start of the semester. The current kitchen fittings, white goods and furniture will be reused within LU.

The Vice-Chancellor’s spring greetings

Please listen to the Vice-Chancellor’s spring greetings to students and staff in times of corona (in Swedish with English subtitles if you turn them on).

Zoom at LU and security

Lund University, like other higher education institutions in the Nordic countries, uses the Zoom service from Sunet/NORDUnet. LU-Zoom service observes GDPR and other European data legislation and all data is stored and processed within the EU. LU-Zoom differs from the widely available free version of Zoom. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) has issued a warning about the security risks associated with Zoom, but it does not apply to LU-Zoom.

Bear in mind:

Data is encrypted in LU-Zoom, but discussion of sensitive information is to be avoided nonetheless.
Keep the Zoom app updated.
Only include participants who are logged in.
Only send out the link to the meeting to registered participant, and don’t share it on public websites or in social media.
You can use passwords for external participants.

Read more about LU Zoom and security on the Canvas pages (log in with Lucat ID).

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 there is no talk due to a public holiday. Next Friday May 8 Wilhelm May & Paul Miller will talk on How greater understanding of land-atmosphere biophysical interactions could inform Swedish national climate action.

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 May 20, there is an online CEC Fellows concept seminar on Food Security, with short presentations from different research fields to straighten out the concept of Food Security as a research perspective. Register before May 19, a zoom link will be sent out to registered participants.

On May 26 PhD student Ivette Raices Cruz give her Mid-term seminar on “Robust analysis of uncertainty in scientific assessments”. The midterm opponent is Jukka Ranta University of Helsinki and the Finnish Food Authority. The seminar takes place at 10:00 on zoom. Sign up on the link provided on this web page. For further info contact Ullrika Sahlin, ullrika [dot] sahlin [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (ullrika[dot]sahlin[at]cec[dot]lu[dot]se).

Risks and Decisions for Conservation and Environmental Management. Join us when we pick up the tradition to read the complete book by Mark Burgman which introduces a lot of useful concepts and thinking about modelling that is relevant for environmental science. We will meet at two occasions (end of May and beginning of June) and present chapters to each other. Contact Ullrika Sahlin, ullrika [dot] sahlin [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (ullrika[dot]sahlin[at]cec[dot]lu[dot]se) if you want to join.

Do you need to get genre images taken?

In about two weeks, Anna Maria Erling will hire a photographer to take some genre images of different landscapes etc, to use in pressreleases, on the web, in synthesis, and so on. If you need any pictures of this kind to present your research on the web or for different kinds of outreach – please send an email to before 8 May and describe what you are looking for.

Do you have a report, synthesis or policy brief that is not presented on the web?

We are updating our webpages and are now looking for reports, synthesis and policy briefs that are not presented on the web. If you have made any since 2018, please contact Anna Maria Erling, anna_maria [dot] erling [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (anna_maria[dot]erling[at]cec[dot]lu[dot]se) who could help you to get the publication online.

Corona update

Please keep yourself updated on the university management’s guidelines due to the Coronavirus spread here. The spread of the coronavirus is with us – now and for the foreseeable future. It is still not time to relax and resume normal life. We must all show consideration and help to prevent the spread of infection. Therefore, it is important that we, staff and students, continue to work/study from home, if possible, and that we maintain distance from each other and do not socialise in large groups.

Most importantly – please stay home when you are sick, even if you only have mild symptoms. Report your sick leave in Primula and to you line manager.

Due to the corona crises and the shortage of protective equipment for healthcare workers, CEC has donated its laboratory equipment to Region Skåne and the health care system. The decision was taken by Henrik Smith and Yvonne Persson. “It was no question for us, of course we want to help with the little we can” says Yvonne Persson. Apart from visors and overalls to Region Skåne, a lot of semi-rigid plastic sheets were given to LTH where student made visors of them.

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.

Anna Persson was interviewed in Godmorgon världen, Sveriges Radio P1, about bumble bees and if they really are bigger than usually this year.

Skånska Dagbladet and Forskning.se have published an article with Helena Hanson and Tina D’Hertefeldt about how one can find nature just around the corner, and with tips on some common plants that you can eat. A movie about this has also been published at Facebook, check out the account of Lunds universitet.

At the CEC web site you can read more about Mark Brady and Cecilia Larsson talking about Profitability, not more cattle, is needed to save natural grazing land, Johan Ekroos, Maria von Post and Ola Olsson about Green infrastructure – planning and designing a functioning nature, Mia Sporre about Particles baffle climate researchers.

LU news

Support for online education

Information and support regarding online education is gathered on the Corona related web pages on Staff pages. Here you can find information that may be useful, with regard to the online work and changes to rules. The pages contains technical support, temporarily rules regarding examinations, Personal data protection in distance education, Doctoral thesis defences online, and student support etc. The web pages is continuously updated.

See the Support for online education at Staff pages

Personal data processing during examination and education online

Personal data processing is permitted on the legal basis of “a task in the public interest” to the extent that the processing is necessary to enable the University to conduct its teaching. This applies provided that the students receive clear information about how their personal data will be processed in view of the teaching being conducted via Zoom.

Personal data protection in distance education

Parking for those who want to avoid using public transport during the coronavirus crisis

A new parking decal has been produced for all staff and students at Lund University who usually commute using public transport. This decal is valild for all zones up to and including 15 September. The decal costs SEK 600 and can be purchased from the parking office.

New procedure for customer profiles at Egencia travel agency

A new procedure is soon to be introduced regarding entitlement to have a customer profile at the Egencia travel agency. There will be two entitlements and you apply for both via Lucat:

Traveller – to be able to book trips for yourself.
Travel booker – to be able to book trips for other University employees and external guests.

If you are to book trips for others, you must apply for this in Lucat. This also applies to those who currently have the entitlement.

Are you a new customer? Until May 10 you must apply for a new customer profile via both Lucat and the current procedure.

As of 11 May, you can only apply for entitlements for your customer profile in Lucat. The entitlements will be transferred from Lucat to Egencia on a daily basis.

Project Management in a research environment – the methods and tools you need to reach goals effectively

You’ve been leading research projects most of your academic work life, some have been successful, some haven’t. There are methods, tools and terminology from project management which can help you and your collaborators, both inside and outside academia, to become far more effective.

If you are a research team leader/Principal investigator or in a senior position (year 4--), with experience from leading research projects and are interested in a project management course (3,5 days), register your interest at Kompetensportalen no later than June 16th .

Course dates: 28 August, 8-9 September, 1 October. The course is free of charge and held in English.

Please note: This is not a “leadership course” as such, even if focus is on the virtue of collaboration in a wider sense of the word. For leadership courses and other seminars for PIs, read more.

Lundaloppet 2020 rescheduled for 13 September

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Lundaloppet fun run has been rescheduled for the autumn. The new date is 13 September and the registration deadline 3 September. As usual, Lund University will cover the cost of the registration fee and the Lundaloppet T-shirt for all its staff members

If you have already signed up for the previous date (9 May) you keep your place in the starting line-up. If you have signed up, but cannot take part on the new date, you are to cancel your registration by 3 September.

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 Erling, anna_maria [dot] erling [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (anna_maria[dot]erling[at]cec[dot]lu[dot]se) or Stina Johannesson, 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.