From the management

We continue to follow the government’s and university management’s guidelines due to the Coronavirus spread and keep us continuously updated on news and possible changes in the directions. Please follow the university’s updates for staff carefully here. 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. It may be possible to work from home, but it must be approved by your line manager.

Concrete measures has been taken by CEC to prevent infection, e.g. cancelled/postponed/digitalized events, increased possibilities of working from home and online meetings. At the same time it is of importance to keep in touch. Join the daily CEC Fika Online every day at 10.00 and 15.00 and the Friday seminar via the Teams group ”CEC”, more info below. Try to keep activities and your daily work going in the best way possible. Support and tools on how to go digital can be found under LU Staff Pages/Support and Tools, and in the guide attached.

Swedish news in English can be followed via e.g. Swedish Public TV (SVT Rapport), Swedish Public Radio (Sveriges Radio) and The Local.

The CEC Plan of operations for 2020 is now available in both English and Swedish on the CEC web page.

The CEC Management group now consist of the following persons:

• Henrik Smith, Director, Coordinator BECC, Director Sustainability forum
• Katarina Hedlund, Deputy Director with responsibility for the undergraduate education
• Yann Clough, Assistant Director with responsibility for research development, equal opportunities and equal treatment
• Karin Hofvendahl, Administrative manager
• Natascha Kljun, Director of the PhD program
• Anna Maria Erling, Communications manager
• Anna Ekberg, Coordinator Sustainability Forum and CEC research schools
• Erik Swietlicki, Infrastructure strategies
• Paul Miller, Coordinator MERGE
• Per Persson, strategic support to the Director

There will be an online CEC Staff day on May 19, open for CEC employees, PhD students in Environmental Science and teachers and researchers of the CEC collegium. We hope you will be able to participate! The theme is a Workshop on Stress management. It 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. Approximate time is 1000-1500, more information will come.

A reminder if you are planning to do field work. At the CEC Staff web you can find guidelines and other documents that may be helpful to you. To ensure that all assistants have an employment before starting to work, you have to fill in a form (new this year) and send it to Lena Söderberg well in advance before the fieldwork begins. Please see the guidelines for more information.

From now on only the two main entrances of the Ecology building will be open 7.30-16.30, while for the rest of our doors you will have to use your cards.

Easter holidays is coming up, in the next week there is less staffing due to a school break. Friday April 10 and Monday April 13 are working free days.

Last but not least, some things that might cheer you up in these unpredictable times:

Stina Johannesson made a playlist last night on the topic of "CEC vs Corona" for those who feel that music can be comforting in difficult times. It's a collaborative playlist so feel free to add or remove songs to make it a great anti-virus-soundtrack. 

And if you are not all that familiar with the new techniques this song could be for you J

The Corona crisis also brings out people's commitment, here you can find examples of how students and staff at Lund University have initiated voluntary initiatives to contribute. #tillsammansmotcorona (in Swedish), some of them also available in English, and here you can read about students and teachers sharing their stories on distance learning due to COVID-19.

People

We warmly welcome postdoc Zhengyao Lu to CEC. Zhengyao works in the project “Impacts of extreme drought on ecosystems in Eurasia and Sweden – the role of deep water reserves”, his host being Anders Ahlström at INES. He will initially be found at INES, and at CEC later on.

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 April 3rd Axel Eriksson will talk on Air pollution and health in Ethiopia . Next Friday there is no seminar due to the Easter holiday.

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.

Online panel talks on Sustainable cities and communities. The PhD students of the Agenda 2030 Graduate School arrange online panel debates on the topic of Sustainable cities and communities tomorrow 3 April, 15.00, From collecting information to implementing change: A panel debate about sustainability transition. More information and meeting links on the events page of the Agenda 2030 Graduate School.

The Swedish government has launched a COVID19 online hackathon which will take place on April 3-6.

On Thursday April 16 from 14.30-16.00 is the next Joint PhD seminar on Uncertainty in decision-making. The seminar is held online, registered participants will be sent a link. Current PhDs and advanced master-level students are welcome to register. More information about registration, the seminar and the joint seminar series initiative is found on the CEC calendar.

The program of the CEC spring conference on April 23 Science says! Mobilizing the knowledge of our time: The IPCC and IPBES reports has been adjusted due to the situation. Everyone at CEC is welcome to join and participate in two sessions that will be broadcasted via Zoom. Please read more here and register before April 15. The BECC and MERGE spring meeting is still on April 23-24. If you already registered for any of the BECC-MERGE sessions, the registration is still valid. All other registrations are cancelled. Please, contact cerina [dot] wittbom [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Cerina Wittbom) if you have any questions. More information regarding Zoom and updates on the program will be provided shortly.

To project leaders and project applicants

For applicants - In these hectic times, a firm reminder to be pro-active with:

• Budgets (fullkostnadskalkyl) – making them and getting them approved and signed! Be well in advance of the usual time limits:

Approval by an economist: Eva Stengard (else Åsa-Katrin Erlandsson, else Monika Bengtsson (Science Faculty))

Approval, and signature by the director:  Henrik Smith (else Katarina Hedlund, else Yann Clough)

• Putting in key information (CV, publication list) in PRISMA – and asking your co-applicants to do this asap!

For project leaders

• For economic project reports, due at the end of the month – why not send them in now?
• Take the responsibility to make a COVID-19 risk analysis for your scientific projects. What happens if people get sick/are stuck at home with limited ability to work? What happens if your equipment does not get delivered?
• Social distancing is not social isolation. Put in place a strategy to keep your team members and yourself  integrated, happy and cheerful! 

Deadlines for applications and reporting are being delayed a bit, keep informed, more information below. Please, check the respective websites for updates on deadlines!

The Faculty of Science and LU central calls for research infrastructure are postponed. New deadline 23 April 2020. For both calls, the Director's signature is required. Below you find the handling procedure for CEC applications. 

1. Contact per [dot] persson [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se (subject: ) (Per Persson) if you would like to discuss ideas or have questions regarding the calls. 
2. Send the full cost application (fullkostnadskalkyl) to the CEC economist eva [dot] stengard [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (subject: ) (Eva Stengard) before 16 April. State clearly whether the application refers to the call from LU central or Faculty of Science. 
3. Send the application to per [dot] persson [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se (subject: ) (Per Persson) before 20 April at 10.00 am. State clearly whether the application refers to the call from LU central or Faculty of Science. 
4. Per Persson is rapporteur for the Director (Henrik Smith). Given that the Director approves the application, he will sign the full cost application, which should be attached the application. 
5. The applicant submit the application before 23 April.

VR, the Swedish Research Council, is extending the application deadline for ten calls that were due to close on 31 March. The new deadline is April 7. Consequently, the deadline for signature by the administrating organisations has been extended to 16 April.

Formas has extended their deadline for the Annual open call 2020 for Research projects and for  Research projects for early-career researchers, new deadline is April 16.

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.

The best way to help pollinators
Lina Herbertsson was interviewed in SVT Nyheter Skåne, Norrköpings Tidningar and Piteå-Tidningen on the best ways to help pollinators to survive. 

Earlier spring and the nature's respons
Marrku Rummukainen and Johan Ekroos, among others, were interviewed about climate change, earlier springs and how the nature respond to higher temperatures i Svenska Dagbladet, Sveriges Radio, Skogssverige and Forskning.se.

Grazing on semi-natural grasslands need to be more profitable 
Cecilia Larsson and Mark Brady was interviewed in Jordbruksaktuellt and Extrakt on a new study that shows that Sweden doesn't need more cattle to preserve semi- natural grasslands. Instead, grazing on the grasslands need to be more profitable. Read the full article on the CEC news page (in Swedish).

Sustainability talent
Congratulations to Ludwig Bengtsson Sonesson, one of the Swedish sustainability talents below 33, up voted by Aktuell Hållbarhet.

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.