August 20th 2020
From the Management
Dear all, welcome back to a new semester! Hope everyone has been able to have a good summer holiday, with the possibility of recovery after a pretty tough spring. We will have some students back on campus, and the process towards the new CEC organisation from 2021 continues as planned. In addition to that we are looking forward to a semester with lots of interesting activities. First out is the weekly CEC Friday breakfast talk starting tomorrow. Next week you could join in the yearly mowing of the Ecology Building ”meadow”. More info on activities can be found under the headline Dates.
It would have been wonderful to be able to say that now everything should be as usual again, but unfortunately it is not a normal semester we will return to, since we a are still in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is still crucial that we all follow the Swedish Public Health Agency’s recommendations for reducing the spread of infection:
- continue to maintain social distancing, don’t gather too many people at the same time
- wash your hands
- continue to work from home to the extent that you and your line manager have agreed upon
- stay at home when you feel sick, even with mild symptoms
Finally, as the Vice-Chancellor expressed it: These are challenging times, many people are affected by working from home, which leads to less social contact – contact that is so important for our wellbeing. Hang on and hang in there; stay in contact with social distancing and in small groups, or online.
A message from your health and safety representatives, Niklas and Willi
We did, during spring, a survey to investigate how the COVID-19 situation is affecting the work environment for all CEC employees. Thank you for everyone that answered. We got 56 responses from all employee groups.
The survey showed that 34 % of us feel more stressed due to the COVID-19 situation. What was standing out here is that it was even above 60% for the group of PhD students. 38 % indicated that their working environment at home can be improved. Almost all of us missed contacts with colleagues.
75% of us found the information regarding the COVID-19 situation provided by the CEC-management clear or very clear.
The main conclusion of this survey is that we need to keep working together and to have a good dialogue to ensure that we can handle the challenging situation. Also make sure that you have a good working environment at home.
Please contact niklas [dot] boke_olen [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Niklas) or wilhelm [dot] may [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Willi) if you have any concerns or ideas that you want to bring up, we are here to help you all.
People
We warmly welcome the following persons to CEC:
Hanna Fors is a new postdoc at CEC, who will work in the transdisciplinary project “Forest management practices for climate targets and environmental objectives – adaptive strategies based on novel combinations of ecosystem modelling, policy analysis and visualization”. Her host is Anna Maria Jönsson at INES. Hanna can be found in room B351.
Sandra Lindström and Lovisa Nilsson will be working at CEC during the autumn, with Henrik Smith, in a project about how effects of plant protection products on biodiversity can be determined. The project is funded by the Swedish Chemicals Agency (Kemikalieinspektionen).
We are happy to announce that Viktoriia Meklesh will stay at CEC during the autumn. She will work on characterizing the fundamental chemical and physical properties of soil and aquatic organic matter in collaboration with groups at Physical Chemistry and Aquatic Ecology.
We congratulate Henni Ylänne to the Postdoctoral researcher position with the project “ReindeerPaths” funded by the Academy of Finland at the University of Eastern Finland, Finland. The position is a mobility grant, and Henni will therefore continue to carry out most of her work at CEC.
New kitchen at floor 3
The new kitchen at floor 3 is ready to use for everyone at CEC and Biodiversity! Now would have been the perfect time for an opening party, but due to the Covid-19 restrictions this will unfortunately not take place.
It is a common kitchen where both departments share everything; microwave ovens, coffee, milk, refrigerators, dish washers, plates etc. The coffee machine from CECs lunch room is also available for everyone to use. The room is also suitable for smaller meetings, and when allowed later on, also for larger ones. Shortly there will be a projector and screen installed.
For this to work out well, we all need to show consideration to each other. This includes to keep your distance. If there are many persons in the kitchen when you arrive, please turn back and return a bit later. Also please wash your hands with water and soap or hand sanitizer before toughing anything else in the kitchen, and use paper towels instead of cloth towels. Also you are responsible for putting your own dirty dishes in the dish washers, turn it on or empty it when it’s full, hand wash anything you don’t put in the dish washer, and clean up after yourself.
We will rotate the responsibilities for the kitchen duties, with a group of 2 persons each from CEC and Biodiversity each week. The duties and allocation of weeks will be communicated separately, and posted in the kitchen. Making coffee will not be included in the duties. This is due to the Covid-19 restrictions, with no common fika for larger groups. Those of us who would like to drink “real coffee” have to take care of that amongst ourselves.
If you have any suggestions of improvements, please don’t hesitate to contact either of us!
See you in the kitchen!
Karin and Ola
New office space
The former CEC lunch room is now an open office space with seven desks. Some of them will be used by people at CEC for a shorter period, but most of them are free to use if you are normally not at CEC but would like to spend a day/week here. And if you are sharing a small office with a colleague, and happened to be in the office at the same time, one of you are also welcome to use one of the desks.
For small meetings there will be a meeting table in the open office space, that can be used when no one is using the desks. Also the small meeting room across the corridor from the open office space can be used for meetings or phone calls as before. At floor 2 there is also a small meeting room. Both rooms are booked in a paper calendar outside the room.
Dates
For an updated list of events see the CEC calendar (English version).
CECs Friday talk is via the Teams group ”CEC” at 10:15. 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.
Tomorrow August 21, Carlos Martinez Avila, will talk on Stakeholder Participation in green space development. Next Friday August 28 Katrin Molina-Besch (Packaging Logistics), will give a talk on Developing packaging for the transition to more sustainable food systems.
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.
The ClimBEco mentoring programme will host a two-day event August 20-21 at Elite Hotel Mollberg in Helsingborg for current mentors and mentees. It is the third meeting for this mentoring programme and the focus will be on Mentor training and Communication.
ClimBEco is excited to host our annual summer meeting with both new and 2nd-year ClimBEco students from Lund and Gothenburg, August 26-27. The meeting will be a hybrid online and in-person event, called EcS in the City – exploring ecosystem services in our urban spaces. https://www.cec.lu.se/education/post-graduate-studies/climbeco-graduate-research-school/climbeco-annual-meetings
SACT and the Biodiversity Unit invite you to take part in the yearly mowing of the Ecology Building ”meadow” on Thursday 27 August. The afternoon will start with a brief introduction (in English) to the way that traditional management is related to grassland biodiversity … and why we are managing our meadow the way that we are doing. Then Odd Kjellberg, from Slåttergubben, will give an hours’ introduction (in English) to knackliar: their maintenance and use. This type of scythe (sharpened by hammering the blade with a peening hammer) is standard in Central and Eastern Europe and is increasingly favoured in conservation management in Sweden and Britain. The peening technique means that blades can be sharpened and edges repaired on site – without needing access to a heavy grindstone.
If you want to join this introductory workshop, come to the slope next to the “bee bed” (sand pit) N of the Ecology Building at 13.00. At around 14.00, we will start mowing the meadow. The aim is to cut the grass and immediately remove the biomass/hay. Bring rakes and scythes, if you can. There will also be various bits of equipment that can be borrowed. Ola Olsson will be in charge of the mowing and equipment. Coffee and refreshments will be provided after a while.
In the evening, weather permitting, we plan to have a grill party as a “slåttergille”. The barbeques will be prepared, but you should bring your own food and drink. More details about the grill party will be sent out nearer the day.
We will observe social distancing procedures throughout and, if possible, please bring your own mug and or glass for the refreshments. Scything in itself demands social distancing, but please remember to be careful with the sharp scythe blades!
Everybody is welcome! One of the aims of the afternoon is to get together people from all over the Department of Biology including CEC.
If you have questions, contact:
Honor_C [dot] Prentice [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se (Honor_C[dot]Prentice[at]biol[dot]lu[dot]se) (general organization)
Ola [dot] Olsson [at] biol [dot] lu [dot] se (Ola[dot]Olsson[at]biol[dot]lu[dot]se) (mowing arrangements)
Oskar [dot] L%C3%B6fgren [at] nateko [dot] lu [dot] se (Oskar.Löfgren[at]nateko[dot]lu[dot]se) (refreshments/slåttergille)
All current PhD students are welcome to register for the upcoming joint PhD seminar on environmental challenges on Wednesday, September 2nd. The topic of this seminar is Matters of Scale, where three current PhDs (including our own Julia Kelly!) from different departments discuss how they approach the issue of scale in their research. Registration is found here: https://www.cec.lu.se/form/registration-to-joint-phd-seminar-matters-of-scale
LUCRIS - research information system
New at CEC? Or want to learn the benefits of LUCRIS again? Sign up by sending an email to lina [dot] nikoleris [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Lina Nikoleris) for one of the following dates, all starting at 10 o’clock:
1st Sept - in Teams
10th Sept - in our new lunch room or
23rd Sept – in Teams
Lina will give you a short tour in the tool, demonstrate the benefits and get you started on your personal pages. It will take about about 30 min of your time. If you would like Lina to join i.e. your research group meeting or can’t join the suggested dates, please let her know and we will make arrangements so it suits you.
CEC in media during the summer
If the articles are behind pay wall, you can find them and read them in Retriever Research/Mediearkivet. Log in with your LUCAT-id.
Markku Rummukainen was interviewed in Sydsvenskan about climate change and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.
Sveriges Radio also interviewed Markku Rummukainen on this topic in June, listen here (Swedish only).
Birk Andersson, CEC-student who wrote his thesis about how sealed surfaces are increasing in private gardens, was interviewed in Natursidan about his conclusions.
What is most urgent, climate change or loss of biodiversity? the magazine ETC asked Johanna Alkan Olsson in an article with the headline “Who’s on school strike for biodiversity?”. Read the article here.
Océane Bertholomée’s fieldwork about pollinators’ visual system has been covered by both Ystads Allehanda and Radio Kristianstad.
Ystads Allehanda has also covered Georgina Brennan’s and Anders Persson’s fieldwork in the Baltic Sea, where they aim to trace fishes and aquatic animals by finding their DNA in collected water samples. Kristianstadsbladet also made a reportage about the project.
Kristianstadsbladet has had a series of interviews on the theme environement and climate this summer. In the series Markku Rummukainen was interviewed on how to solve the climate crisis, Johanna Alkan Olsson on sustainable living, Juliana Dänhardt on sustainable farming and Lina Herbertsson on pollination.
What should a roadside look like to best benefit pollinators? Sofia Blomqvist is examining this together with Trafikverket and the fieldwork gained a lot of interest this summer. Sydsvenskan reported on it, as well as Ystads Allehanda.
Anna Persson was interviewed in Ystads Allehanda on her fieldwork related to the research project Synergies.
Markku Rummukainen was interviewed in Smålandsposten on the climate work Älmhults municipality is doing.
Markku Rummukainen was also interviewed in the magazine Syre about new research findings that indicate that the climate may be more sensitive to carbon dioxide emissions then previously thought.
Svenska Dagbladet has quoted what Markku Rummukainen said about the need of a green recovery after the covid-19-pandemic during Debatt in Lund in June.
Forskning.se also covered the debate.
At the LU web site you can read more about the new foundation that will support research about the Environment in the Hanö Bay (In Swedish).
Power cut Friday August 21
On Aug 21 there will be a power cut in the Ecology building vån.3 corridor D (CEC) approximately from 6 AM till 8 AM. Please inform Cecilia Thomasson if this will cause any difficulties.
Pigeonhole for mail
Please don’t forget to have a look in your mailbox after the summer break. It can now be found in the eastern end of the corridor on floor 3, or in the CEC corridor on floor 2 (as before).
Change of service provider for telephony
Between 01:00 and 07:00 on September 9th , the University will change its service provider for stationary and mobile telephony. If you only have a stationary phone on your desk, you will not notice any difference. However, for all those with a University subscription for some form of mobile telephony (including data SIM cards and mobile broadband), it will entail some changes.
Mobile telephony, data SIM cards and mobile broadband:
In connection with the change of telephony service provider, you will need to change your SIM card. More information on how you will receive a new one will be available in late August/begin September – keep updated via the LDC web page.
There is a form that you can fill out if you want us to send your SIM card to your home or to your faculty. The link to the form can be found on LDC's website and it is open to august 26th 17:00, see link below.
Definitions:
Data SIM card: Shared data volume included in mobile subscription, an extra SIM card for data traffic e.g. in an iPad, tablet or computer.
Mobile broadband: Separate data subscription.
More and updated information will be available on the LDC web page.
Parking – digital parking permits
The university will switch to digital parking permits in autumn 2020. The order page is therefore closed and will reopen in August 2020. More information can be found here.
More LU news
See the attached newsletters below.
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.
LU-gemensamt Mejlutskick Nr 22-2020- v25 (PDF 539 kB, ny flik)
LU-gemensamt Mejlutskick Nr 24-2020-v33 (PDF 257 kB, ny flik)