From the Management

This week the Management group followed up the CEC Plan och Operations, and what effects the Corona outbreak has had on the fulfilment of that. After an initial drop in activity, most operations are back on track, with a modification that most work and education is online. There is a major delay in recruitments, affecting research, education and administration. Some field work has been modified or postponed, but most of it is carried out according to plans. Larger events, workshops and conferences have, when it has been possible, been carried out in an adapted form. We have tried out new ways of meeting online, or IRL with a social distance. Most likely we will have to continue work online for some time, but because of the success of some event we expect more activities to be online also post Corona. Some examples of changed activities are:

• The BECC-MERGE spring meeting carried out online. Interesting presentations, fruitful conversations and sharing of expertise and thoughts from all 80 participants resulted in key research topics that will be extracted to suggest future joint efforts between BECC and MERGE.
• The Sustainability Week is an annual event in Lund organised as a joint venture by Lund University (Sustainability Forum) and the City of Lund. Instead of the business as usual-week that was scheduled to take place in April, there will, for example, be an event in October focusing on the report from the Lunds Klimatpolitiska Råd.
• Our Friday fika and talk, which has moved online and has a large number of attendants.

Please keep yourself updated on the university management’s guidelines due to the Coronavirus spread here. New research shows that you can infect others with covid-19 even if you are symptom-free. In other words, you can be contagious without knowing it. We therefore urge all students and employees to continue practicing social distance, to regularly wash your hands and to show consideration to others. Listen to Magnus Rasmussen, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Lund University, explaining more about the new research results: Video via Youtube, in Swedish with English subtitles. And 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.

Finally we hope to see you all at the CEC’s end of term online fika taking place on Friday 12 June. Don’t miss this special edition with: Thank you from the management, Quiz and the traditional Swedish song Den blomstertid nu kommer that is sung at all end of term for summer events at schools in Sweden. Notice: for this event we start already at 9.30 and move over from Teams to Zoom. Zoom link: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/62302467857. Meeting ID: 623 0246 7857

Remember to contribute your pictures to the CEC end-of-term event by Monday next week June 1. There are some great contributions so far – and we want to have your perspective there as well (my workplace, a flower, an insect, favorite color, this is in my glass/cup). Upload here or send to cheryl [dot] sjostrom [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (cheryl[dot]sjostrom[at]cec[dot]lu[dot]se).

People

We warmly welcome Sofia Blomqvist as a new PhD student in Environmental Science working on “Biodiversity in infrastructure: along which road verges should we implement measures to benefit insect pollinators?””. Sofia’s supervisors are Henrik Smith and Björn Klatt, and she will have her office at the Biology Department.

We also welcome Helen Avery to CEC. Helens work concerns sustainability transitions in the Middle East, with a particular focus on strategies for environmentally and socially sustainable society building. Research interests include organisational development, creativity and transdisciplinarity in higher education, internationalisation strategies, as well as participatory and future-oriented methodologies in a variety of settings. Helen is a researcher at The Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), and will from now on share her time between CMES and CEC. At CEC she will be found on floor 2.

And we are happy to announce that Lena Söderberg will stay at CEC. She will continue as an administrator being responsible for travel bills, Lucat administration and filing.

Mathilda Hansson and Ludwig Bengtsson Sonesson that have been working in Sustainability Forum will leave CEC in a short while. We wish them best of luck in the future.

Next week Irene Bergstrand is back as an HR administrator, and we thank My Geborek for her support during Irene’s leave. 

Primula closed due to upgrading

Primula will be closed from 17:00 TODAY 28 May to 3 June 17:00, due to upgrading and migration to a new technical platform. During this period Primula will not be available for reporting. When Primula opens there are only a few days until deadline for approval, so please try to register TODAY or as soon as possible when the system opens up. For questions please contact lena [dot] soderberg [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Lena Söderberg) or irene [dot] bergstrand [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Irene Bergstrand).

Apply for summer vacation or other leave

The following regards PhD students, researchers, administrative and technical staff employed at CEC.

Due to the temporary close of Primula deadlines have been adjusted.

If you are planning on having vacation in June, you have to apply in Primula no later than June 5. If you are planning on having vacation later this summer you have to apply no later than June 18. If you are planning on having other leave of absence during the summer (parental leave etc), you have to apply no later than June 5.

All leave has to be approved in advance by your supervisor/manager, and please write that as a comment in Primula. You have to take at least 20 days (4 weeks) of annual leave during the year, and you can only accumulate a maximum of 30 saved days including saved days from previous years. For questions, please contact my [dot] geborek [at] science [dot] lu [dot] se (My Geborek) or irene [dot] bergstrand [at] cec [dot] lu [dot] se (Irene Bergstrand).

Localities

As you know the CEC kitchen will be turned into offices this summer. Please start already now removing your non-essential groceries from the pantry, food you have kept stored in the fridges or freezer that is not for immediate use and empty containers and the likes. The aim is to only keep what is used for now. We will get back with more details on when the kitchen is closing for good and if there need to be arrangements made for storing and preparing food until the common kitchen is in use.

CEC have got two new offices at floor 3, both located in the corridor leading to the new large lunch room. In the same time we leave another room further down the same corridor. The result is the CEC offices on floor 3 are located closer together, and are expanded by one room.

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 May 29, Ulrika Oredsson, Press officer at LU, and Johanna Sandahl, Head of communications at the Science Faculty, will talk on LU's 7 principles for good research communication. Next Friday June 5 Margareta Johansson, Researcher at INES, will give a talk on A one-stop shop to terrestrial Arctic: INTERACT.

On Friday June 12 you are warmly welcome to the CEC’s end of term online fika, 9.30-10.15. No talk this time. Don’t miss this special edition with:

• Thank you everyone for this semester
• Quiz on the theme CEC and corona – nice awards for the winners!
• Sing a long Den blomstertid nu komme

Notice: for this event we start already at 9.30 and move over from Teams to Zoom.

Zoom link: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/62302467857

Meeting ID: 623 0246 7857

Link to the CEC calendar at cec.lu.se

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.

Webinar: A logical start of an academic career: Getting external funding - where, when, how?

1 June at 10.15-12.00. Getting that external funding is an important part of the academic career. But how do you find the relevant funding opportunities and how should you approach the research funding that is out there? This webinar will guide you as early career researchers (incl doctoral students) through the research funding landscape in general, and more specifically in the funding opportunities that Research Services give support in. After the webinar you will also know what support you can get from Research Services concerning external funding. Read more at LU staff pages

On June 4, at 13.30-15.00, CEC Fellows welcomes researchers within the AI and/or climate research fields to an open brainstorm meeting about the Formas and Vinnova joint call “AI in the service of climate”. Register before June 3 via the Zoom-registration link (a link to the meeting will be sent out upon registration).

Online Summer School on Large-Scale Facilities, 29 June to 2 July

Students can now apply to an online intensive course on large-scale facilities (Synchrotron SOLEIL, MAX IV Laboratory and ELI-ALPS – Extreme Light Infrastructure-Attosecond Light Pulse Source). The summer school is organised by The EUGLOH Alliance of which Lund University is a member. The registration deadline is 31 May 2020.

Find out more about the summer school and register on the EUGLOH website

Principles for research communication

Lund University has recently developed principles for ethical research communication, you can now find the principles at the staff pages.  The principles are supported by the Lund University Research Board and Ethics Council as well as the University’s vice-chancellor and deans. Everyone communicating research – not only communicators – should strive to observe the seven principles. Read more about the principles and the background here.

At the Friday Fika tomorrow, Ulrika Oredsson, press manager at the University, will talk more about the guidelines.

More about communication

A “Lund University Communications Guide" in pdf version in Swedish and English (with clickable links) is now available! (See attached.) It is the first university-wide guide of its kind and is aimed at all employees at the university, not just those who are clearly working with communication. The guide provides an overview of guidelines and recommendations for how to communicate internally and externally as a university employee. The content includes communication planning, channel selection, graphic profile, templates and support, and more. The guide provides an entry to the pages of communication available on the Staff pages, where there is in-depth information.

Official background for digital meetings

Please find attached the official logo of LU and the Faculty of Science in Swedish and English, that you are free to use as a background in digital meetings.

Sustainability newsletter

Want to know about all the exciting new sustainability research coming out of Lund University? Well, Sustainability Forum has a monthly newsletter just for that purpose! Subscribe via this link and if you are keen to read previous editions, they can be found via this link. They contain a mix of news in Swedish and English.

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.

Small and mid-sized farms are needed for greater biodiversity and to increase our foodsecurity, Yann Clough et al argue in debate article in Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish).

How are politicians affected by uncertainty in their decision-making? Åsa Knaggård is interviewed on how the political governance has changed during the corona pandemic, on Lund University’s Youtube channel (in Swedish).

Ullrika Sahlin and her research group have contributed to an international study on the general public’s concern for Covid-19 and on their view on the authorities’ actions during the pandemic, see article (in Swedish) and references to research study (in English).

Tobias Biermann and his fellow researchers at Hyltemossa Research Station were interviewed in Kristianstadsbladet (in Swedish) on the climate impact of forests and the climate transition after the corona pandemic. Lund University employees can read the article via Retriever Research.

The lack of labour within the green job sector is highlighted in the research of Johanna Alkan Olsson, who has focused on the migrant workers’ importance for the farming and food industry. The article was published in Sydsvenskan (in Swedish) and LU employees can read the article via Retriever Research.

A study by Lina Herbertsson and other BECC researchers indicates that the regional flora in Skåne has changed drastically during the last centuries. Learn more about why from the article on the CEC newspage.

LU news

Who owns the rights to teaching material in remote education?

The transition to remote teaching has placed considerable demands on the organisation, not least through the need to adapt and produce teaching material for use in virtual learning environments and other digital tools. In such a situation, questions may arise about who owns the rights to the material.

Teaching staff who produce teaching material own the copyright to what they have created, if it is sufficiently original. This may include exercise assignments, reading instructions, and exam questions and answers. As the material was produced as a result of being employed at the University, the University has the right to use it in order to provide continuous and efficient teaching. The University’s right to use also includes that which has been made available e.g. through a virtual learning environment or other digital tool. This may include notes, material for lectures, or presentations. The University’s use requires no specific consent from, or compensation to, the teaching staff member.

Read more on the LU Staff Pages about copyright and the memorandum Who owns the rights to teaching material in remote education? (which will be available online shortly).

See the decision in LU’s rules and regulations: General recommendations on Lund University’s right to use copyrighted material I 2017 I (PDF 55 kB). 

If you have any questions, contact the Legal Division.

Lund University & Universitas 21

As a member of Universitas 21—a global network of 27 universities, over 1 million students and 200,000 staff—Lund University aims to leverage the strengths of this network to not only be inspired, but to also inspire others.
The work at U21 is mainly divided into three different clusters (Education Innovation, Researcher Engagement and Student Experience) which provide students and staff with platforms for collaboration and exchange of experiences. Some examples include student competitions, joint project funding and annual meetings/workshops.
Read more about U21 at LU Staff Pages

U21 Annual Meeting | Sustainable Universities: Sustainable University Networks

You are invited to participate in the Annual General Meeting, with the theme “Sustainable Universities: Sustainable University Networks”. This content (keynote speeches, presentations, online poster session, etc.) aims to highlight the innovative and transformative initiatives from across the U21 network that target the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The event is not live streamed and can be viewed on the U21 website

Visual guide to U21 Opportunities – Who can benefit?

U21 provides a range of development activities for students, researchers as well as senior academic and professional staff. The opportunities include extra-curricular incentives such as competitions, continuing professional development workshops and meetings, support and sharing best practice around delivery, and development of strategy and policy in Higher Education.

Take a look at the visual guide

Activities and collaborations between LU and U21 members

The U21 network provides a range of opportunities, many in which Lund University already is an active partner. Some examples: U21 Health Sciences Group and U21 International Fire Safety Consortium

Funding opportunities

LU has now submitted applications to the U21 Global Education Enhancement Fund that aims to support U21 members in delivering and enhancing higher education for a rapidly changing and uncertain future. Partnerships of two or more U21 member universities can apply for this fund, working together to design better solutions for online teaching, learning and assessment, which can be subsequently shared as resources within the U21 network.

Read more about U21 at LU Staff Pages

Career development for academic staff

Lund University offers a broad range of activities that contribute to career development for academic staff, either within academia or outside it. Some activities are suitable for doctoral students, some for postdocs and others for research team leaders. Registration is now open activities during autumn term 2020.

The career development activities are offered in English and are free of charge, both for individuals and departments. Read more about which activities we offer when and how to register at LU Staff Pages.

Funding paths to excellence

A new guide “Funding paths to excellence” is now available, it provides a compilation of funding opportunities oriented towards basic research available in different career stages with an indicative list of expected merits and skills. The guide may be used in the strategic planning of researchers, supervisors, head of departments, team leaders and the like.

Funding paths to excellence

Read more about Research funding at LU Staff Pages

Deferred planning of Drupal 8

Due to the coronavirus, we have had to defer planning somewhat for the transition to Drupal 8. This means that the Alpha phase, which was previously planned for April has been rescheduled to take place in June. In the First phase, several websites will switch to their Drupal 8 websites, which means that the new templates will also be implemented.

LU departments show considerable interest in developing new commissioned education courses

The first round of applications for strategic funding to develop commissioned education closed on Thursday 14 May. “We are very satisfied with the large number of submitted applications, especially in the prevailing Covid-19 situation. The great interest in the call for applications shows that there is an increased ambition among departments and faculties to work in a more long-term and strategic way to develop commissioned education courses for wider society”, says Lars Palm, head of Lund University Commissioned Education (LUCE). Read more here.

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.