Vote for 'Involve the researchers!' for the UCPH board

Dear PhD students, postdocs, and other faculty. As you may have heard that there is an election coming up at the University of Copenhagen, with electronic voting Nov 25 to Nov 29 at 3pm.

All scientific faculty, also PhD students, postdocs or visiting scientists, are eligible to vote. We strongly urge you to do so. Voting will take place at www.e-vote.dk during that period.

We are running on a list called “Involve the researchers!” (Danish: “Inddrag forskerne!”), along with 13 other professors from across The University of Copenhagen, for seats on the board of the university.

The 2 important board seats

The board is the highest governing body of the university, and the faculty has 2 seats, out of 11 seats total, on the board. (6 are occupied by external members, 2 by students, and 1 by administrative personel (TAP)). Those 2 seats are close to the only democratic influence on the university we have left. If elected, we will work actively with the rest of the board to move the university forward.

We urge you to vote!

Our full election program material can be found on our website (http://www.involvetheresearchers.dk), and you can also find us on facebook (fb.me/involvetheresearchers) and twitter (twitter.com/theinvolve). We explain selected points below.

But why should you vote? And why should you vote for us?

You should vote since this is a democratic right, privilege, and duty. One instance of Danish egalitarianism is that for the election for the university board, everybody from PhD student to professor has one vote, and all votes count the same. It is something to celebrate and use.

A university driven by researchers makes better decisions

This election is particularly important, since the university, in our view, has drifted in a less researcher-driven and more ‘corporate’ direction, with more top-down management. You may have heard of chaotic mergers and merger plans, instant firing of a whole group because the professor moved institution, mass firings of permanent professors due to budget cuts, and the firing of an individual professor with obscure public explanations as to why.

Our list wants to move the university in a better, more researcher-driven direction. We believe that a university driven bottom-up by researchers leads to better decisions, and a stronger university. This goes for both leadership and administration.

We will also fight for better integration of PhD students and postdocs in the university. Even if paid on external money, their rights should be the same as for everybody else, and e.g., the above mentioned firings are grossly unacceptable.

Another point on our agenda is that we will fight for better avenues for reporting transgressions by e.g. line management, including a proper ombudsman function.

Again, you can download our whole program from our website which also has links to other material. If you read Danish, we also urge you to read our longer opinion piece in Danish here in Uniavisen, explaining our program.

And check out our Facebook page too.

We’re asking for your vote. (And begging you TO VOTE!)

With the best researcher greetings,

Eske and Jesper, for the list
Involve the researchers!

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Involve the researchers! Who are we?

Eske Willerslev holds a Lundbeck Foundation Professorship at University of Copenhagen and is the director of Centre for GeoGenetics, at the newly established GLOBE Institute, at Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. He also holds the Prince Philip Chair in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Cambridge, UK. He did his education at University of Copenhagen and have since been employed at University of Oxford as a post doc and later as visiting professor and at UC Berkeley as a visiting Miller Professor. He has been employed as full professor at several institutions at University of Copenhagen; first at the Niels Bohr Institute, later at Department of Biology and then at the Danish Natural History Museum before moving to the Faculty of Health and Medical Science. He has been part of the University of Copenhagen board during the last period. He lives in Lyngby with his wife and has 2 sons.

Jesper Grodal got his PhD in mathematics from MIT in 2000, and spend 2000-2006 at Univ. Chicago, IAS-Princeton, and Paris, before starting a professorship in mathematics at UCPH in 2006. He has also subsequently held visiting positions in France, Germany, UK, and US. His main passion is his job, and he was proud to be named fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2018 “for contributions to algebraic topology, representation theory and their interactions, and for service to the profession”. During the last 13 years, he has also been involved in building up a strong activity in his research area at University of Copenhagen, aided by a number of external grants, e.g, from EU and DNRF, and been involved in department administration in various ways. He lives on Østerbro, with his wife and 3 daughters aged 10, 8, and 4. His wife is also a professor in the math department, and he has grown up “on UCPH”, as his parents were also both professors here (his mom in economics, and his dad in film studies). When he don’t work or tend to the kids, he tries to do some sports. Ideally kitesurfing, but if wind, swell, or time does not allow, he’ll settle for a swim or a run.

Pia Quist holds a 2006 PhD in Sociolinguistics, and is associate professor at the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics. Her research is in sociolinguistics, e.g., dialects and multilingualism.

Randi Starrfelt holds a 2008 PhD in Psychology, and is professor with special responsibilities at the Department of Psychology. Her research is in neuropsychology, e.g., faceblindness.

Mikael Rask Madsen holds a 2005 Doctorat in Sociology of Law from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and is a professor of law and director of iCourts. His research is focused on globalization and the role of legal institutions and professionals in these processes.

Nanna MacAulay holds a 2002 PhD in Medicine and is a professor at the Department of Neuroscience. Her research area is within molecular neuroscience.

Michael Broberg Palmgren holds a 1990 PhD in Plant Biochemistry from University of Lund. He is a professor at Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, and studies biological pumps found in plants.

Claus Thustrup Kreiner holds a 1998 PhD in Economics, and is professor at the Department of Economics, and director of the research center CEBI. His main research area is Public Economics.

Morten Rievers Heiberg holds a 2002 PhD in Romance. He is a professor at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies. His main research area is Spanish History, International History, International Relations.

Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen holds a 2004 PhD from the European University Institute in Florence. She is professor at Department of Political Science. Her research focuses in particular on EU integration of welfare policies.

Janus Mortensen holds a 2011 PhD in Linguistics. He is Associate Professor at the Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use. His research includes social and linguistic norms and language policy.

Thomas Mears Werge has a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 1988. He is professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine. His research focuses on explaining the biological reasons for mental disorders.

Stine Helene Falsig Pedersen holds a 1998 PhD in Biology. She is a professor at the Department of Biology, and her research is in Cell Biology and Physiology.

Timo Minssen holds a 2012 Jur.Dr. from University of Lund. He is professor and director of the research center CeBIL. His main focus of research is in legal aspects of biomedical innovation and public health.

Hans Wandall holds a 2004 PhD in Medicine. He is professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. His research area is in Glycomics.