News from the NJ Faculty Board meeting, 10 February

Vice deans 2022–2025

The faculty board decided to appoint the following vice deans:

• Vice dean, undergraduate and Master’s courses and programmes and chair of the programme board: Jon Petter Gustafsson, Department of Soil and Environment
• Vice dean, gender equality and equal opportunities and chair of the equal opportunities committee: Johanna Bergman Lodin, Department of Urban and Rural Development
• Vice dean, doctoral education and chair of the doctoral education committee: Petra Fransson, Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology
• Vice dean, environmental monitoring and assessment and chair of the EMA board: Jens Olsson, Department of Aquatic Resources
• Vice dean responsible for developing multi- and transdisciplinarity: Helena Hansson, Department of Economics
• Vice dean responsible for the work of the docent board and chair of that board: Brendan McKie, Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
• Vice dean responsible for agricultural science infrastructure and collaboration within agricultural science: Göran Bergkvist, Department of Crop Production Ecology

Research schools at the NJ Faculty 2022–2025

Activities at the research schools are to be open to all doctoral students at SLU and should contribute to doctoral students fulfilling the qualitative targets for a doctoral degree. Research schools at the faculty are usually thematic and offer teaching at a high, international level.

The faculty board has decided to establish the following research schools:

• Ecology – Basics and Application
• Focus on Food and Biomaterials
• Focus on Soils and Water
• Organism Biology
• Sustainable Systems for Food, Energy and Biomaterials
• Social Science Perspectives on Sustainable Development*
• Society and Landscape*

* Only 2022. Joint renewed application for the period 2023–2025.

Research schools at SLU

Members of boards and committees

The faculty board has appointed members of the faculty’s boards and committees for the period 1 April 2022–31 March 2025. The new members will be presented on 1 April when their term of office begins.

Current members of boards, committees and councils at the NJ Faculty (in Swedish)

Professor of agricultural technology

In the last decade, technological developments have fundamentally changed systems and processes in business and industry. This applies to primary production systems as well as the whole food chain. Digital technologies bring with them advantages in several areas; finance, quality and environmental impact.

Because of this, the faculty board has decided to launch, subject to approval by the vice-chancellor, the recruitment of a professor in a subject with the preliminary name agricultural technology specialising in digitalisation.

The faculty board has appointed Head of Department Björn Vinnerås at the Department of Energy and Technology chair of the recruitment committee.

Guest professor at the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment

The faculty board has decided to propose to the vice-chancellor to hire Irena Creed for the role as guest professor in environmental assessment specialising in wetlands as nature-based solutions, starting 1 July 2022 and until 30 June 2024 at the latest.

Recruitment of a senior lecturer in crop production

The faculty board has decided to publish a position as senior lecturer in crop production science, specialising in agricultural crops, at the Department of Crop Production Ecology.

Quality assurance of degree programmes

SLU is continually striving to improve the quality of our programmes. The quality assurance system follows a six-year cycle, meaning that several quality assurance processes take place simultaneously.

In 2021, two Master's programmes at the NJ Faculty were evalutad: Sustainable Food Systems, and Environmental Communication and Management. The reports on these two programmes were presented to the faculty board at the meeting. The next step is for PN-NJ to draft a plan for the quality work within each programme. In 2022, another two Master’s programmes will be evaluated: Soil, Water and Environment, and Rural Development and Natural Resource Management.

More on SLU’s quality assurance system

Research platform

The faculty board also discussed the plans for a platform for transdisciplinary research. A decision will be taken later this year.