My journey of knowledge at SLU is still fairly fresh, but with each passing day, I feel more and more at home even though each week brings new people, new situations, new units and new projects. But what would professional life be without variety?
New staff
One piece of news for the faculty office is that, as of 19 August, we have a new faculty programme director. Her name is Cecilia Hultman and she comes from the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts at Lund University, where she held, among other things, the post of programme coordinator. Before that, she worked at Malmö University as an administrative officer at the School of Arts and Communication. Her long experience of working with higher education administrative tasks and as a team leader means she’s well equipped for her new managerial role. Cecilia will be a good addition to the faculty and I wish her every success in her new position.
I can also inform you that SLU has a new head of communications, Sara Arvidson, who has previously held similar roles at Örebro University and Mälardalen University. Furthermore, Charlotte Walhed has been appointed head of the Division of Educational Affairs and Kalle Mälson will shortly take up the post of head of the Environment Unit. All three are based in Ultuna.
Salary review
As usual, SLU will carry out a staff salary review this autumn. Staff will be offered to take part in a salary-setting dialogue with their line manager or be covered by traditional negotiations (depending on the union to which they belong or whether they are non-unionised). The dialogue covers performance, goals achieved and the current salary. The aim is for employees to understand the basis on which their salary is based and what they can do to influence their salary development. The new salary will apply from 1 October and will be paid retroactively with the December salary. More information on the salary review can be found on the staff web (search ‘Salary review 2024’).
New at campus
We also note that the apple breeding project now has an irrigation system in place and that the hybrid aspen project at the Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre is underway. We have also taken the opportunity to reinforce a dirt road in the northernmost part of the campus, which will give our staff better and less muddy access to the fields.
To improve drainage from the fields to the west, the small stream in Landskapslabbet has been cleared and we have also adjusted the soil levels to reduce the risk of stormwater remaining in the surrounding fields. Please feel free to take a walk to the Landscape Laboratory, it’s a lovely setting if you need a walk-and-talk or just a short break from the screen. We are currently working on new guidelines for prioritising research infrastructure funding, and we are also reviewing the charge for operation and maintenance of cultivation areas, the latter to ensure more adequate cost recovery.
Operational plan coming up
The next thing on my agenda is to draw up, with my colleagues in management, an operational plan for the university administration and then, together with the heads of unit at the LTV faculty office, to draw up a local operational plan. The aim is, of course, to provide the faculty's staff with the best support we can offer, given our resources, but also to improve processes and procedures to make them as efficient and effective as possible. In this context, I’m happy to see that demand for the Cultivation Unit's services has increased, which probably means that we’ll be investing there to renew tools and machinery, among other things.
Finally, I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy new academic year, hopefully filled with creativity, job satisfaction and collaboration of various kinds. And don't forget your own professional development. For my part, I will devote some of my free time to taking a course on the Anthropocene at the Royal Institute of Technology to see if I can get a better grip on this controversial concept. The important thing here is that we should never stop learning, and we must remain curious and open to change and challenges.
Håkan Sandgren
Head of the faculty office, LTV
