Many thanks to those of you who participated and made these days so great! A follow-up has been sent to you all. It is important that you take the time to give us your feedback about the faculty days so we can draw on your opinions to help make the next faculty days in two years even better. So many of you contributed to the planning and running of the faculty days that it would be impossible to thank you all individually. But rest assured, your efforts were thoroughly appreciated – thanks to everyone who contributed in any way!
What did we learn over the faculty days? The loud conversations over coffee, lunch and dinner demonstrated the importance of spending time together. In an interview, Bi Puranen once said ‘Only by really understanding the values of others can we achieve real change’. And by meeting and talking with each other, we increase the chance of doing just that. Another of the guest speakers was Arne Müller who has examined the green transition and highlighted several of the conflicting goals it contains. To ensure there is enough electricity for the region, nuclear power plants need to be established in the north, rivers need to be increased to maximum capacity and significantly more wind farms need to be built.
One aim of this year’s faculty days was to open up perspectives and with this in mind, we invited Flora Hajdu and Sigrid Agenäs from the NJ and VH Faculties respectively to talk about their research. Despite belonging to different faculties, our research touches on similar questions – conflicting goals, partners and societal development. Claes Malmström, who has researched stress at KI, gave us new perspectives on the matter – what needs do you have, and do you make sure to satisfy them even if this requires a little bit more effort? It would be a good idea to draw on Claes’ tool kit with us during our rapidly-approaching Christmas break.
The second day concluded with a Q&A session with the faculty board. Many excellent, important questions were asked and discussions were lively – especially on equal opportunities. As so many people wanted to ask questions and discuss the topic there was not enough time to fit everything in. We will remember this for next time!
A new year awaits with a new board and some new faces. The current dean and deputy dean will continue in their roles and we would like to take this chance to thank you all for your confidence in us! Many initiatives await and they will generate new possibilities and influence us. Forests remain a hot topic and we need to continue reaching out with our expansive competence.
One serious task that lies ahead of us is analysing the reasons behind the waning interest in our programmes as well as how we can improve student recruitment. Another challenge we face is making sure we share the work our faculty will keep our place as a world-leading authority. As employees, we all need to contribute to the entirety by assuming responsibility for work in boards, committees, steering groups and tasks at our departments. We welcome these and other challenges that we will be sure to solve together!
We wish you all the best for this festive season and hope you have a happy new year!
Göran Ericsson, Dean and Pernilla Christensen, Deputy Dean
