SUND NEWS 4May 2012

SUND NEWS 4For students, supervisors and technical-administrative staff, spring is a busy time. Projects must be completed, and the bright night is often put to use in the last frantic phase. Exams must be scheduled and held, results must be recorded, and many certificates have to be issued and presented. At the same time, intake and planning for the new academic year has to be dealt with.

My day-to-day work is often future oriented, where the focus is on developing new programs and research areas and building numerous partnerships. The basis for our being able to contribute new talented and dedicated employees to Danish society is created by the many staff who, through research, teaching and administration, contributes to the entire complex program and teaching organization functioning every day. Whether you are di-rectly responsible for students, ensuring research-based teaching and supervision, or you are an administrative employee contributing indirectly to teaching and super-vision, I would like to take this opportunity to acknow-ledge your great efforts and remind you how important it is that we, in our day-to-day operations, work together constructively to achieve common goals.

Welcome to SUND NEWS

Egon Toft, Dean

About SUND NEWSThe newsletter is first and foremost for all emplo-yees associated with the Faculty of Medicine, i.e., staff at the departments and in the faculty admini-stration. But SUND NEWS is also available to eve-ryone on the website and we hope that students in the health science programs as well as internal and external partners will also find SUND NEWS relevant.

Ideas, suggestions and comments are welcome and can be sent to Cecilia Honores Møller on e-mail: chm@adm.aau.dk.

Contributions to SUND NEWS are most welcome and can be sent to Bodil Brander Christensen on e-mail: bbc@adm.aau.dk.

Deadline for the next issue of SUND NEWS is August 13, 2012

2

Egons ord

Content

PhD degrees awarded at the Faculty of MedicineDejan Ristic, PhD conferred March 7, 2012Dissertation: “Pharmacological mechanisms of neck muscle nociception in a translational murine model for ten-sion-type headache”

Louiza Bohn Thomsen, PhD conferred March 7, 2012Dissertation: “Non-viral delivery strategies to enable transport of macromolecules into and across the brain capil-lary endothelial cells”

Sauro E. Salamoni, PhD conferred April 18, 2012Dissertation: “Three-dimensional force variability: Assessment of impairments in motor control during fatigue and pain”

Jovana Kojovic, PhD conferred April 18, 2012Dissertation: “Functional Electrical Therapy (FET) for the training of gait in patients with hemiplegia: Functional and physiological assessments”

Jonas Worsøe, PhD conferred April 18, 2012Dissertation: “Stimulation for Faecal Incontinence”

E d u c a t i o n 5 - 7

I n b r i e f

8 - 1 3R e s e a r c h

1 4

H o n o r s a n d a w a r d s 4

More information can be found at: http://www.sundhedsvidenskab.aau.dk/Forskning/Ph.d.-forsvar+2012/

3

Honorary Doctor andTeacher of the YearOn April 13, 2012, Aalborg University held its ”Annual Celebration and Doctoral Promotion,” where 350 guests, including Morten Østergaard, Minister of Education, were in attendance to honor researchers and teachers at AAU and award their efforts.

Honorary Doctor 2012Professor Leonard Leibovici from the Faculty of Medicine was designated as a new honorary doctor at the university. Leonard Leibovici is a professor at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, where he is vice dean of the faculty and head of the faculty’s School of Medicine.

Leonard Leibovici was recognized as honorary doctor ba-sed on his unique and groundbreaking research in medical decision support systems. Along with Professor Steen An-dreassen, Leibovici developed the first computer decision support system (TREAT) that has been commercialized and implemented in clinical practice.

Teacher of the Year Earlier this year, Carsten Dahl Mørch, Associate Professor, was named ”Teacher of the Year” at the Faculty of Medi-cine. He was again honored at the annual celebration, in addition to the title, receiving 25,000 kroner.

Carsten Dahl Mørch was named Teacher of the Year becau-se of his highly engaged and lively teaching. He knows how to convey his subject, physics, to his students in an easily accessible way, organizes his teaching so that it meets the students’ needs, and supplements the scientific

literature with relevant, alternative literature.

Teacher of the Year: Carsten Dahl Mørch

Nomination for the Obel Foundation Teaching AwardCarsten Dahl Mørch, Associate Professor, was also no-minated for the Obel Foundation Teaching Award. The award, however, went instead to Professor Erik Lund from TEKNAT.

Honorary Doctor 2012 Leonard Leibovici (standing in the middle)

H o n o r s a n d a w a r d s

4

Egons ord

Out into the world of sportThe sports science program at AAU sends its first graduates out on the labor market this year. Meet three master’s students in the sports science program who are handing in their thesis May 31, 2012, and who can soon use the designations Master of Science (Sports Science) and Master of Science and Technology (Sports Technology).

Rikke VandvigMaster’s student in Sports Science

I’m finishing up my master’s thesis which deals with the coaching of athletes. I ap-ply a critical angle to coaching in the sports world, and I’m using a group of 17 elite golfers as a case.

The sports science programI think it has been exciting and fun to be in the sports science program at AAU. I’ve experienced a great deal and pushed the boundaries both personally and professionally. I have learned and developed myself through the different subjects we have been presented with in the program. In the master’s program, coaching in particular as a subject has hooked me and it is also the topic of my thesis. I think that the problem-based approach to learning and the col-laborative group work that we have practiced in the pro-gram has given me the project management competences that I will be able to use in the future.

At times, it has also been challenging to be a student in the sports science program. My fellow students and I are the first to graduate from the program, and in many ways we’ve been ”guinea pigs.” There was a bit of confusion especially in the bachelor’s program with the organization and structuring of rooms for teaching.

The futureI’m looking forward to handing in the thesis and becoming MSc in Sports Science. I’d like a job as a sports consultant where I work with developing and launching initiatives with, for example, the Danish Gymnastics and Sports As-sociation. I have gained many competences from my edu-cation that I look forward to using in a real job.

Niels Jensby NedergaardMaster’s student in Sports Technology

I’m writing my thesis on optimizing the start in ski cross. My thesis is being done in collaboration with the Swedish Ski As-sociation and Mid Sweden University.

The sports science programI’ve been really happy and satisfied with the sports science program at AAU. I’ve been particularly happy to be able to combine sport with engineering, and I’ve had good relati-onships with my supervisors and fellow students. We were only three students in the MSc in Sports Technology so we developed good friendships beyond the professional rela-tionship. In the master’s program, I also did a stay abroad at Liverpool John Moores University in England and fou-nd it exciting and very rewarding to study at a university outside Denmark with a very different form of study and teaching.

The sports science program at AAU has given me good theoretical as well as practical qualifications that I can take with me after graduation. I will highlight my skill at buil-ding bridges between the technical world and the sports world. Through my studies I have gained an understan-ding of both worlds, and that means that in the future I can be part of a team consisting of both athletes and engine-ers or technicians and understand both ’languages’ when working together on the development of new solutions for the sports world.

The futureI’m looking for job opportunities in Danish and internatio-nal companies that produce sports equipment and tools. My dream job is a job at Nike where I could be involved in developing new running shoes. I’m also considering the possibility of applying for a PhD position. I’m not ruling out research.

Education

Mikkel Lund CurthMaster’s student in Sports Science

I’m writing my thesis on how teammate feedback affects learning in athletes. I use a volleyball team with 14 players as a case.

The sports science programI’ve generally been happy with the program. I think it’s great that it’s so broad. We’ve been introduced to the dif-ferent directions in sports from biomechanics to science. Academically, the program has lived up to my expectati-

ons, and the project-based study has been a fantastic lear-ning method that will benefit me in the future. I’m certain of it. Being involved in project collaboration is clearly the strongest card I have. It is in the professional interaction between multiple actors in sports science that we can de-velop our field and create new knowledge.

The futureI’ve already been offered a job as a teacher at Nordjyl-lands Idrætshøjskole in Brønderslev. I’m looking forward to using the qualifications I have acquired in the program in my new job.

5

Education

Travel letter

Experiences from Hull York Medical SchoolLast summer I started at Hull York Medical School (HYMS) after having completed my Bachelor’s in Medicine with Industrial Specialization (MedIS). Before that I had been through a long and demanding admissions process, with assistance from Meg Duroux, Associate Professor; Jens Vang Andersen, MD; John Lewis of HYMS and fellow stu-dents.

The medical program at HYMSThe medical program at HYMS is divided into 3 phases: Phase 1 which lasts two years and mainly takes place at the universities, and phases 2 and 3 which together last for three years and mainly take place at the hospitals in East Yorkshire. Since phase 1 of HYMS and MedIS are based on the same curriculum, I started on phase 2.

Similar to MedIS, the teaching in Phase 2 is based on weekly cases, but in contrast to MedIS, it is real patients with the particular week’s condition that I interview, investigate and write a journal about. In order to ensure the greatest possible diversity, we regularly change the hospital affilia-tion and thus reside in different places in East Yorkshire. This year, I’m staying in Hull and I already know that I’ll stay in York and Scunthorpe in the next year of the pro-gram. Also, throughout the entire program, we are with a different doctor in general practice one day a week, which is incredibly exciting and instructive.

New challengesBesides getting used to the English language, I’ve also had to accustom myself to thinking like a detective every time I meet a patient. Students at HYMS are trained more in this, from day one in the program, than we were at Me-dIS. For example, if I were asked what causes chest pain, I would start a long account of pathophysiological mecha-nisms that my fellow students at HYMS would not know anything about. Alternatively, they would begin to list the various causes and provide a brief, simple explanation of how this could result in chest pain. I’ve gotten the hang of this different way of thinking and don’t feel it’s a problem anymore.

It is also my impression that my fellow students have recei-ved more training in interviewing and examining patients. For example, they all have learned techniques for asking about alcohol abuse and symptoms of depression that I was not trained as much in at MedIS. This is connected to the fact that during Phase 1 they are taught by the same tutor in clinical skills once a week. This tutor teaches from a list of competences the students must acquire and mo-nitors each student’s progress from week to week. On the

other hand, at MedIS, I received input from many different tutors, and because of the many projects there were inter-ruptions in my progress.

In some respects, however, I feel I’m ahead of my fellow students. As mentioned, I have a deeper knowledge on many points, which I benefit from on a daily basis. Additi-onally, through the many project activities, I have acquired the ability to understand and evaluate research studies, and since during each block we must submit an assign-ment where we evaluate a study and relate it to a situation with a patient, my MedIS background gives me an advan-tage. I think this is an important in that as a doctor you must be able to assess the effectiveness of new methods of investigation and treatment.

Anders du Jardin

Anders Gaarn du Jardin Nielsen

• 24 years old• Bachelor’s in Medicine with Industrial Specia-

lization (MedIS)• Taking his master’s degree at Hull York Medi-

cal School

6

Egons ord

Travel letter

Student on the other side of the worldI’m studying Medicine with Industrial Specialization, ma-joring in Biomedicine in the 10th semester.

Since August 2011, I’ve been in New Zealand where I am working on my thesis, affiliated with Professor Warren P. Tate’s laboratory at the University of Otago. The stay abro-ad came about through my supervisor, Meg Duroux, who had contact with Professor Tate, a researcher in molecular biology and neurobiology.

My thesis deals with Alzheimer’s disease and in my project I have examined the interaction between different proteins that are wholly or partially associated with Alzheimer’s disease. My work has included expressing specific prote-

ins in bacteria, purifying and then analyzing whether the proteins interact. It is my hope that the thesis shows how amyloid proteins interact. If the thesis shows an interaction between proteins, it will be a significant contribution to re-search, and it will be published.

It has been an incredibly exciting challenge both in terms of the actual project work, but also adjusting to new unfami-liar surroundings and making it feel like home. So far it’s all been worth it.

Greetings,Maj Schneider Thomsen

Education

Graduation at SUND June 28th 2012

• Health Informatics will be held Fredrik Bajers Vej 7, Main Hall, at 18.30.

June 29th 2012

• Sport Science and Sports Technology will be held at Fredrik Bajers Vej 7, Main Hall, at 13.30

• Medicine with Industrial Specialization will be held at Kroghstræde 3, Auditorium, at 10.00

• Biomedical Engineering & Informatics and Clinical Science & Technology will be held at Fredrik Bajers Vej 7, Auditorium, at 13.30

7

Egons ord

The Doctoral School in Medicine,

Biomedical Science and Technology

Thomas Graven-Nielsen, Director of the Doctoral School, Professor, HST, www.phd.medicine.aau.dk

This doctoral school has its roots in a doctoral programme founded by Professor Lars Arendt-Nielsen in 1997 with finan-cial support from the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF) and since then 165 PhD degrees have been conferred. Today, about 100 PhD students are enrolled in the program-me and it is expected to see a growth over the coming years.

The programme was established to act as a model of effective international research training in Denmark, and it was affi-liated with the Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction (SMI), Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg Uni-versity. In 2006, the program was selected by the National Research Education Council to develop a particular elite doc-toral program, which in all aspects should be comparable to the best programs in the world.

In conjunction with the formation of the Faculty of Medicine at Aalborg University in 2010, the former doctoral program in Biomedical Science and Engineering migrated into the Doctoral School in Medicine, Biomedical Science and Tech-nology.

Organisation and programmesThe Doctoral School in Medicine, Biomedical Science and Technology is an independently organized unit established by the Faculty of Medicine at Aalborg University. The Docto-ral School is responsible for the operation and development of the PhD studies at the Faculty and retains its own budget. The Doctoral School consists of a PhD Board and a Direc-tor who see that the various tasks of the Doctoral School are carried out. The newly elected PhD board consists of Ole K. Andersen, Professor (Chairman); Trine Fink, Associate Pro-fessor; Stephen Rees, Professor; Ulrik Baandrup, Professor (Center for Clinical Research, Sygehus Vendsyssel); Jakob Lund Dideriksen, PhD student and Mads Dyrvig Johanne-sen, PhD student.

Biomedical Science and Engineering (Head of Doctoral Pro-gramme: Professor Ole Kæseler Andersen)

The programme focuses on basic science and engineering problems related to human health. To achieve this, combined knowledge from a large number of complementary discipli-nes is needed, such as electrical engineering, physics, ma-thematics, computer science, anatomy and physiology. The research programme is composed of inter-related disciplines within biomedical science and engineering with applications in neuroscience and in clinical systems. The main focus is on the human sensory-motor system and medical informatics. It comprises theoretical and experimental aspects, e.g. invol-ving electrophysiology, biomechanics, psychophysics, bio-signal processing, physiological models, and image analysis.

Clinical science and Biomedicine (Head of Doctoral Program-me: Professor Thomas Graven-Nielsen)

This programme focuses on basic medical and clinical science. It allows for independent research projects in clinical settings (e.g. hospital) or basic environments such as biome-dical laboratories. The scope is broadly defined within the medical field and related areas. Currently, PhD projects are focusing on e.g. orthopaedic surgery, cardiology, pharmaco-logical screening studies, pain mechanisms, stem cells, and neurobiology. The projects typically involve patient studies but basic animal studies are often included.

Health Education, Organizations and Ethics (Head of Docto-ral Programme: Professor Paola Valero)

In close relation to the Department of Learing and Philoso-phy, this doctoral programme provides a frame for doctoral students within the Faculty of Medicine to carry out research on current key issues in three main thematic areas: 1. educati-on and learning; 2. knowledge production, management and innovation processes in health organizations; and 3. ethics and philosophy in health sciences.

Training quality The PhD training requires optimal supervision, individual strategic research planning, and continuous development of course activities. The group of supervisors includes associate professors and professors. This programme promotes and focuses on high quality supervision to be achieved by super-visor courses. The PhD student develops a strategic research plan (PhD study plan) that must be presented, discussed, and approved by a committee including an external opponent qualified within the research field. Furthermore, the research plans provide the optimal conditions for graduation on time. New supervisors of the programme must follow a supervisor course. Every six months both the progress of the PhD stu-dent and the quality of the supervision is assessed. The final theses normally consist of three to four peer-reviewed papers in international, recognised journals. Typically, at least one opponent from abroad is included in the assessment commit-tee.

Course programmeEach year a highly advanced course program (approximately 20 ECTS) is offered to support PhD research projects and is designed according to ongoing research activities. Further-more, a similar amount of general scientific courses are of-fered by the Doctoral School. Each PhD course is evaluated. All courses and course organisers are evaluated in writing to ensure high quality. The courses are developed in co-opera-tion with the PhD-board. This process ensures a course pro-

Researh

8

Egons ord

gramme continuously matching the demand.

Future challengesWith new activities at the Faculty of Medicine it is expected that the Doctoral School will continue its growth in the coming years. With the establishment the Department of Clinical Medicine linked to Aalborg Hospital, new docto-ral programmes are likely to develop in 2013. The increase in PhD students is expected to be handled in the current organisational structure although more expanded course activities are anticipated.

The launch of a new electronic administration system in 2012 is highly welcomed as this will ease the handling of study plans and the regular follow-up of study plans. Thus it is expected that the new electronic administration system

will provide both PhD students and supervisors with a tool that supports the use of the PhD study plan as a manage-ment tool. Another challenge is to ensure that the 3-year PhD programme is actually concluded on time.

From the perspective of the PhD student and the Doctoral School it is much better to pursue a series of studies which can actually be completed on time instead of a more ambiti-ous project which may take much longer. Today, we are just below the average duration for PhD studies in Denmark which is 4 years. More focus on PhD planning and the use of PhD study plans as a management tool will hopefully in the long run reduce the PhD study time even further.

Researh

New clinic

Sexology – Three in oneAs of June 1, the North Denmark Region is establishing a sexology clinic. Clinical practice, research and education shall interact. The clinic will ensure a high level of ambition for the development of the field of sexology in North Jutland and at Aalborg University.

Previously, patients from North Jutland who have needed sexological diagnosis and treatment had been referred to the Central Jutland Region. Come June 2012 and the new clinic in Aalborg, they no longer need to do this.

Astrid Højgaard will become the senior chief physician at Aalborg Hospital and is employed as head of the new cli-nic.

The Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Medicine are jointly in the process of developing a master’s program in sexology to be submitted for accreditation in spring 2012, with an expected start in September 2013. Besides HUM

and SUND, individuals from SAMF are also involved. The master’s program is aimed at psychologists, physicians and those with professional bachelor degrees in health areas.

Since spring 2011, when the first thoughts on education, research and clinic practice were planted, it has become clear that there are a number of qualified people who have relevant research in the field of sexology at both Aalborg University and Aalborg Hospital. A number of highly ca-pable professionals have also been very interested in the North Jutland initiative and will be associated with educa-tion and research in various ways.

Growth of the doctoral school For the Doctoral School at the Faculty of Medicine, 2012 has already been a good year. Many new PhD students have al-ready been admitted, which means that there are now over 100 PhD students en-rolled in the doctoral school.

9

Egons ord

Presentation of the Biomedicine Group In the last issue of SUND NEWS we began a round where research centers and groups at the Department of Health Science and Technology present their stories and their research. We started with SMI and now it is Biomedicine’s turn.

The Biomedicine group at the Department of Health Science and Technology consists of four research groups: the Laboratory for Stem Cell Research, the Laboratory for Neurobiology, the Laboratory for Immunology and the La-boratory for Medical Microbial Pathogenesis. In addition, the first three research groups mentioned have jointly for-med a research center, CEBRA.

The Biomedicine group was established in 2008 and is hea-ded by Professor Vladimir Zachar

Laboratory for Stem Cell ResearchThe Laboratory for Stem Cell Research works with various aspects of regenerative medicine, from biological studies to translation of new protocols into clinical practice.

The group is headed by Professor Vladimir Zachar and also includes associate professors Trine Fink, Jeppe Em-

mersen, Meg Duroux and Cristian Pablo Pennisi, Post-docs, PhD and master’s students.

Laboratory for Medical Microbial PathogenesisThe Laboratory for Medical Microbial Pathogenesis works with various aspects of microbial pathogenesis. Research spans from understanding how the obligate intracellular bacteria, Chlamydia, causes tissue damage to understan-ding the activation of the immune system during infection, degenerative autoimmune diseases as well as how an in-fected cell recognizes that it is infected.

The group is headed by Professor Svend Birkelund, Dr. Med., and includes PhD students and master’s students. The group has a close working relationship with Allan Stensballe’s proteomics group (Department of Biotechno-

Laboratory for Stem Cell Research

Researh

10

Egons ord

logy, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering). There is also collaboration with Gunna Christiansen, Professor Emeritus, Aar-hus University, and with the company Loke Diagnostics ApS, Risskov.

Laboratory for ImmunologyThe primary focus of the Laboratory for Immunology is dendri-tic cells, a group of relatively rare cells that determine whether, and in the given case, how the immune system reacts to foreign substances. Dendritic cells are studied in connection with vari-ous disease states. The largest project concerns the development of an entirely new generation of vaccines that utilize the immune activating abilities of dendritic cells. The aim is effective cancer vaccines.

The group is headed by Ralf Agger, Associate Professor, and in-cludes PhD students, students working on master’s theses and younger students interested in research. The group works close-ly with a number of Danish researchers, including Michael Toft Overgaard, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, AAU; Kim Var-ming, Chief Physician Department of Clinical Immunology and Troels Ring, Chief Physician, Renal Medicine, Aalborg Hospital. Research collaboration has recently been established with Bjarne Bogen, Professor, Department of Immunology and Transfusion

Medicine, University of Oslo.

Laboratory for NeurobiologyThe Laboratory for Neurobiology works with understanding neurological diseases and how the effect of drugs can be optimi-zed in the brain.

The group is headed by Professor Torben Moos with group members Jacek Lichota, PhD, Associate Professor; Louisa Bohn Thomsen, PhD, Assistant Professor; Tina Skjørringe, Postdoc; Annette Burkhardt Larsen, PhD student; Mads Dyrvig Johanne-sen, PhD student; and Merete Fredsgaard, Lab Technician.

PræsentationResearh

Summer School

Focus on patient safety – Nordic Summer School 2012By Line Maj Jensen, Head of Section, School of Medicine and Health

From August 6 to 17, 2012, students from Norway, Sweden and Denmark will meet at AAU and focus on patient safety and quality improvement in healthcare. The School of Medicine and Health is in full swing with organizing the summer school in conjunction with the Danish Society for Patient Safety and Students for Safe Patients.

It will be an exciting 12 days where students immerse them-selves in various topics related to improving patient safety, in-cluding:

• prevention of adverse events and reduction of patient injuries

• clear communication in acute and critical situations• involving patients and their relatives as resource per-

sons• methods for measuring quality

The instruction will be handled by teachers from both here and abroad and will be a combination of course work and case work in interdisciplinary groups. In addition to the academic program, students can look forward to networking and social events in and around Aalborg.

The summer school is for students in medicine, nursing, phar-macy, public health or other relevant programs. There is space for 36 students.

The deadline for registration is Monday, May 14, 2012.

For more information about Nordic Summer School 2012 – please contact Line Maj Jensen e-mail: lmj@hst.aau.dk

11

Egons ordExternal projects at the Department of Health Science and Technology

By Stig Kjær Andersen, Deputy Head of Department, Department of Health Science and Technology

Financing research projects with external funding means that someone is willing to pay to have research done. But who sets the agenda for what needs to be researched and how the funds are actually used? Is it the researcher who decides, or is it the funding provider that sets the conditions, for example, in the form of a strict plan with a well-defined goal and a clear expectation of what ”product” is expected?

Are the conditions of the funding provider within the depart-ment’s research agenda, i.e., noncommercial research activity (FIK) or are the conditions of a commercial nature, so the pro-ject is characterized as a consulting task, i.e., an income gene-rating (IV) activity? Are the funds from a private foundation that wishes to support the research activities at the depart-ment and therefore just sends a check, or are the funds from large EU projects with many partners, heavy administration and strict control from Brussels with external auditing and meter-high stacks of reports? There are many possible mo-dels for project agreements.

External projects are the lifeblood of research at the department

To bring in external project funding starts with preparing a project application based on a “tender” or a ”call”. Here, the possibilities range from free thinking, good ideas to a tight tender contract in a European research plan or a national re-

search program. The art of it is to prepare an application that reconciles the research agenda of the individual staff member and the research group with that of the available funding of-fer. About a third of the submitted applications at the depart-ment end up with an external grant. The resources used to write project applications are a necessary investment in the future. The department, the faculty and AAU Research Sup-port try to support the process as much as possible with or-ganizational and administrative resources, so the researcher can focus on the scientific quality of the application.

An external grant may be large or small, and it can be any-thing from testing a good idea to delivering a precisely spe-cified output. Currently, we have 103 active projects of all sizes. They represent a combined turnover of 118 million kroner summed over their lifetime, typically one to three years, and help to provide resources for collaboration across universities and countries.

The department is involved in projects under the EU 7th Framework Program and coordinates, for example, TIME, a project with partners from five different nations, that deals with an electrode system for the treatment of phantom pain. Moreover, there are projects under the auspices of the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation such as Techno-logy Platform for Drug Development, and EIR (Empowering Industry and Research), which is supported by the EU’s re-gional and social funds.

ForskningResearh

12

Egons ord

The department receives grants from 49 different funding sources. They include a number of private foundations (e.g. the Obel Foundation and the Spar Nord Foundation), busi-nesses, regional and municipal funds, state funds, EU funds, and U.S. and Canadian foundations.

External project funding makes up approximately 35 percent of the revenue in the Department of Health Science and Tech-nology and is a significant contribution to its research. In 20 11, there were 63 projects totaling 28 million kroner versus 56 projects the 2010. In 2011, 17 percent of the project portfolio was international.

External grants help to expand the department’s research staff through the hiring of project staff and buying out per-manent staff so they can spend a larger proportion of their time on research. Projects are major sources for both finan-cing collaboration with other national and international insti-tutions and providing additional financing for infrastructure such as extra funding for technical-administrative personnel and support for equipment.

External projects give economic challenges and provide opportunities for the researcher

The university’s rules for how finances and resources must be managed when it comes to external funding have be-

come more complex. An increasing proportion of the general costs previously paid by the department’s annual operating funds or provided by the faculty are laid directly on the pro-ject costs. In order to cover this additional cost, ”tax” will be charged to the external projects in the form of overhead, which for example for research council funding is 44 percent. One of the economic models that are a consequence of rising costs, is “split the difference,” i.e., sharing project costs with co-financing. Co-financing in this context means that an hour spent by an employee on a project has a gross price that is shared equally between the project and the department. The consequence of this model is a requirement for accurate do-cumentation of employee time spent on a project.

If a funding provider wants the applicant’s idea/expertise, and the applicant can convince the funding provider that he/she is the right researcher to do the project and the project falls within the department’s research portfolio, the relatively large effort in applying for external projects for the depart-ment can give the researcher an opportunity to obtain impor-tant resources for his/her and the group’s research.

SUND Learning – A new interdisciplinary research center at the Faculty of Medicine

By Annette Lorentzen, Head of Department, Department of Learning and Philosophy

SUND Learning is a new center at the Department of Lear-ning and Philosophy that deals with learning in the health area.

The Department of Learning and Philosophy is also part of the Faculty of Medicine, which serves as a basis for the department’s establishing the research center SUND Lea-rning.

The center is a research center focusing on:

- Sports science, learning and motivation- Learning in the promotion of health- University pedagogy for the health programs- Problem Based Learning

The Center’s staff consists of staff from the Department of Learning and Philosophy and a number of other AAU staff as well as external employees.

SUND Learning is already well underway with estab-lishing research projects based on the health programs’

practice. Projects are established in close cooperation bet-ween education researchers at the Department of Learning and Philosophy and teachers in the individual programs. The combination of professional competences ensures that the research aims to meet the challenges and development potential that lie in the health programs, particularly in relation to the pedagogical approach and educational mo-dels. In addition, the center supports the research-based education of sports science students, where learning, pe-dagogy, motivation and coaching are essential elements.

In order to ensure the best opportunities for collaboration across the faculty’s departments, SUND Learning has just started using a new room on Frederik Bajers Vej. Looking outside the university walls, the center is in the process of establishing cooperation with a research unit in Beijing, China, and is moving forward with the health unit at Uni-versity College of Northern Denmark.

The center’s work is part of the Faculty of Medicine’s new Strategy and Action Plan.

PræsentationResearh

13

Applications to SUND master’s programsThe application deadline for the master’s programs was April 1. But since applications are regularly received, and it has not yet been determined whether applicants meet the admission requirements, the figures are tentative.

The new master’s program in Public Health has received 55 applications for admission which is very impressive. Before they can be admitted, some of the applicants must take a supple-mentary course offered by the School of Medicine and Health. For Clinical Science and Techno-logy - which like Public Health is only available as a master’s program - there are 22 applicants. Applications to other master’s programs are as follows:

Biomedical Engineering & Informatics: 15

Sports Science and Sports Technology: 27

Medicine with Industrial Specialization: 47

In brief

In brief

Quota 2 applications via the coordinated enrollment system (KOT)There have been a total of 1,329 quota 2 applications at the Faculty of Medicine. This is a small decrease of 4.1% compared to the number of applicants in 2011. In 2012, there are a total of 218 first-priority applications as op-posed to 225 in 2011, i.e., a drop of 3.1.

The following overview shows the applications distributed across programs:

14

Egons ord

In brief

Six new clinical professorshipsThe Faculty of Medicine has announced six clinical professorships in oncology, cardio-pulmonary surgery, pat-hology, urology, anesthesiology and adult psychiatry. The clinical professors will conduct research in their spe-cialties and undertake teaching and teaching responsibilities in the medical science master’s program that starts September 1, 2013. A clinical professor is a kind of combination position between clinical work as a chief physician and academic work as a professor.

The clinical professors are attached to the Department of Clinical Medicine that AAU is establishing as of January 1, 2013.

News from the EU: FP7 HEALTH information meetings in Brussels

On May 29, the European Commission is holding an information day on the next FP7 Health call. FP7 Health is the EU’s 7th Framework Program for research and development including research in Health themes. The infor-mation meeting will focus on the new themes under HEALTH and give advice on how to write a good applica-tion. In addition, there will be ample opportunity to network and talk with program managers from the European Commission. There will be particular focus on three initiatives in the program: 1) Innovation & SMEs, 2) Clinical Trials, 3) International Cooperation.

On May 30, the HEALTH project exchange will be held where you have the opportunity to present project ideas and make contact with possible partners.

The application deadline for the upcoming calls under HEALTH has not been fixed yet but the expectation is late September or early October.

More information about the program and registration information for the information meeting and project ex-change partnering event is on the links below.

http://ec.europa.eu/research/health/events-14_en.html#Infoday http://www.b2match.eu/fp7health2012

15