PhD Forum - New year and new opportunities

New year and new opportunities,

… and for the first time since the forum was established the board starts its year without pandemic restrictions!

At the General Meeting on the 6^th of April, the board members Therese Dwyer Løken, Mostafa Aliyari and Anam Ilyas were thanked for their efforts and contribution to the forum's work, while a new board was elected. We are very pleased that Marie Støren Jareid and Line Børtveit in the nomination committee this year have succeeded in recruiting from a greater breadth of research communities as well as faculty affiliation. The board for 2022-2023 consists of:

Chair Camilla Gjellebæk (HVO)

Vice Chair Samson Ogheneovo Oruma (IIØ)

Secretary Ilka Nagel (LUSP)

Coordinator of Academic Affairs Erlend Ingridsønn Nordrum (IIØ)

Coordinator of Social Affairs Xhesika Ramaj (IIØ)

The previous board period the forum invited to weekly digital Friday events. On Friday the 13th, the starting shot will go for the first Friday event of this board period, and the agenda is “Meeting the Vice Deans for Research”. They will talk about the role as vice dean for research, what lies in that role in general and especially related to the employer's responsibility for the PhD candidates. Expectations from the candidates to the vice deans and vice versa will also be discussed.

We are now heading for the end of the first year of new professional organization, and the various roles in organizations are taking more and more shape. That the vice dean for research has been given employer responsibility for the PhD candidates is something both the vice deans and we in the forum want to prioritize, so this year we have planned that “Meeting the Vice Deans for Research” will be on the agenda regularly.

As long as we can enjoy a restriction-free life, we will reduce the digital events to every other Friday (odd-numbered weeks), and rather take the initiative for more physical gatherings. The digital events will continue to be a mixture between different external contributors presenting a topic, The Candidates’ Corner where PhD candidates present their research work and “Meeting the Vice Deans for Research”.

In August we will repeat the successful Cross-Border Doctoral Seminar, and hope that even more candidates will join us. The PhD-forum has a group in Teams where all the Candidates can communicate, and everyone is invited to come up with wishes and ideas for events and themes they want the forum to shed light on. Thanks to Leanne Torgersen and Magdalena Edvardsen in the Research Administration the PhD-forum now has its own website      

As a result of the constitution adopted at the general meeting, an extraordinary general meeting will be held the 25^th of May, and the agenda is to elect a representative from each faculty and from the Academy. The representatives shall act as a link and ensure the communication between the main board and the individual faculty/academy, including both vice dean for research as well as the faculties/academy’s PhD candidates. They will also represent the PhD-forum in the faculty-wide research committees.

We who sit on the new board look forward to continuing the work based on the principle “FROM the PhD candidates FOR the PhD candidates”, focusing on:

- the work-, study- and research conditions in general

- the development of a research- and academic career

- respect and fulfilment of all the rights and duties at ØUC

- ethical issues regarding work, studies and research

      Camilla