To be an attractive workplace for research talents, we will optimise the conditions for science. This is necessary in order for us to maintain and enhance our position of strength within basic research. To this end, we will cultivate a culture of mutual collaboration, where the success of the individual is a collective concern that benefits the research group that fosters it. A good work environment – in which people thrive and feel included – is necessary if we are to develop and retain our staff. At the same time, by improving research infrastructure, we will create better conditions for the development of new methods and cross-departmental collaboration. To this end, we will:
We will develop our position as the faculty in Denmark that has been awarded the highest number of basic research centres proportionally speaking. We will continue the work of translating our outstanding research into more excellence grants, including ERC grants. We need these external grants in order to educate the next generation of researchers and specialists for society. And as a testimony to the quality our departments, they increase our international visibility. To this end, we will continue encouraging the development of a peer-to-peer feedback culture in connection with applications, for example by offering applicants the opportunity to participate in ‘writing clubs’ to improve the quality of their applications.
Technological developments are opening up entirely new opportunities for generating and analysing large amounts of data in research. AI-based tools are opening up new ways of automating analyses and assisting in the development of groundbreaking new research methods – as the example of AlphaFold has already shown. To enable our researchers to take advantage of these new advances, we will establish a core facility that will be responsible for operation and development of the necessary infrastructure within AI, HPC, datamanagement and storage. We will make expert support available to all our research groups, providing advice, service and training in the technology, including a critical approach to its possibilities and limitations. We anticipate that AI and new methods of data processing will have a major impact across all fields. New methods and tools will thus rapidly be incorporated into teaching at the faculty, and will contribute to transforming our degree programmes.
We must have outstanding research infrastructure if we are to conduct excellent natural science and attract and develop the best researchers. To this end, the faculty will improve collective use of laboratories, instruments and technical platforms by establishing core facilities, enabling researchers from all fields to share resources in a financially sustainable way. Our aim is to increase capacity utilisation and accessibility while strengthening technical expertise. Core facilities will also function as a platform for collaboration with business and industry and innovation ecosystems, thus contributing to the faculty’s total research and innovation capability.
Research breakthroughs and innovation often occur at the boundaries between disciplines. To encourage such breakthroughs, we will continue to stimulate interdisciplinary activities across the faculty while also reaching out to invite collaboration from researchers from across AU. In part by establishing clusters centred on strategically important fields (established top down). These clusters will be based on the further development of our successful thematic centres. And in part by launching a number of interdisciplinary networks on the background of applications from groups of researchers (bottom up). We will provide support for the formation of up to ten interdisciplinary clusters and six networks.
Leveraging our excellent basic research, state-of-the-art infrastructure, interdisciplinary activities and ambition to create more innovation through external collaboration, we will attract more funding for research into critical technologies, application-oriented research projects, and mission-driven research projects. Through private foundations, Innovation Fund Denmark and the EU’s framework programme, in coming years there will be opportunities to increase our activities within areas including sustainable materials, space research, fossil-free energy, biodiversity, climate, plant-based foods, pharmaceuticals, AI, cybersecurity, quantum research and digitalisation generally speaking.
