Summer greetings from Anders

Dear all,

The sun has for the past days softened the asphalt below the Tour de France peloton in Copenhagen, and most of us know what the humming sound of spinning bicycle tires means: Summer holidays.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank you so much for a year that has seen great change, and where you have shown great commitment and determination to make things succeed.

I believe we have a lot to be proud of, and I think we've come a long way in the integration project that's only just begun.

The move to Katrinebjerg and relocation at Navitas is at the door, and soon the moving boxes will be on their way. Thus, part of the first time in the new semester will be spent getting in place.  A challenge with the move in the short term is that the department as we know it will be more fragmented. It is very important to me that we work actively on coherence between Navitas, Katrinebjerg and Herning. I would encourage everyone to pay attention to their colleagues, and not hold back with good ideas on how to maintain and develop unity.

With the creation of a relocation steering committee and working groups, we have taken steps on our way to an organization where challenges and wishes can be handled effectively in the right place.  It is a big task to move a department, and there will be challenges, even when the move has taken place. I would therefore like to ask everyone to be patient in the coming semester, and at the same time let people know work is being done to ensure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. If you encounter something that needs attention, do not hesitate to contact an associate in the relevant working group, so that we get to solve the challenges that arise, as soon as possible.

With the department's new sections, I believe that we have an organization where we can develop the department's research and teaching areas. Furthermore, I believe it an important step towards a department where there is a short distance between the individual employee and the day-to-day management. There are bumps in the road in a new organization – we saw with the risk assessment results, which we will be working on in the coming semester and in the future.  With the move, the sections will be gathered, and it will be good for the unity and for the professional sparring needed for us to develop as employees and as an organization.

The exams are also well over with good results for our talented students. You can all be proud of that because it is your great work that makes it possible..

The economic side of our department also looks good. We are just about to fill 8 new scientific positions and have begun with the first interviews. Also, we have already in April achieved the budgeted external funding  for 2022. This means that we can strengthen our already excellent research with more PhDs, more postdocs and thus even more committed employees in the coming years. Really well done.

In addition, I am happy to announce that Søren Peder Madsen has agreed to gradually from the fall semester take on the role of UA for our Master's programme after Lars Erik Bräuner. Lars has made a huge effort for the MSc in Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and will henceforth take care of the bachelor part.  We are (and above all Lars!) happy that Søren can relieve Lars in the future.

I look forward to coming back after the summer break when we have seminar planned for August. Here there will be plenty of time to get to know each other even better and talk about how we would like MPE to be as a workplace for now and for the future.

I wish you all a happy and well-deserved summer vacation.

Kind regards

Anders