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Department of Physics and Technology |
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A Word from the Head of
Department
The
challenges associated with the temporary employees within the education sector
are nothing new and not a long time ago Tora Aasland addressed to these issues in PŒ H¿yden stating
that the sector had to tidy up. At our faculty, this concerns particularly the
temporarily employed researchers who are colloquially referred to as oompah loompers. The challenge has many sides and
not the least concerns UoBÕs recruitment strategy. A possible solution to this
challenge, which has already been engaged, is to establish collaboration with
the border zone and permanently employ researchers there since this cannot be
done by UoB. Then the objection is that we simply cannot do that because this
is just a way to bypass the regulations.
This,
however, is turning the case upside down and turning a great opportunity into a
problem. By all means we must not take lightly the challenges associated with
temporality. But it will be way more interesting to take a look at the
conditions in the region of Bergen from a birdÕs eye view and ask the question:
What benefits the region best or what must be done in order to strengthen the
terms for research in the region? Also, there are lots of answers here, but one
of them that was pointed by many is that we have a weakly developed institute
sector in the city. The businesses place their R&D tasks elsewhere in
Norway, including the tasks for which we have expertise, but are not rigged for
such missions. The institute sector in Bergen receives only about 3% of the
billion which goes to basic funding in the sector nationally when one omits the
national institutes in the city. In other words, the answer does not lie only
with UoB or with UoB and the border zone, but with the region. There are
several important actors who are willing to contribute in strengthening the
regional terms for R&D and thereby business development. However, UoB,
together with the border zone, has the key and consequently the initiative to
do something about this issue. To claim that the region does not have a need
for a stronger institute sector is risky keeping in mind that this is an
important element in the Norwegian research policy.
This is
important for us at the institutes as for two reasons our possibility to
increase the research volume lies with using permanently employed researchers.
Firstly, of all the positions in the sector, these have the most time to do
research. Secondly, it is extremely difficult to recruit the best ones to
temporary positions. We have many research groups that have the possibility to
expand in this way and where this is the only possibility as it is not
realistic to assume significant changes in the basic funding from KD.
If this is
going to happen, several central
actors must discuss this together so
that one is able to make assessments from a general and comprehensive
perspective, and not only with respect to individual academic areas. For many
academic areas, it is also important that Uni Research and Christian Michelsen
Research do their part of the job.
News and General
Information
Professor Jan Marius Olsen died unexpectedly while he was visiting
Cyprus. He was 77 years old. For more than half a century he has had tight
bonds with the physical community at the University of Bergen. As a graduate
student he taught at the department. I met him for the first time when he led
the laboratory sessions in a physics course. He completed his graduate studies
in theoretical nuclear physics in 1959 and involved in the development phase of
the Department of Physics. When the research group in experimental particle
physics was established in 1961, he became one of the four physicists who
developed the field in Bergen.
His expertise would be computers and programming. He was employed as a lecturer, and spent most of his time teaching. Teaching was an important part of his efforts throughout his career. Through his research he had close contact with CERN where he was both Corresponding Fellow and Research Associate. Most of his experiments were conducted at CERN, but in the last phases of his research career he collaborated with a group who conducted experiments in Moscow. He climbed up in the position hierarchy, he first became an Associate Professor and later a Professor.
KŒrmund Myklebost
EUA
launches European Platform of Universities Engaged in Energy Research
In Brussels
15 November at the Belgian EU Presidency Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-PLAN)
Conference, the European University Association (EUA) officially launched its
European Platform of Universities Engaged in Energy Research (EPUE). The
European Platform comprises almost 150 universities from across Europe with
demonstrated research and training capacity in the energy field encompassing
the full range of disciplines from science, engineering and technology to
bio-sciences, medical/life sciences and economic, social sciences and
humanities. EPUE has been developed by EUA as a major part of its contribution
to the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) of the EU SET-PLAN.
University of Bergen is one of the three Norwegian universities participating in EERA.
National
PhD conference in Medical Imaging/ Annual MedViz conference
The 2nd
National PhD conference in Medical Imaging and the Annual MedViz conference take
place in Bergen, 17-18 January 2011. See program and registration for
more information. The event is targeted both towards PhD candidates in the
field of medical imaging, and established researchers. With a multidisciplinary
orientation, encompassing the whole range of imaging modalities, we aim to
provide a meeting place for scientific exchange and the establishment of new
contacts in the field of medical imaging. The program combines an exciting
lineup of top international speakers, leading Norwegian researchers, and
selected presentations from PhD candidates from all Norwegian Universities.
Oslo Cancer Cluster will be presented in Bergen
Next Thursday Oslo Cancer Cluster will visit UoB. Among several program records, a meeting, in which Oslo Cancer Cluster will present themselves and will have the opportunity to meet cancer researcher at UoB, is arranged.
Thursday 25.11 from 14:30 to 15:30
Auditorium 2, BBB behind Haukeland University Hospital
Workshop on
Scientific Paper writing
We would
like to invite you all to attend the workshop ÒScientific Paper WritingÓ on
December 15th. This one day workshop is aimed at young scientists
(Ph.D. students and upwards) with little or no experience in scientific paper
writing. The workshop has two main goals. Firstly, to provide the participants
with a set of "tools" helping them to present their scientific
results in a clear and interesting way and secondly to make them aware of
various strategic issues connected to paper writing (which journal to publish
in etc.). The workshop is presented in English. The participants are encouraged
to bring drafts of own papers, in particular an abstract for at least one
paper, but this is not a prerequisite. In addition you are asked to bring a
paper which you have read and which you think is very good and another paper
which you think is bad.
The
workshop will be given by Bodil Holst. There are 12 places available (there
must be a minimum of 8 participants for the workshop to be held). To enroll,
send an e-mail to Karen-Margrete
Hovland before November 28th. Your registration is binding and
attendance is mandatory.
Time & place:
09:30-16:00 in room 546 (Department of Physics and Technology).
PhD-news
Trial Lectures
MSc. Szabolcs Endre Horvat will be giving
a trial lecture with the following title:
"The
Nobel Prize in Physics 2010"
Wednesday November 24. 2010, at 10:15 in room 546, IFT
MSc. Yun Cheng will be giving a trial
lecture with the following title:
"Black
Holes"
Thursday November 25. 2010, at 10:15 in room 366, IFT
All are welcome to listen!
Disputation
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MSc. Olav Torheim will be defending his dissertation: ÒDesign
and implementation of fast and sparsified readout for Monolithic Active Pixel
SensorsÓ Friday, November 26, at 13:15 in auditorium
2, Realfagbygget |
Mediation
Bodil
Holst: Become a doctor at work
Interview in Teknisk Ukeblad (in Norwegian)
Jan Petter Hansen and Jarl Giske: Splayed Poles Letters to the editor in Aftenposten (in Norwegian)