With his answers to a number of questions from employees and students, Professor Lars Bo Nielsen presents his own picture of the new dean at Health. He comes from a position as department head at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. He takes up the position in Aarhus on 1 April.

2017.02.09 | Ulla Krag Jespersen

In which three areas will we first be able to see that we have got Lars Bo Nielsen as dean at Health?    
Three of the things I will try to emphasise in my approach to the job are: Clear communication – and a good dialogue with professional experts and students. I really want to hear what people are thinking and help to promote an open and free dialogue at the faculty. Another thing is professionalism in decision-making. I will therefore involve the high level of professionalism that I know exists at the faculty, both within research and education. Finally, I would like to focus on internationalisation; how should the faculty develop in the future? Research has, of course, always been international, while education has also become international with exchange programmes across national borders. If we want to a top-class university, then we must develop our international profile in both research and education. 

 

Can you name a couple of people from your professional life whose career you have fundamentally improved, and say what you did? 
I certainly don't want to take the credit for other people's careers... but there are people where I hope my help and support has been beneficial for their development, perhaps especially those people who have been trained through my research group. During the last five years at Health and Medical Sciences, I’ve helped recruit around 75 new professors and 50-60 clinical research associate professors. These are new positions, predominantly externally financed, where the new employees get a career opportunity. I’ve provided advice and guidance as best I can, but I’d also like to say that these people have to take credit for their careers, of course. They’re the ones who work hard to achieve their hopes and dreams. 

 

What will you do to support and extend relations between Health and the organisations who organise voluntary work for the students?
A major educational institution like a university with many committed students must of course be involved in society in general. I look forward to hearing about the organisations at Health, and I look forward to meeting them.

 

Researchers' access to health data is currently under pressure because of the EU data protection reform. How will you contribute to ensuring that researchers' access to Danish health registers is not impaired?
That is a national problem, so it’s best we solve it together. I will take the initiative for a dialogue with the Central Denmark Region and help to coordinate requests and the removal of any barriers with the other regions and health science faculties in Denmark. We also need the doctors and researchers who use this data to tell us precisely what the problem is and what needs to be done so that they can take action. Impaired access to health data is not only a threat to research. It also poses a threat to the study programmes, because the students often use retrospective health data in their assignments. It’s also a threat for patients, as they are dependent on professionals being able to analyse health data in order to carry out the necessary ongoing control of the quality of care.

 

 

Are you going to move to Aarhus? And apart from the job – what do you look forward to exploring in the city?
Yes, my wife and I are currently selling our house in Copenhagen, and we have rented a flat in Aarhus. My wife has also found a job in Aarhus, so we feel very privileged and are really looking forward to moving here. What are we looking forward to exploring in the city? Well, there’s both urban life with lovely cafes and restaurants and the countryside around the city. We cycle and like swimming, so when you live in Aarhus you can almost ride around with your swimwear on the back of your bike!

 

With you as its dean, will Health have a strategy for what research areas it should focus on?
Freedom of research is a core parameter for the universities being able to survive as knowledge institutions in Danish society. The inherent value of free research for society is extremely important. So will we have a strategy for what research we should focus on in particular? I would like the chance to discuss that with the employees. Of course we must have strategic objectives and focus areas in order to perform well in the competition for external funding. But these must not exclude free research

 

The previous dean was good at putting health research and education on the media agenda. Will we see you do the same?
I’d very much like us to have a faculty where WE are good at putting health research and health education on the media agenda. As dean I want to actively support a situation where we have professional experts as the leading experts within specific areas that contribute to the debate. Of course, I represent the faculty in general, but when it comes to specific subject areas, I would much rather see the relevant professional experts taking part in the debate, with us as an organisation supporting this.

 

You come from a faculty that is good at obtaining external funding from foundations. How have you worked towards professionalising the application process at your faculty? 
We’ve worked with a wide range of initiatives in relation to professionalising administrative support. But we must also utilise the academic networks across the organisation to create stronger applications. This is necessary when it comes to addressing the major challenges faced by society. But also here I think that it’s important to have a dialogue with those who are writing the applications, and to hear what barriers they experience in relation to attracting external funding. I don't have all the answers as to what is required to improve the university as a whole, but I will focus on the fact that all researchers should have the opportunity to write applications, not only the elite researchers. All environments should be able to attract external funding. I would like to have a system that both supports growth areas and also the well-established, high-profile research areas. 

 

What role do you wish to see for yourself and your managers in relation to the work environment and the occupational health and safety organisation at Health?
A good work environment, both physically and psychologically, and a well-functioning occupational health and safety organisation is a prerequisite for us as a university being able to achieve the goals and ambitions that we have. 

 

We have a terrible accounting system at Health (and throughout AU). What will you do to make it more transparent?
As I haven’t yet started work, I don’t know anything about AU's accounting system, but I have worked with more than one accounting system. In my experience they often improve once everyone has got used to them. The important thing is that the systems exist to support research and not vice versa.

 

If you had to choose between maintaining the same number of associate professors, and the medical students having to themselves pay for travel and accommodation when they have clinical training in Holstebro, for example, what would you choose? 
At the present time, I cannot answer such specific questions, but in general I would say that you should always balance the pros and cons when it’s a question of allocation of resources.

 

What do you think of as a good lecture? Should there be focus on classroom instruction and should this be given higher priority?
If I think about the best lectures I’ve been to, they are ones where the lecturer is committed to the subject – and to communicating the subject. That is the whole prerequisite. Whether it's by using chalk or modern aids is not in itself crucial for good teaching, but I have seen fantastically committed and engaging lectures, where the lecturer makes use of interactive quizzes and video clips. I want to give both lecturers and students the opportunity to access modern aids and IT tools in their teaching. I don't know whether classroom instruction should be given higher priority. We must prepare ourselves for people learning in different ways, and we therefore need to also offer a range of different forms of instruction, so that the students have the opportunity to learn in the way that is best for them.

 

It is your intention to continue the status meetings with the Medicine Students’ Council in the same way as your predecessor?
I don't know what my predecessor has done, but I can say that I’m really looking forward to a dialogue with the students' own representatives. Not only the medical students, but all students at Health. 

Do you already have visions that involve changes to the degree programme in medicine, or the PhD activities and research structure?
Of course I have an overall vision that the faculty should be visible both nationally and internationally, and that it should be a place where people want to come and work and study. How we get there must be based on the dialogue I have with the relevant professionals and the rest of the senior management team.

 

 

I read that you found medicine boring because there was so much rote learning. This is still the case. What will you do to change this?
I don’t expect to be able to alter the number of muscles and joints in the body, and we can probably not avoid doctors having to have a lot of fingertip knowledge and learn things by rote. But we can do a lot to make the degree programme in medicine dynamic and inspiring, so rote learning becomes relevant for the new medical doctors and the reality they meet after graduating.

There is a lot of debate about the research year; it is a good opportunity for students, but it is also costly for the faculty. What is your opinion about it?
My opinion is really quite clear: The opportunity for students to be part of the research environments during their studies is crucial for us being able to maintain the medical doctor as an academic employee in a healthcare system under upheaval. It’s a prerequisite, and not only for research itself, but also for us training doctors who can be professional contributors in the development that needs to happen in the healthcare sector as a whole. On the other hand, we work within a framework that is politically determined, and we must therefore look at the best way for us to take research into account in the way we organise the study programmes.

 

You spent two years doing research in the USA after graduating. What are the benefits and disadvantages for a researcher of a study abroad period?
I can only see benefits of studying abroad, regardless of whether it is a shorter or longer stay. I can only encourage everyone to strengthen their academic and personal development by going abroad. There was so much hassle when I went to the USA with a wife who also had a career and a small child. We weren’t actually certain that I would even be able to complete the rotation plan when we finally returned home again. But, in retrospect, the years we spent abroad have been some of the best we’ve had and they really meant a lot for our development both professionally, academically and personally. This is something I hear from many others: The whole thing can appear overwhelming and difficult, but you won’t regret doing it.

 

Which book has made the biggest impression on you?
I'm tempted to say Andreasen’s book on anatomy, haha... No, I think that several books have made an impression on me during my life. When I was young, I was very interested in Stefan Zweig’s chess novellas. There is one called “Tuesdays with Morrie”. It's a fantastic book about a teacher whose former student comes to visit, and you get to read about his life. As he says: You should never waste a chance to dance, and he loves the teaching situation and passing on knowledge. It’s a very life-affirming book. There is also a book about Viggo Hørup, written by Torben Krogh. The focus is partly on Viggo Hørup as a person, but also on the historical and political development of Denmark from around 1860 until 1910. The book describes the enormous tensions and changes that took place in society 150 years ago, which we may not hear much about now, but which are in reality very similar to the situation we have today. It relates how close we actually came to ending up with a dictatorship instead of democracy at that time. It was a time of upheaval in society, where we are perhaps seeing similar trends again today.