18 June 2024: Update to staff at BioNut and MedH

18 June 2024: Update to staff at BioNut and MedH

Maria Eriksdotter welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted that this was the last of twelve staff meetings that has been held during the integration process. 

Update on the process

Maria Eriksdotter gave an update on the process and reported that it will be completed by 30 June, according to plan. 

There have been some questions regarding the delegations for the PIs at BioNut. These will be the same after the integration and the PIs will have the same mandate as they did at BioNut. 

During the meeting, a question was asked about how BioNut researchers should write their department and division affiliation after the integration is final. From 1 July researchers from former BioNut should write that they are affiliated to the Biosciences and Nutrition Unit at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge.  

The final report of the project is being prepared and will be submitted to the President by 30 June.

Survey for the staff

A survey has been sent out to collect insights and reflections from the staff regarding the integration project. Please answer the survey by June 24 to contribute to the evaluation of the project. Your insights are important to help us, and all of KI, to learn from this process. 

Actions to reduce animal costs

A question that has been highlighted during the project is the animal costs at Campus South. A proposal to lower the costs has been sent to the KI president.

Faster processes in the Neo building

The head of administration at MedH, Klas Karlsson, Maria Eriksdotter and the Property and Facilities Office (Fastighetsavdelningen) at KI have had talks on speeding up some of the work on the facilities in Neo. The Property and Facilities Office has now allocated more staff to work in Neo. 

New MedH strategy and organisation

Petter Höglund, Head of department at MedH, gave a report from the strategic task force group. 

During the integration process a need for a new strategy for the department has been highlighted. The current MedH strategy runs until 2025, which makes this a good time to start working on a new strategy that looks beyond that. The tentative name of the new strategy is MedH 2030. After the summer the MedH management group will start looking at what the process of developing the new strategy should look like.

From 2025 there will be a new suggestion on how MedH will be organised. There will be no major changes to the organisation. However, this is a great opportunity for BioNut groups to be further integrated in MedH. All decisions will be preceded by discussions and all changes will be implemented in agreement with the groups.

Proposal to allocate funds to strengthen Neo

It has been proposed to KI centrally that funds should be allocated to recruit new group leaders to Neo. There is space in Neo that is currently unused, and it should be filled with activities that can contribute to the environment in the building. The proposal emanates from the strategic task force group but the effects of this would have positive effects for Neo and KI South in a longer perspective. No decisions have yet been made but this proposal is a first step to start a discussion on the issue.

The strategic task force group has now finished its work which will be presented as part of the general final report of the project. Discussions about how MedH can keep developing in the future will however continue in the fall with the strategy MedH 2030. 

Reflections on the project and a celebration to come 

Petter Höglund also reflected on the integration process as a whole and noted that he is impressed by everyone’s dedication to make this a good process and that is has been surprisingly free from any major obstacles. This is a testimony to what we can achieve when we have a clear goal and good leadership. Petter also noted that KI centrally has helped a lot and that everyone at the departments have contributed in different ways. Petter thanked everyone and said that he is looking forward to continuing the fun of developing the department. Next up is a party in the fall to celebrate a successful integration! More information to come on this.

BioNut get together

Janne Johansson, the Head of department at BioNut, shared some pictures from a get together that BioNut had last week. It was a nice opportunity for current and previous employees at BioNut to come together as the days of BioNut as a department are soon over. He noted a good mood amongst the BioNut staff and positive feelings for the future. 

At the get together, Lennart Nilsson and Thomas Tinglöv were thanked for their time at BioNut.

Thank you, from the leaders of the project

Agneta Wallin Levinovitz thanked all PIs from BioNut for being extremely helpful by completing reports for archiving. She also asked them to please spread the word to their colleagues. She noted that the researchers at MedH and BioNut are doing great research and will continue to do great research at the new MedH. 

Maria Eriksdotter noted that the work with forming the new MedH department will continue during the fall and that this presents good opportunities for making new contacts and develop research and education. She ended the meeting by thanking everyone who has been part of the integration project and on behalf of herself and Agneta Wallin Levinovitz she wished everyone a happy midsummer and a relaxing summer.