Research proposal, security and organisational issues at Professional Services' staff meeting 25 March

KI's University Director Veronika Sundström welcomed all employees. She talked about the most recent assembly of the Swedish Association of Higher Education Institutions (SUHF) and recommended taking part of the reports that SUHF produces (in Swedish) on current issues such as academic freedom and current changes within universities and university colleges in Sweden.

What's new at Profession Services

All individual offices' operational plans for 2025 are now available on the Staff Portal.

“KI's prioritised focus areas shine through in all offfices' planning and it is clear that we have come a long way in this work,” said Veronika Sundström.

The Staff Portal is continuously updated with what is happening in these areas.

As a result of the review of Professional Services (PS), its' rules of procedure (in Swedish) have been updated to reflect the changes that were implemented 1 January 2025. Adjustments are continuously being made:

• In March, the Safety and Security Unit moved from the Property and Facilities Office to PS-staff, to be closer to the university management and its responsibility for the whole of KI.
• At the same time, the functions for laboratory and chemical safety moved from the Safety and Security Unit to the unit Labour Law and Work Enviroment at the HR Office, where KI's safety committee is also handled. This is part of strengthening work environment management at KI.
• As of April 1, three communicators with a focus on student communication will move from the Educational Support Office to the units Digital Communications Development and Press Office and Editorial Content, at the Communications and Public Relations Office. This is part of ongoing efforts to review the office's mission and increase coordination of KI's communication resources.

All new employees at PS were welcomed to KI at the meeting. One of them is Sven Carlsson, the new head of the Office of Legal, Planning and Financial Affairs. He succeeds Gunnar Gustafsson Wiss who will retire in the summer.

The government's new research bill - how it affects KI

In the Research and Innovation Bill (in Swedish), the Swedish government has proposed research initiatives that entail a level increase of SEK 6.5 million. To optimise KI's chances of taking part in the initiatives, KI's university management has appointed a steering group chaired by Professor Clara Hellner.

Karin Schmekel, specialist at the Office of Research Support and External Relations, presented how KI prepares for the calls. As part of the resource allocation of research grants to the universities, a call for associate senior lecturers has been added to improve researchers' career paths. The steering group's task will be to monitor future calls, identify subject areas and research groups, identify combinations of areas and collaborate with external actors to build strong research environments.

Several experts at PS will be involved in the preparation of applications. Please note that some calls are not covered by the mission of the steering group, which focuses on the direct research grant, the new strategic research areas (SFO:s) and clusters of excellence.

Preparedness for developments in the United States

Since the new administration took office in the US at the end of January 2025, several decisions made by the President of the United States have raised concerns about the future of the research and education sector. To strengthen KI's preparedness and ability to act on issues and challenges linked to the United States, a cross-functional resource group has been formed with employees from various offices within the Professional Services.

The group's mission is to follow, inform and act on developments in the US through various internal and external networks and support the university management and, if necessary, coordinate joint initiatives. Read more in KI's President's address from March 11.

Use KI's Microsoft 365 license

As a way to increase the use of KI's Microsoft 365 license, the digital staff meeting was held for the first time in Teams instead of Zoom. Birgitta Lönnerberg, IT specialist at the IT Office, talked about the license and showed some apps and features that can be particularly useful for PS employees.

The IT Office also regularly provides trainings for KI employees in Microsoft 365 programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, Outlook and others.

There is a great interest in AI services among PS employees. With KI's license, all employees have access to Microsoft 365 Co-pilot Chat, but there are also additional licenses that individual employees can subscribe to depending on their needs. Please contact Jennifer Baral, team leader at the IT Office if you have any questions about Co-pilot or AI at KI.