RIKI is growing and welcomes core facilities at KI Syd
From October 1st, five core facilities at KI South are part of RIKI, Karolinska Institutet’s organisation for research infrastructure. More core facilities from KI South will follow later this year.
The core facilities are Bioinformatics and Expression Analysis (BEA), ANA Futura BSL3, Flemingsberg Flow Cytometry (FFC), Luminous Cell Imaging (LCI) and Single Cell Core Facility Flemingsberg (SICOF). Additional core facilities and freezer facilities at KI South are planned to become part of RIKI later this year. This development follows the plan set out by RIKI.
RIKI will bring together and strengthen KI’s research infrastructure. As the organisation grows, operational support is also being developed so that the core facilities and other research infrastructure receive professional support.
Petter Woll, core facility manager at FFC, says that the move into RIKI on October 1st went smoothly.
“The preparatory work by the professional services and management at both RIKI and the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), as well as the dialogue with other core facilities at MedH, contributed to this,” he says.
He does not think the move will have much impact on day-to-day work, but sees new opportunities.
“We look forward to opportunities in developing collaborations between the core facilities, which in the long term can provide researchers at KI with better technology platforms. We also see opportunities for greater financial stability and better career structures for staff."
Belinda Pannagel, research technician and chief safety representative at KI South, has followed the process closely.
– I have been able to ask questions and share views. There have been concerns, not least in Flemingsberg, about how support and administrative functions will work across several campuses. The dialogue has helped us find solutions, she says.
The next step is to create sustainable structures for work environment management.
– We need to clarify how the safety organisation and representative roles will work. It is a challenge, but also an opportunity to address issues that have existed within KI for a long time.
– To truly succeed in our ambitions to strengthen KI’s research infrastructure, we need to ensure a good work environment, good collaboration and good communication. This work is being prioritised alongside completion of RIKI as an organisation, says Karin Dahlman-Wright, Director of Research Infrastructure.
Collaboration with union representatives has been established through a Collaboration Council, a work environment group is being set up, and RIKI’s communication channels are being developed to create shared channels. A newsletter and a Teams channel will launch in October.