Four new research positions to strengthen innovation at Natural Sciences

The Faculty of Natural Sciences is advertising four new positions to strengthen research-based innovation and entrepreneurship. The positions are at Associate Professor and Professor level, open across all scientific disciplines represented at the faculty and, notably, have a specific focus on research-based innovation.

The successful candidates will play a key role in developing innovation activities both within their own departments and across the faculty. They will also help strengthen collaboration with companies, organisations and other external partners.

“These four positions represent an important step in our ambition to make innovation a significant and integrated part of our core activities. We already have a strong research environment, and we are now strengthening our ability to bring the knowledge and results generated in that environment into play for the benefit of society,” says Ole Bækgaard, Vice-Dean for Career Development and Innovation at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

The new Associate Professors and Professors are expected to have experience in translating research into innovation, for example through collaboration with industry, entrepreneurship or the development of new solutions.

They will help foster a culture in which innovation becomes a natural part of research activities. As role models for both colleagues and students, they will work closely with initiatives such as Science Bridge and Kitchen, Aarhus University's innovation and entrepreneurship hub.

In addition, they will contribute to teaching and to the development of new educational activities within entrepreneurship.

“We want to create an environment where it is natural to put our research-based knowledge into action through innovation, knowledge exchange and collaboration. We are therefore working purposefully to ensure that innovation is increasingly recognised as an integral part of the overall academic endeavour, alongside research and teaching. These new positions will help drive that development,” says Ole Bækgaard.