The Dean's Summer Greeting 2025

This year, we head into the summer break while the world around us is changing rapidly and profoundly.

We find ourselves amid a new geopolitical reality, planetary crises, and major societal challenges.

In such times, universities – and not least our faculty – play an important role. We generate new knowledge on which future solutions must be based, and which society urgently needs.

We are facing increasing and evolving expectations of our role. We are required to bring our knowledge into play more quickly and with greater focus than we may have been used to.

At the same time, we must protect and uphold what is our strength: excellent basic research.
It is the foundation of everything we do, and it is a prerequisite for delivering long-term solutions to the challenges of our time.

We are already contributing in many ways, and when we reconvene after the summer, several new initiatives will be on the agenda.

The first students on the three new English-language Bachelor's programmes within the IT field will begin their studies this autumn. There is a strong demand for graduates with robust IT skills, and these programmes have been warmly welcomed by both industry and the Mayor’s Office in Aarhus.

We are continuing our efforts to promote innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration – across the academic disciplines within our own faculty, across the wider university sector, and in partnership with industry.

Our contribution to the world around us is only possible because of the high level of expertise, dedication and commitment each of you brings. It is thanks to you that the faculty is a source of groundbreaking research and top-quality education. We create value, and our efforts make a real difference – now and in the future.

For this, I would like to extend my sincere thanks.

Soon, I’ll be activating my out-of-office reply and giving my mind a break. I hope you will be able to do the same.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the NAT Get-together on the other side of the holidays – on 29 August. If you haven’t already signed up, there’s still time to do so before the summer break begins.

I wish you all a wonderful and well-deserved summer holiday.