Two Senior Distinguished Innovators appointed at Natural Sciences
As of 1 January 2025, Associate Professor Christoffer Karoff and Associate Professor Ulf Andersson Vang Ørom will be working to promote the innovation culture at the faculty.
Earlier this year, as part of the university's business initiative, the Aarhus University Board decided to create a number of new positions at the university called Distinguished Senior Innovators (DSIs).
Each faculty has now appointed at least one DSI, who in the coming years will dedicate their time to a combination of research and innovation, and help spread innovation cultures across the university.
Associate Professor Christoffer Karoff, Department of Geoscience and Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Associate Professor Ulf Andersson Vang Ørom, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics will be DSIs at the Faculty of Natural Sciences from 1 January 2025.
"I'm really pleased that we've found the two DSIs for Nat. They come with just the right skills, and from the wet and dry area, respectively, so their competences cover a broad spectrum. They’re part of our important work to ensure that the faculty's research and knowledge benefit society even more," says Ole Bækgaard Nielsen, vice-dean for career development and innovation.
Looking forward to new – and old – tasks
Both Christoffer Karoff and Ulf Andersson Vang Ørom are looking forward to their new DSI tasks. They have both worked on innovation projects alongside their research.
"For the past three-four years, I've been working on projects with a commercial aim. For me, this position is not an attempt to get away from basic research, but an attempt to do something that I find interesting and to see whether others interested in innovation can get anything out of it. It's not as if we all suddenly have to do applied research," says Ulf Andersson Vang Ørom.
The DSIs will keep their academic titles and department affiliations. The departments will provide the facilities to enable them to continue their research activities. Their work time will be divided equally between research and innovation activities.
Hope to gather more people across the university
Christoffer Karoff hopes that his new title can lead to a better framework for working with innovation.
"One of the challenges of working with innovation is that it touches multiple disciplines, and this makes it difficult to work with at a place like the university. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to help with this in my new position. To begin with, we’ll have a base where we can consolidate these interdisciplinary aspects. I think it's going to be great," he says.
The DSIs will work in the university’s innovation hub The Kitchen, where they will have access to external expertise and sparring within innovation and entrepreneurship as well as business development. Natural Scinces' research committee also contributes with advice and sparring.
Ulf Andersson Vang Ørom also hopes to be able to rally more people around innovation.
"I hope to be able to help create a culture where people talk more across disciplines; where innovation is the same language, so to speak. I can't do what The Kitchen and the Technology Transfer Office can do, but I'm happy to help people with good ideas onwards in their journey if they find the innovation landscape too complex," he says.