In order not to miss any interesting seminars in the Sahlgrenska Academy Science Seminars series, you can sign up for a reminder email, where you will receive the link to the seminar in your inbox one hour before the seminar begins. Sign up to research.support@sahlgrenska.gu.se. Write “Reminder Sahlgrenska Academy Science Seminars” in the subject line. The mailing list is administered by the department for research support, and you can contact joanna.larsson@gu.se if you have questions.

The University Chancellor’s Office (UKÄ) shall follow up the consequences for the university’s activities of decisions and initiatives taken in connection with the new corona virus. The assignment will be finalized on 1 December 2022 and UKÄ has on its own initiative decided to submit four sub-reports during the assignment period. The first interim report, which is now complete, shows that the pandemic has put both the staff at the country’s universities and colleges and the students to hard tests. But students’ performance has not dropped significantly, and dropouts have not increased either. However, the number of disciplinary cases has increased sharply. Here you can download sub-report 1 (in Swedish): https://www.uka.se/4.1aaebad0174b4a21de322f0.html

On Wednesday, April 7, the newsletter from Akademiliv will not be distributed as usual, due to the schools having Easter break. However, Akademiliv’s website is updated during the week. Happy Easter!

The official inauguration of GoCo Health Innovation City will take place on Monday 15 March at 15: 00-15: 30, digitally. You are welcome to participate during the groundbreaking ceremony (here you can sign up), and the film will also be available to watch afterwards. GoCo Health Innovation City is a new cluster for health innovation in western Sweden, where Sahlgrenska Academy is a Founding Partner. The cluster is growing next to AstraZeneca, where it brings together companies, organizations and individuals working to find new solutions to global health challenges. Here you can see a short film (in English), with a greeting from President Eva Wiberg, about the importance of this investment.

Karolina Skibicka, Associate Professor at the Section of Physiology, and Lars Westberg, Professor at the Section of Pharmacology, each receive a grant of SEK 400,000 from the Arvid Carlsson Foundation. Karolina Skibicka is rewarded for her studies of the central nervous regulation of food intake and Lars Westberg for his studies regarding the influence of oxytocin on behavior. The Arvid Carlsson Foundation has also decided to award Professor Per Svenningsson at Karolinska Institutet the Foundation’s grand prize for outstanding research in the spirit of Arvid Carlsson of SEK 700,000. He is rewarded for his innovative integrated animal experimental and clinical studies regarding Parkinson’s disease and depression. The award ceremony will hopefully take place in the late spring of 2021.

Due to Covid-19, the closure of the old GU card system has been postponed. This means that all old, blue GU cards are still valid until further notice, regardless of the date on the front of the card. You will receive information in good time before the old cards are taken out of use. Current information is posted on GU card pages in the Employee Portal.

From Monday 8 March, new rules for examinations at DISA in a home environment will come into force. The rules apply until further notice. Developed rules for the DISA exam in the home environment replace section B in Rules for examination at the undergraduate and advanced level at the University of Gothenburg (V 2018/1223). In other respects, the Rules for examination at the undergraduate and advanced level apply in their entirety. Read more on the Staff Portal: https://medarbetarportalen.gu.se/aktuellt/nyheter-detalj//sarskilda-regler-for-examination-vid-disa-i-hemmiljo.cid1713221

The Red Cross has now launched a new web course, in Swedish,  on the laws of war and the international laws around it. The online course is open to everyone, and takes about 40 minutes to complete. It consists of films and interactive exercises that provide a basic understanding of humanitarian law. Here is a preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0sfs2_EGpU. The participant receives a diploma after completing the course. The course contains, among other things, information on the protection of health care during armed conflict.
You can find the course here: www.rodakorset.se/kurs-krigets-lagar

The agreement for the synchronization service GUbox expires on December 31, 2021 and the service will be discontinued during the year. All material currently stored in GUbox must therefore be moved. For storage and collaboration, the services primarily recommended are collaboration tools in Microsoft 365 – OneDrive and SharePoint. You can choose to transfer your files from GUbox to another service yourself. Guides for inventory, cleaning and moving documents will be published on the GUbox tool page in the spring. The documents that are not moved manually will be migrated to OneDrive and / or SharePoint with the help of Microsoft specialists in the autumn.

In the QS World University Rankings by subject, the University of Gothenburg is placed as 95th in the broad subject Life Sciences & Medicine, which is an improvement compared to the previous ranking. In the subject of odontology, the university takes the top position this year, and is also well placed in Anatomy & Physiology (51-100). Other placements in subjects relevant to Sahlgrenska Academy are 118 in Medicine, 101-150 in Nursing and 151-200 in Biological Sciences. As with all rankings, the measurement and analysis methods are discussed. QS World University Rankings by Subject uses research citations, along with the results of major global surveys of employers and academics, to rank universities.