Last Wednesday and Thursday (on April 10-11) we had the annual ITM PhD student conference at Skogshem and Wijk on Lindingö. The theme this year was equality (JML) and sustainability. Alice Marshall gave an introduction to “one KTH” followed by several group exercises/discussions. In one of them we were all supposed to stand in different corners divided in how equal we think our working environment is on a scale between 1 and 10, 10 being perfect in terms of gender equality. The choice of “environment” could be the closest group or even the whole of KTH. It was interesting to see that we were spread out between 8-9 to 2-3.
Sara Linderson shortly presented the new platform, Industrial Transformation, a platform that will coordinate all KTH researchers that in different ways support the transformation to a sustainable CO2-neutral industry. The manager of the platform is Monica Bellgran, KTH Södertälje.
In the evening, beforea very nice dinner, there was a poster session with the goal to bridge the gap between different research fields i.e. find a PhD student colleague in another area where there is some overlap of interest.
In the morning of the second day Ulf Sandström gave a lecture about the Vancouver Rules on Publishing. The rules discuss “Who Is an Author?” and the following four criteria must be fulfilled for any author:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
This is something for the students to discuss in their respective research environments and with their supervisors. It think that it is important not to be too interested in the ranking lists but to make sure that authorship and citations are treated in a correct way.
After a coffee break Hélène Hermansson gave a talk about sustainability and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG:s) and asked the participants to think and discuss how these goals can connect to their own research, both in a positive and negative ways.
The SDG:s can be found here.
Thank you all lecturers, DAs and participants!
ITM Newsletter
We are now underway with the ITM School’s newsletter. The first newsletter was sent out on 14 March. The idea is that a newsletter will be sent out to all employees every fortnight. The newsletter will contain both internal ITM news, as well as KTH news. The intention is that we will have better internal communication here at ITM and better knowledge of what is going on at the school. Hopefully, this will reduce the volume of internal mass email. To a certain extent, the central KTH news will replace news that was previously published in Campi.
For future newsletters, the Communications Department would like to receive input from the faculties no later than Monday of the same week in which the newsletter will be sent out (i.e. Mondays on odd numbered weeks).
We hope that you will like the newsletter and your feedback is most welcome regarding ideas and suggestions for improvement. Please email any suggestions and news to infomaster@itm.kth.se.
Quality assurance
At the moment, KTH is fully focused on quality assurance. At an overall level, the KTH quality assurance of education across all levels, research and the supply of academic skills involves ongoing follow-up every year and a regular review every sixth year. The ongoing follow-up for research will be conducted through reports, analyses and reflections produced at both institution level and school level. The focus will be on monitoring output in the form of publication (scientific impact), external funds and more qualitative self-evaluation of the research environments with respect to quality culture. The selected focus on publishing, research funding, research environments and quality culture is motivated by the fact that these aspects are considered of particular relevance for indicating, ensuring and contributing to high-quality development in the research that is conducted at KTH.
The ongoing monitoring of the supply of academic skills will be conducted through reports including analysis and reflection produced at both institution level and school level every year. The focus will be on the monitoring of current personal data and reflection on in progress and expected development going forward.
Regular review of education at KTH
The regular review of education at all levels, including collaboration, will be implemented in a six-yearly cycle and led by the School management and Directors of Education at each school in accordance with the Faculty Review Guidelines issued by the President.
The regular review will ensure that the education programmes at KTH are high quality and that development is driven systematically and strategically so as to meet the educational requirements and targets for each programme. The combination of internal, ongoing monitoring each year and the regular review of the school every sixth year, will produce good conditions enabling firstly, the identification of what needs to be developed and secondly, to introduce measures where best needed for the education programmes to retain high quality along the journey from admission to graduation.
Spring is on the way!
Sommarsolstånd juni = Summer solstice June
Vårdagsjämning mars = Vernal equinox March
Närmast solen januari = Closest to the sun January
Längst bort från solen juli = Furthest from the sun July
Höstdagjämning september = Autumnal equinox September
Vintersolstånd december = Winter solstice December
I guess that most of us have an intense focus on two major educational issues right now; concluding period three and designing all the exams that have been ongoing this week and also updating course plans for the next academic year. These updates are significant since from HT19 all courses that are included in special eligibility need to be included.
Changing and updating ITM’s course plans according to KTH’s new regulations regarding intended learning outcomes and grading criteria is considerable work and I’m very grateful for the effort that all colleagues have put into this. But since all of us have not finished the changes yet I also want to send a reminder to those of you that have not been able to submit anything yet. If you want to read more about this, and get some useful ideas, please check out this website here.
I would also like to promote (again) that KTH is arranging the third SoTL Conference at Campus Valhallavägen in Stockholm, 28-29 of March. Read more about the Conference SoTL here.
/ Anna Jerbrant, Director of First and Second Cycle Education
In my last blog I discussed how we could collaborate with industry. I wish to continue on the same theme this time. However, now taking the perspective of a person that is working in industry. How can such a person be part of KTH?
There are two main ways, namely an affiliated faculty or an adjunct Professor.
Typically, what happens is that an individual researcher at a department has collaborated with someone in the industry for some time. The person in the industry enjoys giving lectures, supervising students and writing papers in collaboration with KTH researchers, etc. At this point the person discusses with the KTH contact and the closest manager if it would be possible to have a more official connection to KTH.
At this time I am usually contacted by a Department Head that wishes to know which of the two ways are most suitable. Here it is clear that most external people wish to have the title “Professor”. However, we need to make sure that they fulfil all requirements stipulated by KTH. The requirements for becoming an adjunct professor can be found on the KTH home page:
https://www.kth.se/en/samverkan/partnerskap/personrorlighet/adjungerade/adjungerade-professorer-brobyggare-mellan-kth-och-omvarlden-1.329822
Me, the Department Head and the KTH teacher that wish to establish the collaboration carefully go through the persons CV After that, Dekanus Katja Grillner makes a pre-evaluation of the persons CV to judge whether the person has the qualifications of becoming an affiliated faculty or an adjunct professor. Thereafter, the candidate can officially apply for the position. At this stage of the process, one of our ITM administrators, Helena Lundquist or Malin Bolin, will support the candidate and the department to establish and upload the required documents.
If a person becomes an affiliated faculty it opens up the possibilities to carry out more academic work as part of their work assignments. As mentioned before this may include writing papers on collaborations with KTH researchers and co-supervision of PhD students, which both represents activities that helps to boost a person’s CV. Thus, if the collaboration is successful and appreciated from both organisations, the person could apply for an adjunct professorship in the future.
As shown in the link given above, and adjunct professorship application will be evaluated by external experts as well as by Dekanus. If a person passes this evaluation it is most common to have the position for one day a week (20%), but up to a maximum of a 50% position.
We have seen an increase in the number of people that wish to work closer to us at KTH. This is very positive, since they bring their industrial experience into our KTH academic environment. This helps our students to better understand the industrial situation that most of them will work with in the future.
Finally, I wish to say that I hope that you had a fantastic winter break, “sportlov”.
Myself I took one day of to visit the historical places Uppsala and Österbybruk . At the latter place I picked up my son that had taken a one-week course in stone laying. My hope is that I finally get my drive way fixed this summer….
Pär Jönsson, Vice Dean
In autumn 2018, the School was reviewed with regard to regulatory compliance. It was revealed that the School requires a lot of improvement, and we were asked to submit an action plan to the President of KTH and University Board, which in turn adopts the School’s action plan.
The School of Industrial Engineering and Management’s administration has been process-orientated for many years. But when daily life creeps in, it can be easy to miss something. This may, for example, involve the quick implementation of a new resource, but even then there is legislation that must be followed.
We have begun work on producing videos connected to the administrative processes. These shall be made clearly visible on our internal website. The idea is that it should be quick and easy to get information on what needs to be done. The first video that was produced is called “Purchasing and Procurement”. This is one of the more complex processes. The second video that has been completed is “The Travel Process”, which covers elements to consider prior to a trip all the way up to the reimbursement of travel expenses.
https://play.kth.se/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/0_glj62uil
(If the English website is accessed, the videos will be available with English subtitles).
Films currently in production:
- Entertainment Expenses
- Secondary Occupation
The fact that the aforementioned processes of Purchasing and Procurement, Travel, Entertainment Expenses and Secondary Occupation were selected in stage one is due to the fact that it was within these processes that the School had the most issues in the internal audit.
We hope that the videos will contribute towards making it “Easy to do the right thing”, a quick reminder of what applies in terms of the laws, policies and ordinances that are applicable to employees within a government agency. The films are produced within the School of Industrial Engineering and Management, as we now have the resources to do so, thanks to the unit for digital learning becoming part of ITM, and a growing communication unit within business support.
Do you know of a process that you think we should make a film about? Send your suggestion to; Christina.carlsson@itm.kth.se.
Environmental work at KTH’s schools and Joint Business Support (GVS*)
One of the Principal’s areas of priority is Environment and Sustainability. This means, among other things, that today there is a great deal of focus on these issues at KTH. The environmental work at the schools/GVS is run centrally from 01/01/2019 at the KTH Sustainability Office, together with the schools’ management.
Here is the link to the school/GV’s own web pages regarding environmental work within their own activities:
https://intra.kth.se/styrning/miljo-hallbar-utveckling/miljoarbete-kth-skolor
Here the schools’ environmental organisations, environmental goals and local routines are described. Based on the overall Sustainability Goals, schools/GVS establish goals and action programs. Local routines are also developed within the areas that require more detailed guidance.
Report environmental deviations or suggestions for improvement
Have you seen anything that deviates from how KTH works with environmental issues, so-called deviations (deficiencies) in the environmental work?
Or do you have suggestions for improvement regarding KTH’s environmental work?
This can be usefully reported via case management (MER SPE), which can be found on the intranet under the services tab, or reported directly to service@itm.kth.se.
*GVS = Joint Business Support. Formerly the term was “UF”. The concept of GVS was introduced on 01/01/2019.
With greetings from the support team
Christina
