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Starting this year the PhD students are represented in the Research Education Committee (Forskarutbildningsutskottet, FU) and during the meeting in January all PADs were invited and we discussed the forms of their representation. It was decided that one PAD at a time participates. Last Monday we had the first FU-meeting with this setup.
We have for some time now had the idea to send out a survey to all PhD students at ITM and with the help of the PADs we are now getting closer to actually realizing it. We would like to know how the situation is for the PhD students at our five different doctoral programs. We want to know about working environment, courses, supervision etc to be able to learn from programs where it works well and to help correct things where there are problems. So look out for the survey that we hope will be sent out during March. It is important that as many as possible participate.
We have also started to plan the annual PhD students’ conference, also this with input from the PADs which is very valuable. The conference will be a lunch to lunch meeting May 9-10.
/ Malin Selleby, FA
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As you all know, the leadership at ITM and at the departments strive to make the working environment at ITM’s offices and laboratories of highest standard to create a safe and inspiring working environment as well as to meet the requirements from the Swedish laws. As a part of these efforts, it is time for our yearly safety inspections at each department. More specifically, they will take place at the following occasions:
- Department of Industrial Production: March 9
- Deans office education office: March 16
- Deans office Sing Sing: March 16
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering March 17
- Department of Applied Mechanical Engineering: March 20
- Department of Machine Design March 21
- Department of Industrial Economy and Management: March 22
- Department of Energy: March 22
After each inspection, a document will be made that summarizes the findings. Possible corrections will be pointed out. Thereafter, each Department Head will make a plan to specify how and when these corrections should be completed in order to meet our standards as well as to meet the regulations. Please contact your nearest manager if you need more information regarding the safety inspection at your department.
ITM organizes several activities to stimulate the health of the personnel. Many of you already take part in activities such as badminton, floor hockey, body pump etc at the KTH hall. However, the most attended event has been the annual step competition. Initially, it focused on a competition within and between the departments at ITM. Later, it was expanded to also include the central university administration (UF) and the CSC school. The 2017, step competition will include all Schools at KTH. We believe that personnel at other schools have heard about this fun event and said to their leaders that they also wish to take part in this activity.
From the evaluation of our previous step competitions we know that many of you have said that this step competition inspired you to carry out more exercises. Of course, we think it is valuable that you make sure that your health is kept or improved by doing exercise on a regular basis. So, if you do not already have a comfortable pair of shoes in your wardrobe it is time to look for a suitable sale. Get ready for the 2017 step competition!
/Pär Jönsson, Vice Dean
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Phase 1 of the project service@itm.kth.se is now complete. Together, we have:
- identified individual tasks
- produced interface documents
- concluded project work linked to
- Infrastructure
- Training
- Third-cycle education
- Purchasing
- Web
- Working in an open environment
- Events, conferences, public defences of doctoral theses, etc.
- HR
- Finances
- Working in an open environment
We are now entering phase 2. Work commencing in this phase:
- Project Coordinator Annika Lilja is doing the rounds, informing the management group of each respective department about the new service centre.
- Identifying which tasks are to be performed at the service centre.
- Who will do what?
- Recruitment of employees, interviews are ongoing.
- Discussion no. 2 with concerned administrative personnel.
- Building an information page on the intranet.
- Creating an entry point.
- Supplementing the risk analysis conducted at the start of the project.
- Premises are available in the M block and in Sing Sing (both for service desk and office spaces for back office work).
- Two electric cars are being acquired (for the school’s porters).
Set schedule starting 1 April 2017 is on track.
Continued dissemination of information on the project
The school’s intranet is being used to disseminate information. Work materials are being shared on “social” for the reference group and concerned personnel. The school’s management group has a permanent point on the agenda for these issues; we will receive feedback via the school’s intranet and, naturally, direct to our e-mail inboxes.
Annika Lilja – anlil@kth.se
Christina Carlsson – christina.carlsson@itm.kth.se
Anna Thöresson Bergh – atb@kth.se
We hope in this way to keep as many people as possible up-to-date, as we will all be affected by this change in one way or another. We need your feedback in order to know whether we are on the right track.
Best
Christina, Head of Administration
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The new organisational model chosen for the educational leadership at the ITM School is finally live. The structure was developed during 2016 after through discussions. The educational board (UN) of ITM is now replaced with the”ITM Utbildingsutskott”. The idea behind the new model is a more efficient organization able to capitalize also on competences and experience from our director of studies and master program chairs. The “old” board only consisted of the five and three years program chairs and the student representatives from each program.
Now when the new structure is up and running several other constellations will be formed as forums for exchange of experience and information between directors of studies and program chairs. One group will be devoted to the student representatives. All groups will get administrative support from ITM administration. The first version of the educational board consists of two 5yr program chairs: (Hans Havtun EGI and Anders Söderberg MMK), two master program chairs (Gunilla Ölundh Sandström, MMK and Lars Uppvall, Indek) and two directors of studies (Viktoria Martin EGI and Lasse Wingård, IIP) and finally program students for M (Louise Rosenblad) and I (Daniel Berlin) + Andreas Alm Arvidsson (Secretary) and Henrik Sahlström from out student office.
The idea is that the positions will “roll” with a yearly change but with a 6 moth overlap to combine continuity with renewal. We are however still working on the details for this and the final form will be set during the spring. We are for instance aware of the poor representation of our Södertälje Campus.
The council had its first meeting January 24th. Upcoming meetings are planned for Feb 21, Mars 21, April 18 and May 16. All of them between 9.00 and 11.00.
/Per Lunqvist, GA
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The ITM management team has for a while discussed the importance of strengthening the links and communication between the line organization and the education dimension. A working group with representation of the PA:s, directors of study, education administrators and line managers has during 2016 worked out a draft basis for new Rules of procedure for how to operate our educational programs. Based on this, a new organisation structure has been decided upon. This decision was recently communicated via our intranet, just as we always we do with important news within the School. The draft of the rules of procedure will now be further elaborated in the new GU (Grundutbildningsutskott) which replaces the former UN (Utbildningsnämnd). The time line is that new Rules of procedure should be decided upon and in operation before the fall semester 2017.
Our new president, Sigbritt Karlsson, has announced that the KTH Board has initiated the work towards a new KTH Development plan. It is preliminary said that the plan should cover the period 2018-2023 and that a close to final version should be available for the board meeting in October. Ideas on structure and content have not yet been communicated but a likely focus might be on three pillars; equality, internationalization and sustainable development which Sigbritt already has communicated.
As was mentioned in my last blog the annual ITM leaders’ conference took place on January 11-12 and was focused two things:
- Some first creative discussions as a basis for the next ITM development plan. A few keywords from all the group-work are: Utilizing school synergy; efficiency in support functions; impact strategies; ITM common technical or non-technical cores in research; digitalization; big data; facilities, environment and space for better synergy; culture, operations and activities for better synergy.
- Half a day with professional external expertise to learn and discuss how we can improve our working environment in order to reduce negative stress among all personnel.
Finally, two new tentative policies which might be introduced within ITM:
- All employees should use the Outlook calendar for planning time, and the calendar should be open (for time slots, but not content) within ITM.
- The default configuration for internet browsers will be the ITM intranet.
Let’s see if we get some reactions to these tentative policies!
All the best,
Jan Wikander, Dean of School
