Council for animal ethics meeting attended in Oslo

Today I have attended Council for animal ethics´ meeting in Oslo (at Næringslivets hus). This is one of four meetings this year, two of which are now physical (and two digital, due to an insufficient budget).

Digital Council for animal ethics meeting attended

Today I have attended the digital full day meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, held online due to a lack of funds. Among the topics were the council´s work with a consultative statement on Norway´s Government Pension Fund Global and their investment in international food business, which I have coordinated and led.

(Skimpy) conference plans for 2024 due to UIS budget cuts

I will not have the opportunity to attend all the conferences I would like, and have attended the previous years, this year - at least not physically - due to a lack of funding. My employer University of Stavanger (UIS) will only cover one conference participation this year, whereas I have had ca. 3-5 funded per year the last few years - a quite drastic change for me. As a professor, and a researcher who has at some points in the last few years been the most active at my faculty (Faculty of social sciences) regarding international conference presentations, I find this development worrisome - I feel I do not get the funding and support I need to do my job as well as I can. Some of these events it seems I can attend digitally, but I know from experience that that is not the same thing as attending physically.

I applied for external funding for conference participation from Nansenfondet, but have now been notified I did not get any funding.

I will now have to tell the organizers of the world congress of semiotics, in Poland, that I will not be able to attend, despite being a member of the world congress´ scientific committee. Moreover, I will have to attend the Gathering in biosemiotics, in South Africa, and  the world congress in environmental history, in Finland, digitally in stead of physically.

Letter to the editor and news story published in Khrono

Today a letter to the editor of mine, «Høyskolevisjonen» for UiS, has been published in Khrono, a Norwegian higher education online news outlet.

This is how the text is presented by Khrono on Facebook:

Khrono has simultaneously published a news story featuring an interview with me, Vil spare penger ved å kutte i forskningstiden (Wants to save money by cutting research time), written by journalist Eva Tønnessen. The story also features an interview with comments made by HR director at University of Stavanger Gro Sokn.

This is how the news story is presented by Khrono on Facebook:

Application to Nansenfondet sent in hope of conference participation funding

I have just submitted an application to Nansenfondet for funding of conference participation in 2024, for the project "Miljø og velferd" (Environment and welfare). As a result of budget cuts, the University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies, where I work, will only fund maximum one conference participation per year from now on, whereas I have been used to attending about five conferences per year.