Info from SRC Leadership and Education

EDUCATION - Education is now fully digital at SU and a lot of people at SRC has worked hard to make this happen – THANKS to all of you who did this! Education went on-line overnight last week. We had hoped to get the last session of the roleplay done IRL last Tuesday, but at the last minute it had to be shifted to being online. I want to say a huge thank you to Kirill – who started dealing with Corona well before any of us did, as Jon was stuck in Switzerland at the start of his module and did his sessions via Zoom instead. This was good for the upcoming teachers as the students were all set technically – “just” the rest of us who need to catch up. Kirill, Krisztina and Ami – were phenomenal in making all of this work I cannot thank you enough. We have 2 courses at SRC starting this week: Urban SES - Erik, Jan and Ami & Co. and Course 4 for SERSD – Jamila and Ingo & Co. They have been phenomenal in going online at short notice. Remember that this is going on. PhDs and Postdocs have volunteered teaching support – you may be contacted in time. They are still working all of this out. Thank you to you all!!! SERSD Thesis projects – there are still a number of students looking for thesis projects. If you have not sent suggestions in please do so! Here is what I recommend you include: your details, the group if there is one, about the project, skills the applicant must have, and 3 dates and times that you could meet via Zoom. SERSD Traineeships – this is what the status is now: As this is a course, students are not allowed in the building. The traineeships will be allowed to go ahead providedstudent and supervisor can motivate that 1) the student will be able to carry out meaningful duties and tasks AND 2) that the student will be able to experience the workplace – some leeway will be given for doing things remotely, but there has to be some plan to compensate for the current situation. If you have a student lined up for a traineeship – they will be contacting you to ask about this so please give this some thought! And if you would like a trainee keep this in mind when advertising! SERSD thesis writers – would all supervisors PLEASE check in with your students? See how they are doing, and please get in touch with me if you are concerned about anyone or of anyone has specific issues they need support with. SERSD Final Seminars due in June – these will go ahead. They will very likely be done remotely. I think it is important we think about this to make it supportive and we think of ways to celebrate their achievement and say thank you for their stay with us. Put your creative thinking-caps on – and share your suggestions with me! OTHER - The yearly call from Formas and VR is open and it is great to see that so many people apply. The deadlines have been postponed due to the Corona situation – please see the respective web pages for more info. - The last module of the Excecutive education was held on Friday – and it can be nice to report that the students (i.e. CEO’s of large Swedish companies) all participated digitally. It is a great sign that despite the severe situation for many of them they still prioritize this and ensure each other that their sustainability work will be maintained. - SRC was partnering with SLU and RISE on a large grant that just got funded from Mistra on Swedish Food Futures - We are now finalising the GRP contract with SIDA and have an agreement on the continuation. We are also in final stages concluding the grant with the Canadian gov for ORRAA (2.5 million CAD). Regarding SU and COVID outbreak - nothing new from SU since 17 march, but latest info always here: https://www.su.se/corona Finally – we know this is a stressful time for most of us. We have had to focus on adapting our work to a new situation, work from home and many of us also have kids at home too. So I think it’s important to say that people should also take it easy and not to stress too much. While all of us are superheros to some extent, we are humans too – and there are limits to what one can do. So be kind to others. And be kind to yourself.