January 2014 the new section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology saw light of day. EvoGene is a result of a reorganization of the IBV Department and is one out of five scientific sections. Paul Grini is the leader of the section and opened the kick-off by introducing the reorganization and the aims for what EvoGene can become and how effectiveness is the key to good work. The introduction was followed by short talks where faculty staff presented themselves and the topic of their research. This gave a good overview of EvoGene – a section of approximately 70 people with permanent staff, researchers, Postdocs, PhD students and master students.
The rest of the first day was spent in groups to work out a suggestion for a plan of actions. The topics were organization, research infrastructure, recruitment, education, research collaboration, internal communication and external communication. Good communication and the web pages were listed as actions for several of the topics.
In addition to group work everybody took part in activities to better get to know each other. When entering the bus at the University everybody received a name tag, group numbers and the name of a secret friend. The concept secret friend means that everybody is encouraged to approach a particular person some time during the event. One is not allowed to reveal the identity of the ones secret friend but in this way a more dynamic group can be achieved.
For those who had not yet talked to their secret friend, an ideal opportunity presented itself at the after party where there was a high level of sporty activities and good conversations.
On the second day of the Kick-off, the groups were changed from being people from all the different levels and responsibilities to be made up of only master students, only permanent staff, only engineers and so on. The task was to come up with thoughts and actions for what the ideal section would be like for that group. The questions were:
- What would be the ideal situation and what would you need to maximize YOUR potential at the section?
- How could the section benefit from this?
- How can you and YOU contribute?
The master students were for example happy about how they are included in the different groups, and in general most of the groups felt the need for better defined responsibilities and roles.
Going home after lunch; well fed, tired from a late night prior and absolutely enlightened on the question of what is Evogene, everybody was better acquainted with one another and excited about what the new section is going to accomplish.
Ida Marie Johannessen and Paul Grini