UiO:Life Science is the University of Oslo’s biggest initiative, closely connected to the construction of Norway’s largest research building. The Life Science Building will achieve the University’s ambition in the life sciences field as described in the life sciences strategy. Interdisciplinary integration between academic environments is a key element of the life sciences initiative, with a stated vision of convergence.
Academic Development of Life Sciences at the University of Oslo
In the spring of 2019, Vice-Rector, via the Life Sciences Reference Group, commissioned a report from the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The report was to focus on the academic research development of life sciences, especially connected to the Life Science Building and its available office areas, which make up almost 30 percent of the building. The report from our Faculty includes a recommendation of thematic research initiatives within life sciences including the development of activities in the Life Science Building that will be ready in 2024. The process is now further coordinated by UiO:Life Science in collaboration with the faculties, where the goal is a unified recommendation to the Rectorate.
Life Sciences Is a Focus Area at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Life Sciences is one of four thematic research initiatives at our Faculty (Figure 1), and the main activity at the Department of Biosciences, the Department of Pharmacy and the Norwegian Centre for Science Education. The Faculty also has extensive life sciences activities at the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Informatics, the Department of Physics and the Department of Mathematics. The Department of Geosciences participates in the Centre for Biogeochemistry in the Anthropocene, which is a multidisciplinary centre for climate and environment.
Life sciences have a central place in the Faculty’s new strategy from 2019, where we write the following:
“Life sciences are all about understanding the make-up, structure and function of living organisms, and how living organisms mutually affect each other and interact with their environments. Life sciences are of key importance for enabling society to meet major challenges in respect of health, food, climate and the environment. The Faculty’s focus on life sciences represents a large and important part of UiO:Life Science, which is a large interdisciplinary initiative to enhance the level of quality and interaction in research, education and innovation in life sciences across the various units at the University of Oslo.”
The Life Science Building as a Benefit For All Life Sciences Activities at the University of Oslo
Although the life sciences strategy was developed in connection with the planning of the new building, it embraces all life sciences at the University of Oslo. It is a goal that many academic environments at the University will contribute and benefit from facilities in the building, far beyond the research environments that are going to move in. It is a fact that most of the life sciences activities at the University and at our Faculty will take place outside the Life Science Building, with main emphasis in the environments at the University’s two health faculties in addition to the Department of Biosciences. The Department of Pharmacy and the Department of Chemistry will both move into the new building in 2024, which of course will set some premises for the activity in the building.
However, in order to succeed with the life sciences strategy, it is a prerequisite that the Life Science Building will benefit all life sciences activities at the University of Oslo. This involves, among other things, exploiting the great potential that lies in creating synergies between activities within the new building as well as within other buildings with extensive life sciences activity; and to create synergies between the environments at the various sites.
Thematic Research Initiatives within Life Sciences at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
It has been essential to include the entire life sciences field at our Faculty in the process. We have developed thematic research initiatives that show the breadth of our research activities within life sciences and point to future research priorities. However, in order to create momentum in the investment, we are open to do adjustments in the years ahead. All departments at the Faculty that have life sciences research activities have been involved in the process, which has been driven forward by contributions from the management and academic environments at the Department of Pharmacy, the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biosciences. We have worked closely with UiO:Life Science, the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Dentistry, and have also involved other faculties at the University of Oslo and the Centre for Gender Research in the process.
We have prepared 14 strategic thematic research initiatives within life sciences at the Faculty (Figure 2) with associated research areas representing underlying disciplines.
Based on this map, in addition to overall guides defined in key background documents – such as research quality; convergence and innovative potential; resource needs and utilization of core facilities; opportunities for synergy in the building, within the University of Oslo and in the region; the benefit of being provided a dedicated area in the building; and a forward-looking research profile for the building – we have proposed the following thematic research initiatives to have a dedicated place in the available areas in the Life Science Building:
- Antimicrobial Resistance – Interdisciplinary approaches for combating an emerging global crisis
- A Sustainable Life Span – Prevention and treatment from cradle to grave
- Personalized Medicine – Targeted diagnostics, treatment and follow-up
- Enabling Health-Technologies – For health challenges of the future
- Neuro Science – From synapse to brain
- Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms – The machinery of life
The first three thematic research initiatives will be partly represented by research environments that are already planned to be moved into the building, while the last three are the Faculty’s new initiatives on thematic research initiatives in the Life Science Building.
Join Us at the Info Meeting!
On January 22, we are hosting an information meeting about the Life Sciences Building and the Faculty's thematic research initiatives (in Norwegian only). I encourage anyone interested to attend at the Science Library at 11:00 - 12:30! There you will be presented the development of the Life Science Building and the construction process by Vice-Rector Per Morten Sandset and Assistant Project Manager Karoline Strand, and I will present the Faculty’s work on thematic research initiatives and the overall process.
Welcome!