Many Ideas for Mission Projects Presented at Workshop

Text and Photo: Charlotte Tybjerg Sørensen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs. Translation by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs

As many as 15 of AAU's 17 departments sent researchers to the workshop that took place on 14 March at AAU Innovate.

- I’m delighted with the great support across departments and faculties and impressed that we had received 20 presentations with relevant research and ideas for mission research projects that were presented at the workshop, says Mission Officer Niels Bech Lukassen who is also Head of the Mission Secretariat.

The many presentations and participants at the workshop came about after the Mission Management and Mission Officer visited AAU's departments and met with local management and researchers about the mission.

- We’ve opted for a bottom-up process where the researchers themselves come up with proposals within the mission framework rather than us defining the projects, and there seems to be support for this, says Niels Bech Lukassen.

Great openness and desire for discussion

At the workshop, a number of the researchers presented their ideas for mission projects. Here are some examples:

• When children and young people are not thriving in school and school itself is not thriving with (today’s) children and young people. On alternative school forms and new paths to well-being.
  Ulla Højmark Jensen, Lars Birch Andreasen, Ahrong Yang Nissen, Department of Culture and Learning
• Digital Emotion Regulation. The project is about improving children and young people's long-term emotional well-being through jointly created and empirically validated digital support tools.
  Niels van Berkel, Department of Computer Science
• Joining forces on youth well-being. New partnerships and inclusion of young people's ideas about well-being and meaningful communities, and preventive and well-being-promoting initiatives in and outside education at a political, organisational, cultural, conceptual, and pedagogical/didactic level.
  Lars Domino Østergaard, Henrik Vardinghus-Nielsen and Ludvig Johan Torp Ramussen, Department of Health Science and Technology

They then went into four themed groups: young people's well-being, schoolchildren's well-being, children and young people's digital lives, and well-being across physical and digital spaces.

See the slides from the workshop - including all pitches and contact persons - here.

- My experience was that there was great openness and desire for discussion and that many see the mission on improving the well-being of children and young youth as relevant, says Maria Appel Nissen, Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Work and Mission Manager.

Finally, the groups presented the content of their discussions to each other.

- The work in the groups provided a basis for talking and getting involved, and I have high hopes that we will receive exciting applications for mission projects in the near future, says Maria Appel Nissen.

Interesting to identify research colleagues from other disciplines

One of the aims of the workshop was to get researchers from the different scientific fields to see each other and talk to each other to form networks.

Helene Halkjær Jensen, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Bioscience took part in the workshop. She is a molecular biologist whose research includes the consequences of genetic factors for brain development. 

- I’m interested in mental illness in children, and this workshop opened my eyes to something totally new for me. It was really exciting and inspiring, says Helene Halkjær Jensen.

She cannot yet decide whether her research can be part of a mission project, but she is very open to closer interdisciplinary collaboration:

- For me, it’s interesting to identify the people who work in the area so I can reach out to them later, she says.

Ideal to participate in a mission project

Nicolai Brodersen, Hansen Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and three colleagues presented the project Dan Jam – The Danish Game Jam for Future Digital Content Creators – at the workshop.

The aim of the project is to explore how to support children in moving from digital media and game consumers to imaginative creators and developers of digital media through playful game production while learning STEAM'D  skills together in a social, physical and collaborative community that has the potential to support and improve their well-being.

For Nicolai Brodersen Hansen participating in a mission project is ideal.

- We’re used to partnering outside of computer science and working in an interdisciplinary manner, and I have previously done research on mental health. One of the interesting things about a mission project is to get the research scaled up, and we expect to submit a proposal if we can get more research colleagues on board. So it was definitely worthwhile to participate in the workshop, he says.

The deadline for the first round of applications for mission projects is May 17. The selection of the projects will be done in conjunction with the mission's Partner Board that at this writing is falling into place.

- And then we expect the mission projects to get started after the summer holidays, says Maria Appel Nissen.

If you want to join the mission, see "call for mission projects" here.

Read more about the well-being mission here.