Christmas greetings
Dear colleagues at the Faculty of Languages!
As the year draws to a close and the Christmas and New Year holidays are almost here, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts this year, and also to reflect on what the year has seen.
As always, our endeavours have been marked by both challenges and achievements, and we are grateful for the commitment you have all shown which has undoubtedly contributed to making our faculty an inspiring environment.
For Uppsala University as a whole, 2024 is associated with the research evaluation KoF – Quality and Renewal. This of course also applies to our faculty. The assessment panel's report is now available and we look forward to the continued work of implementing its proposed recommendations. We will commence this work at the end of January when the Faculty Board meets to discuss strategic issues. The report is available to all staff – it can be found on the Faculty's KoF page.
As usual, we have also decided on an operational plan for the coming year. The full plan is a comprehensive document though there is also a summary (in both Swedish and English) highlighting key aspects. New in 2025 is the call for research environment grants to promote inter-departmental research activities. Faculty staff and researchers, including doctoral students, can apply for grants of up to SEK 25,000. See here for more information.
A further new initiative for 2025 is that for the first time we will issue a joint call for doctoral positions. We have been working toward this during 2024 and the call will open in January. We are very excited about this opportunity to attract new doctoral students to our faculty.
Every year, the Faculty Board appoints honorary doctorates – a title awarded to people who have made outstanding scientific contributions or otherwise promoted research at the university. This year's honorary doctorates at the Faculty of Languages will be awarded to Helen Morales and Thomas Steinfeld. They will be conferred at the Winter Conferment Ceremony on 31 January 2025. All staff are also cordially invited to the honorary doctors’ lectures on 29 January at 15.15.
Finally, we would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope that you will have the opportunity for some well-deserved rest. And we look forward to taking on the coming year together with you!
David Håkansson, Sofia Ahlberg and Ingela Nilsson