Science Conversations - Research group
Science Conversations @NTNU: How to build and lead a strong research group
NTNU’s webinar series for ambitious researchers – 1
Thursday 6 May 2021
Watch a recording of the webinar
Video on YouTube
Conversation topics
The key characteristic of a research team is that it comprises a group of people working together towards a common research goal. Team members may have different disciplinary backgrounds, different motivations and aspirations, and different cultural backgrounds.
The research leaders’ responsibilities are numerous but, in this webinar, we would like to focus on:
- What is the best balance and composition of a research team?
- How to motivate the group and provide a collective sense of purpose (develop teamwork, cooperation, morale, and team spirit)
- How to establish, agree and communicate standards of culture, performance, and behaviour
- How to enable, facilitate and ensure effective internal and external group communications
See also
The panellists
Professor
Mari-Ann Einarsrud
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Natural Sciences
Mari-Ann Einarsrud is leader of the FACET – Functional Materials and Materials Chemistry research group – a group that she has built up together with colleagues and now includes >70 persons including students. The group is recognized worldwide in ferroic materials and phenomena, materials for energy technology, ceramics and coatings, nanomaterials and nanodevices. The group culture is built on collaboration and sharing of knowledge, experience, network and infrastructure.
Professor
Barbara van Loon
Department of Clinicnal and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Barbara van Loon is an Onsager Fellow and leader of a research group known internationally for biochemical and cell biology work in the field of DNA repair, genome instability and disease modelling. The group is composed of scientists at different stages of their research career and is based on strong teamwork through sharing of skills and knowledge. Many scientists who completed their training in Van Loon’s group continued their careers at prestigious national and international research institutions.
Professor
Terje Lohndal
Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities
Terje Lohndal co-directs the cross-institutional research group AcqVA (Acquisition, Variation & Attrition), a group that was established in 2014-2015. After starting out as a quite small group, AcqVA now has approximately 60 scholars across both NTNU and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Lohndal has also been Deputy Head of Research at the Department of Literature since 2015, where he has nurtured the development of new research groups.
Facilitator:
Head of Communication
Pernille Feilberg
Faculty of Natural Sciences
Pernille Feilberg has background in Information Science, and has many years of experience as Head of Communication at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at NTNU.