Audun Syltevik
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Dear colleague,
My name is Audun Syltevik and I have been a PhD-candidate at the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and Humanities for about two years. I have previous experience both from student democracy and from political work, experience I would draw on if I should become part of the board either as the permanent representative or as an alternate.
The main task for the representative of group B is to convey the interests of those who are temporarily employed at UiB today. Temporary positions are often precarious, and especially so when the state does not prioritize research and higher education. Temporary employees also often have the least power to further their own interests because of this precarity. The university must therefore take special care with regards to its temporary employees through being a predictable employer and through providing all PhD-candidates with good support.
It is important to remember that temporary employees are a diverse group at 聽facing very different challenges. On the one hand, some are given too many teaching responsibilities, which can compete with one鈥檚 own research. On the other hand, others are not given the opportunity to teach at all, which can be detrimental to later job opportunities. It is therefore important that the university keep both those who get to teach and those who do not get to teach in mind by, for example, ensuring that all PhD-candidates are offered pedagogical courses and affirming the goal that both PhDs and Postdocs should be given the opportunity to teach.
It is, however, natural to assume that the next few years at the university will be marked by a tighter economical situation. This is as mentioned due to the deprioritisation of research and higher education from the state. But even given the economic situation, it is important that UiB still prioritizes good work conditions for PhDs and Postdocs. In a tighter economy there might be a danger that policies which strengthen PhD-education are weakened or postponed. There may also be increased pressure on temporary employees to do more tasks outside of their core responsibilities. It is important that UiB prioritises young researchers at this time, and that is something which I would be happy to contribute to.
Thank you for your attention!
