Mina Martine Frey
Head Engineer at the Electron Microscopy Laboratory and the Molecular Neuroscience research group at the Division of Anatomy
With nine years of employment at the institute, I have also previously worked in the GliaLab (Letten Centre). Before that, I studied molecular biology and neurophysiology at the Department of Biosciences.
As a representative for the technical and administrative staff on the Institute council, I want to be a clear voice for making our work visible. Technical and administrative staff carry the continuity in a workplace with frequent staff changes. We manage methods, routines, equipment and institutional memory, and we train new colleagues so that the knowledge lives on. This stability is a prerequisite for good research and teaching, but it is not always visible in decision-making processes.
With several years of experience as a health and safety representative, I have seen the importance of a good and inclusive working environment. I have also taken part in a work group that made new guidelines for co-authorship for engineers. The work was about ensuring that engineers' contributions to research are recognised equally with scientific staff.
I wish to be a clear advocate for all technical and administrative employees, to make our work visible and to ensure that our concerns are heard.
Ingunn Mørk Jermestad
Laboratory Adviser at the Department of Nutrition, and Head Engineer in the Division of Molecular Nutrition.
Professional background/project:
I am a biomedical laboratory scientist with an MSc in Molecular Biology and have worked at IMB since 2010. My current responsibilities include laboratory work related to research projects, administrative duties in my roles as both a requisitioner and laboratory adviser, and health, safety and environmental (HSE) responsibilities.
Motivation/priorities:
- I wish to represent the voice of all technical and administrative staff at IMB and to promote their interests and working conditions. I also wish to highlight the importance of this staff group’s broad and high-level expertise, as well as their cross-departmental and cross-sectional networks, which are highly valuable to IMB.
- Health, safety and environmental (HSE) matters.
Experience:
- Deputy representative for technical and administrative staff on the Institute Board.
- Employee representative for technical and administrative staff on the Local Working Environment Committee (LAMU).
- Member of the working group for the Engineering Forum at IMB.
Truls Tambs-Lyche
Senior Engineer at the Electronics Workshop.
Professional background / area of work
I work with repair and maintenance of scientific equipment, troubleshooting within electronics and instrumentation, and technical support for research groups at the department. This gives me broad contact across IMB and a good understanding of the needs and practical challenges faced by different research environments.
Motivation and key issues
I believe my background as an engineer from industry can bring a useful perspective to the Department Council. I have experience in development, testing and systematic quality work, and I am particularly interested in clear work processes, defined responsibilities and good routines.
I would like the department to make more systematic use of experience, so that problems and deviations are not only resolved when they occur, but also lead to improved ways of working. To me, this means clear responsibility, appropriate documentation and continuous improvement.
I also want to help ensure that the experience and perspectives of technical and administrative staff are well represented when decisions affecting the department are made.
Experience
I am deputy safety representative for the workshops, which has given me insight into the department’s health, safety and working environment activities. For the past two years, I have also been a member of the board of NITO’s local group at the University of Oslo, giving me increasing insight into employee representation and trade union work at the university. Through NITO, I also meet employee representatives from other organisations, both within the university and higher education sector and elsewhere in working life.
Kristin Larsen Sand
Head Engineer, Division of Physiology
My responsibilities include laboratory operations, research support, course teaching, health, safety and environmental work, as well as certain administrative duties. I also have experience as a member of the Institute Board.
Priorities:
- As a representative of the technical and administrative staff, I will promote the group’s interests and working conditions in all matters affecting us.
- I will work to raise the profile of the technical and administrative staff’s expertise and the diversity of their day-to-day work.
- I will contribute to effective collaboration between all staff groups.