The Department of Education at Aarhus University is a member of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), the world’s leading independent research institution for the performance of international scientific comparative studies of the performance of school systems all over the world. The Department of Education is participating in four IEA studies – PPIRLS, TIMMS, ICCS og ICILS – which are among the most prominent international comparative educational research projects in the world in their respective fields of study (reading, maths, democracy and IT). The Danish Ministry of Education funds 50 per cent of the Department of Education’s expenses related to the performance of the studies.

The BioBase platform for research on bio-based production

Using more biomass for energy, animal feed, food, materials and chemical raw materials would have profound positive effects on industry and society as a whole. For example, using biomass could reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and on imported animal feed for livestock, just as the development of new bio-based products could contribute to creating sustainable industrial growth and jobs in rural areas. The cultivation of perennial biomass crops could also reduce agriculture’s climate and environmental footprint and improve soil fertility – without a reduction in food crop yields.

The Danish Centre for Food and Agriculture (DCA) has established BioBase, a technological platform to support green biomass production and refining research and development. BioBase consists of four integrated sub-platforms (see box). DKK 50 million will be spent on research in this area through to 2017. The objective is to develop new sustainable, productive cultivation systems that will support the development of bio-based liquid fuels, new types of protein-rich feed and other high value products.

The platforms will also provide a foundation for collaboration with private companies on development projects. Biocluster.dk, a recently-established business cluster located in Agro Business Park in Foulum, gives companies access to the knowledge and facilities at BioBase. In connection with BioBase, experimental facilities to extract protein from clover and to convert green biomass and waste products to bio-oil will be established.

The knowledge gained through BioBase will be provide a foundation for the analysis of the socio-economic and environmental consequences of increased biomass production. Government agencies and institutions and other decision-makers will be able to draw on these analysis to determine appropriate regulatory frameworks and policies in this area.

National centres
It is decisive for society’s progress that the knowledge developed by Aarhus University is available for the society to which the university belongs, and that the university’s research functions as a gateway to global knowledge. Aarhus University has four national centres with special responsibilities in in the areas of collaboration and knowledge exchange with government and industry.

DCH – Danish Centre for Healthcare
The Danish Centre for Healthcare (DCH) is a recently established national resource centre that draws on the knowledge of researchers from all over Aarhus University to help the healthcare sector meet the complex challenges it faces. While the centre is affiliated with the Faculty of Health, it functions as a gateway to health-related research at the university as a whole. Innovative interdisciplinary approaches that combine the competences of researchers from different fields can address even the most complex issues in the healthcare sector and ensure closer links between research, planning and practice. With DCH, Aarhus University intends to contribute existing and new knowledge in order to make an active contribution to the development of health and welfare in Denmark. The centre’s specific tasks will depend on the healthcare sector’s needs, for example in relation to meeting the government’s national health targets. Relevant issues include inequalities in health, tele-medicine and health economics.

dch.au.dk (in Danish)

DCA – the Danish Centre for Food and Agriculture
The Danish Centre for Food and Agriculture (DCA) at Aarhus University performs public sector consultancy on food and agriculture and cooperates with the food and agriculture sector. The centre includes departments and research groups that focus on food and agriculture research. The centre has 11 employees. DCA coordinates and monitors national and international public sector consultancy projects and is responsible for AU’s consultancy contract with the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark. The centre participates in European research policy networks and helps initiate new food and agriculture research partnerships. The centre also supports strategic collaboration with the food and agriculture sector through initiatives such as research programmes and the establishment of clusters.

dca.au.dk/en

DCE – the Danish Centre for Environment and Energy
The centre is the primary gateway for public and private sector organisations and industry to research- based consultancy on nature, the environment and energy. The research and consultancy performed under the aegis of the centre are primarily supplied by the Department of Bioscience and the Department of Environmental Science. DCE provides advisory services and knowledge about nature, the environment and energy that are based on high-quality research, as well as publishing reports and memos by Aarhus University’s researchers. The centre coordinates and helps guarantee the quality of the research-based advice the university provides to ministries and other clients on issues related to the environment and energy. Aarhus University’s most important environment and energy consultancy contract is with the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building. The university undertakes research, monitoring and advisory services for the the Danish Ministry of the Environment, the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building and Greenland’s Environmental Agency for Mineral Resource Activities.

dce.au.dk/en

DCL – Danish Centre for Culture and Learning
DCL (the Danish Centre for Culture and Learning) facilitates knowledge exchange between society and researchers at the Faculty of Arts. DCL’s mission is to identify, enable and organise concrete knowledge exchange projects. DCL supports and facilitates public sector consultancy activities as well as partnerships with private businesses and public sector institutions. By engaging in dialogue with external potential partners regarding their need for research-based advice and services, DCL helps enable collaboration to address concrete social challenges. DCL also supports specific projects by providing quality assurance and management support where necessary. DCL’s goal is to make the results of the research performed at Arts available to Danish and international government agencies and institutions and partners, as well as to collaborate with government and partners to create and disseminate useful new knowledge.

dcl.au.dk (in Danish)