Differences create a rich and dynamic research environment
Both professional and personal differences can enrich a research group. This is the point of departure when Professor Lene Niemann Nejsum hires new employees for her research group at Aarhus University. It is also the reason why she receives this year's diversity award from the Lundbeck Foundation.
By science journalist Antje Gerd Poulsen
When Lene Niemann Nejsum established her research group, she initially hired two women with profiles very similar to her own. "It was the right thing to do when I was starting my own group and setting the direction," she says. But even then, she knew that the next employees should have one common denominator: Diversity. She is convinced that diversity is the way to what she calls a "rich and dynamic research environment."
Today, Lene Niemann Nejsum has her own research group with 13 people, who are diverse in terms of profession, gender, personality, and nationality. Some of the employees are hired part-time with special considerations through the flex-job scheme. This scheme makes it possible to focus on individual strengths and accommodate people with neurodivergence and various forms of disabilities. "The crucial thing is that the individual has a professional skill that is needed in the group and that they want to contribute to the community," says the professor.
How does part-time work harmonize with an ambitious research environment?
"The professional ambitions in my group are not solely individual but also collective. So, it's not about everyone performing 24/7. But of course, it will rarely be possible for a flex-jobber to be the primary driving force behind a project because time is limited, and special considerations must be taken. However, flex-jobbers often make important contributions and participate in several different projects. Their efforts are both valuable and help strengthen the overall research effort."
Where does your interest in diversity come from?
"During my Ph.D. here in Aarhus, I was part of an academic environment with great interdisciplinarity. It provided a broader perspective and inspiring insight into how research can be approached from many angles," she says. "Later, I spent five years at Stanford University in California as a postdoc, and experienced that we were like a family in the group. There was room for very different personalities. And students and postdocs were often shared between several groups. This created an incredibly dynamic and innovative research culture."
In my eyes, it is not a choice, but a fact; We are different, and there must be room for that
What kind of research environment do you want to promote?
"I place great emphasis on a collaborative lab culture, where we use each other's strengths, help each other, and create a safe space for sparring and knowledge sharing. An environment where it is exciting to be and which inspires a desire to research. I actively work towards this."
What does it require of you to lead such diverse people?
"We think, work, and solve problems in different ways. And different disciplines do not necessarily speak the same language and often have their own focus. It requires us to be accommodating and listen to each other, and for me as a leader to trust the individual researcher’s professional expertise." She does not see it as a particular leadership challenge that some employees only work a few hours a week in the group.
"It does not change my leadership responsibility that we have an employee working 10 hours a week. In that case, I just need to be particularly aware of the balance between tasks and available time and capacity."
What does it mean to you to receive the award?
"It is a huge honor to receive the award, and it means a lot to me. I place great emphasis on creating a research environment where we use each other's professional skills and strengths. That this effort is seen and recognized through such an award is enormously motivating."
What plans do you have for your continued work with diversity?
"I have been in dialogue with both the job center and the dean about flex-jobbers, and hope it can lead to some initiatives that make it easier for people who do not fit into a regular 37-hour job to contribute to the university. I would like to be available to colleagues who want to know how flex-jobs work. And of course, I will also continue to focus on diversity in the group."
Are you affected by the storm currently raging internationally around the work with diversity?
"Yes, just as I am also affected by the other global changes and discussions we see right now. But when it comes to diversity, it is in a way simple. In my eyes, it is not a choice, but a fact; We are different, and there must be room for that."
Professor Lene Niemann Nejsum is the head of the "Laboratory for Translational Epithelial Transport and Bioimaging" at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University.
She was born in 1974 in Aarhus, trained as a molecular biologist, and holds a Ph.D. in medicine.
In 2010, she established her own research group through a Group Leader Fellowship from the Lundbeck Foundation, and in 2023, she defended her doctoral thesis in epithelial cell physiology and disease physiology. Lene Niemann Nejsum researches epithelial tissue, which surrounds the outer and inner surfaces of the body.
She is particularly interested in aquaporins, also known as water channels, which are proteins that regulate water transport across cell membranes.
Using advanced microscopy, Lene Niemann Nejsum and her group investigate how water channels regulate the body's fluid balance, with a particular focus on the water channels in the kidneys.
She is also exploring a possible connection between some of the water channels in epithelial cells and the development of cancer, aiming to find a way to slow cancer progression by influencing the function of these water channels.
About The Scientific Enrichment Prize
Have you and your research group considered how you could enhance your research beyond what you're already doing?
