The soundtrack to January has been the sound of tripping feet, encouraging whispers and nervous sighs from students waiting outside the doors. The exams have swept through the department with all it brings with it of frayed nerves and relieved laughter.

Now the students can breathe a sigh of relief and the teachers can get back to doing just that: teaching.

We made it through another January alive, and now we can look forward to February, which is so wonderfully short, and which offers days that gradually get a little longer and a little brighter.

But before we kick off February, we end the first month of the year with a little look back at January's news.

In 2020, the spin-out company Aarhus GeoInstruments originated from HGG. Now the Grundfos Foundation has purchased 24.9 percent of the shares in Aarhus GeoInstruments, and this allows the company to put even more effort into developing instruments and equipment that can help provide people worldwide with tools to map groundwater resources. In addition, it also gives a push in the direction towards better reaching out to customers and helping them design even better groundwater mapping projects.

GeoInstruments' CEO, Esben Auken, writes the following about what the investment means for the company: “We have some exciting plan to push out new state-of-the-art instruments in the years to come. We need to be Strong in Production, Research and Development, and We Need to Reach Our Customers. In this way we can help mitigate the world's problems with water caused by a changing climate. ”

You can read more about Grundfos' investment in GeoInstruments here.

Aarhus GeoInstruments CEO Esben Auken with Executive Director of the Grundfos Foundation Kim Nøhr Skibsted. Photo: Grundfos Foundation.

In an area plagued by periods of drought, it is difficult to understand how the great ancient city of Great Zimbabwe thrived for centuries. That mystery is uncovered by Søren Munch Kristiansen in collaboration with a group of researchers from South Africa, England, Denmark and Zimbabwe in the article "Climate-smart harvesting and storing of water: The legacy of dhaka pits at Great Zimbabwe."

With i.a. remote sensing, they have investigated a number of large depressions in the landscape, which are locally called "dhaka pits". It has previously been thought that these pits were only used to find clay for buildings in the city, but the new studies show that the pits were also used to store and manage water for the city.

Read more here.

The ruins of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe.

The Student counselor has a new office: 1672-232.
The previous office is now office space used by employees.

Meeting room 1672-114 is now LOC Laboratory.
A new meeting room has been established in 1672-120. The Outlook calendar for the new meeting room is called “1672-120 Mødelokale (8)”.
Students still need to contact the secretariat, when they wish to book a meeting room for group work.

Geoscience has got its very own cleaning cart, which can be used by employees and students at Geoscience.
The cleaning cart is located in the basement under building 1674, right in front of the door to room 032.

The cart contains equipment and cleaning products, and our regular service employees from the building department, Hong and Martin, will make sure to fill up when something is missing.

If you need something for the cart outside of Hong and Martin's working hours, you can find it by the Cleaning Station next to the washing machine.

Here you can find cloths, bags, cleaning agents and disposable cloths for the mop.

Dirty cloths must be thrown in the laundry baskets next to the washing machine.

Always remember to clean the cleaning equipment after use, so that it is neat for the next user.

Partners with office hours, room 1672-123:

• Max Anthon Ikkala Lerager, IT supporter | maxl@au.dk | +45 6020 2616
  Tuesday 12-15
• Kathrine Kofoed Jensen, HR-partner | kofoed@au.dk | +45 9350 8204
  Tuesday 8-12 (uneven weeks)
• Stine Magnild Hansen, HR-supporter | smh@au.dk | +45 9352 2463
  Tuesday 8-12 (even weeks)
  Mette Møller Larsen, Business Controller, Finance | mmla@au.dk | +45 6057 1105
  Wednesday 8.30-15.30
• Jakob Steen Olesen, Project Finance Controller, Finance | jakob.steen.olesen@au.dk | +45 9352 1027
  Wednesday 8-15 and Friday 8-14
• Helene Hallas, PhD partner, The PhD administration | heha@au.dk ​| +45 9352 2609
  First Thursday of each month 13-15

Other partners:

• Rikke Hartmann Haugaard, AU Research Support and External Relations - Research Support Office (FSE) | haugaard@au.dk | +45 9352 2552
• Henriette Withen Hansen, AU Research Support and External Relations - Technology Transfer Office (TTO) | hwh@au.dk | +45 4189 3290
• ​Torkil Bukkehave Hansen, AU Research Support and External Relations - Technology Transfer Office (TTO) | tbh@au.dk | +45 9352 1166
• Anne Ambrosius Frederiksen, studies/ courses & exams | aaf@au.dk
• Morten Hjorth Gad, AU Library | mhga@kb.dk
• HR-related questions should be adressed to Nat Tech HR Team 1 | HR.ST.team1@au.dk
• Questions regarding absence due to sickness, maternity leave or jobs on special terms should be sent to Nat Tech HR Specialist team | HR.ST.team.specialist.dk
• IT support, use AU Serviceportal, write to aarhus.st.it@au.dk or call 8715 4010
  Monday - Tuesday: 8.00 - 15.30 and Friday: 8.00 - 14.30
  AV support call 8715 0903

Thomas Ulrich's office hours for students:
Tuesday 12-14 and Thursday 9-11

The above information is also available at: geo.medarbejdere.au.dk/en/

Newsletters on the web
This and all previous newsletters are available on the Geoscience staff web pages.
- There is a direct link from the entry page.

Newsletters for students
http://studerende.au.dk/en/studies/subject-portals/geoscience/practical-infomation/news-for-students/

Other newsletters
Nat: https://nat.medarbejdere.au.dk/en/news-and-events/news/
AU: https://medarbejdere.au.dk/en/info-and-news/newsletters-at-au/