Professor Ole Hertel is a highly experienced researcher, teacher, manager and communicator, and before long he will be able to add head of department to his CV when he takes over as the head of department at the Department of Bioscience. This will be on 1 November, when he will replace the acting head of department, Peter Henriksen.

Ole Hertel comes from a position as a professor and the deputy head of department at the Department of Environmental Science, where he is an internationally recognised environmental researcher in air pollution and its effects on health, nature and the climate. Among other things, he was on the European Environmental Agency advisory committee for nine years, where he worked as an adviser on air pollution and climate.

During his time as the deputy head of department, he played an important role in helping the Department of Environmental Science meet its ambition to increase its intake of PhD students and thereby strengthen the research profile of the department.

As a researcher, Ole Hertel has published a large number of publications, participated in numerous Danish and international projects, and participated as a founding, leading and active member of a number of interdisciplinary research centres around the world. At the same time, he has disseminated his work in the media, as a lecturer and as the author of a number of books.

Experience for the future

Dean Eskild Holm Nielsen is pleased with the future head of department's solid background and expertise. The Department of Bioscience conducts high-quality research and research-based consultancy with great social relevance, and Ole Hertel’s profile and interdisciplinary background are a great benefit.

"Ole Hertel is a deeply respected research director, who has worked as first head of section for a number of years, and since 2018 as the deputy head of department at the Department of Environmental Science. I have great confidence in his professional and managerial skills, and I’m pleased to welcome Ole Hertel to his new role as the head of department. I look forward to working with him in the faculty management team.

At the same time, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing acting head of department, Peter Henriksen, for his great efforts: not least in relation to setting up the Department of Bioscience in Roskilde, Silkeborg and Kalø, after the division of Science & Technology in 2019," says Dean Eskild Holm Nielsen.

Peter Henriksen has been the head of department since 2013, and the department was divided up as part of the new organisation, which came into force in 2020. After this, he was acting head of the Department of Bioscience. He welcomes the new head of department:

"It's a pleasure to welcome Ole Hertel as our new head of department. Ole has many years of consultancy experience and contacts with a large number of authorities and government agencies, and he also has a strong research profile. I’m convinced that Ole will be able to ensure that Bioscience has an important role in the faculty and contributes to continued and strengthened collaboration with our partners," says Peter Henriksen, who will continue as the head of department until 1 November, when he go on to a senior researcher position in the section for marine biodiversity and experimental ecology at the department.

From neighbour to head of department

Professor Ole Hertel has worked at the buildings he is now in charge of, for many years. As a professor at the Department of Environmental Science, he has been a neighbour of Bioscience and the staff both physically and academically.

Therefore, Ole Hertel is very much looking forward to his new role, which he will start by forming a deeper understanding of the organisation through dialogue meetings and analyses:

"I’ve been privileged to work with a large number of researchers and staff at the Department of Bioscience for many years. The department contributes significantly to research, education, public sector consultancy and consultancy in areas of great importance and of great social relevance, and the department has a large number of strong academic environments at the highest international level.

I’m both humbled and proud to be shown this trust, and I’m very eager to start working with the staff at the department," says the future head of department, who sees a fine correlation between the government's ambitions of establishing more national parks and designating more untouched woodland to create more and wilder habitats for insects, animals and plants, and the unique competencies at the highest international level within biodiversity and sustainability, which the department has at its disposal.

Ole Hertel will officially take up the position as the head of department for the Department of Bioscience on 1 November 2020.