The Department of Geoscience (DG) was founded in 1962 and is one of two geoscience university institutions in Denmark. The educations comprise a BSc program in Geoscience and MSc programs in Geology, Geophysics, and Technical Geology. The broad BSc education comprises all relevant geoscience disciplines. The MSc programs in Geology, Geophysics and Technical Geology provide top-level educations in a broad spectrum of disciplines ranging from basic to applied studies and spanning most Earth surface and deep Earth environments relevant for understanding the Earth system and its relevance to modern human societies.  The MSc geophysics accreditation is unique and instrumental in defining the renowned brand of Aarhus geoscience masters with highly coveted quantitative competences. The BSc enrolment now at c. 50/year has been dimensioned to 45/year by 2020. It is our strategy to increase the number of BSc applications and sort students based on qualifications. Geophysics is not dimensioned and it is our strategy to increase the volume of this MSc program by national and international recruitment with the potential scope of gaining momentum to open a bi-lingual (English & Danish) BSc-entry in Geophysics by 2020. The geophysics masters are required to sustain growth in the sectors of society (water, environment, energy, construction) relying on subsurface imaging for resource development and management. DG will implement educational pathways and student mentoring. Each path comes with a geology, geophysics and geochemistry flavour. Research performance (volume, impact and excellence) is in strong growth and we will continue this trend and aim to reach a global ranking of c. 50 by 2020 (NTU). The research focus is within five areas characterized by high growth, large impact and/or high societal significance: Climate & Environment; Water; Energy & Natural Resources; Deep Earth Systems; Geochronology. It is the strategy to win centres of excellence within these areas by gathering forces internally, strengthening groups with positions where required, and by further developing external co-operations. The world-class metal-free geochemical analytical facility will create new momentum for all research areas and the educations, as well as enhance interdisciplinary research and teaching as witnessed by the emerging co-operations with Archaeology and Health and Medical Science.  Excellent research is strongly coupled to talent development, and DG will actively attract talent and expand its support and mentoring of PhD students, postdocs, and junior staff. This is articulated in the general recruitment and gender policy of the Department.

The Department of Geoscience is committed to recruiting and retaining the highest quality researchers and staff to work in a culture that supports diversity and equality at all stages of employment, from recruitment to retirement.  Diversity can be understood, for example, in terms of gender, nationality and age distribution. The benefits of a diverse workplace include increased adaptability, creativity and productivity, more skills (e.g. language and technical) and experiences, and more effective communication.  The selection and appointment of new staff is a critical stage in determining the Department’s quality and composition, particularly when considering gender balance.

Our recruitment strategy has three stages:

• Identifying the need for a new employee and writing a suitable job description that communicates the necessary skills, using non-discriminatory, gender-neutral language;
• Advertising the position internationally and sourcing potential candidates in venues that ensure a diverse applicant pool;
• Reviewing applications and taking steps to remove unconscious bias, such as including both men and women in the selection process and on the candidate shortlist.

In commitment to our gender balanced recruitment strategy The Head of Department and the steering committee assume responsibility for gender equality of the Department:

• We will review our recruitment process continuously to eliminate bias in the hiring process;
• We will remove obstacles that prevent students wanting to pursue careers in research from doing so – for example, the causes for the so-called ‘leaky pipeline’;
• We will provide mentoring and coaching to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior professors contemplating academic or industry careers in the geosciences.