New Department to Advance Sustainable Agricultural Production - 09.06.2008

On 1 August, Denmark will get a new Department of Agriculture and Ecology. The Department will be established at the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen and help secure Denmark’s leading position in sustainable agricultural production, both as regards research, education and innovation. The Department will be headed by the reputable professor Svend Christensen, who is at present Head of Department at University of Southern Denmark.

The new Department will be characterised by a very strong professional environment as it will strengthen cooperation and coordination between researchers who have previously been attached to different departments. The Department will thereby be able to create new knowledge and new solutions to today’s environmental problems as well as to sustainable food production in the future.

- The scientific profile and size of the Department will enable us to meet new challenges within the field of basic research while at the same time helping to provide practical solutions to some of the social problems we are facing today such as the steadily increasing demand for food and biomass, says Dean at the Faculty of Life Sciences, Per Holten-Andersen, who is very pleased that precisely Svend Christensen has undertaken to head the new Department.

- With Svend Christensen as the department head, we will have a combined department that has the potential to strengthen Denmark’s position as a leader in sustainable production of food and biomass, plants, environment and natural resources. Working together with the other departments at the Faculty of Life Sciences, the Department will, at the same time, contribute substantially to Denmark being able to continue to play a central role in this field internationally, says Per Holten-Andersen.

Background

The new Head of Department, Svend Christensen has taken an MSc in Agricultural Science and a PhD from the Faculty of Life Sciences (formerly the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University). For a number of years, he was employed with DJF, The Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, and he has been attached to the reputed life science university Wagenningen in the Netherlands. In recent years, he has worked as a professor and head of department at the Faculty of Engineering at University of Southern Denmark.

Svend Christensen is particularly recognised in the research and business communities for his research in and development of precision agriculture, ICT and robots that enhance environmentally friendly production systems. During his career, he has been actively engaged in the management of scientists as well as other staff in organisations undergoing great and significant changes.

Furthermore, Svend Christensen has taken a special interest in creating close contacts to the business community and to other universities in Denmark and abroad. Through the years, he has therefore helped set up several cross-disciplinary collaboration projects between research institutions and the business sector in Denmark.

Svend Christensen will make use of this extensive experience when involving all staff in the establishment of the new Department. At the same time, he will continue as a member of the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences and as chairman of the EU Commission working group on ICT and robotics in agriculture and related industries under SCAR.

Svend Christensen lives in Holbæk. He is married and has two children.

For more information, please contact Head of Communications Jacob Søby Bang at or tel. 35332171 / 26889733