The Nomination Committee has now published their nominations for the upcoming elections. Now the period to send in counter candidatures is open, which is done by sending an email with information about what position you are candidating for and a motivation, to valb-ordf@luna.lu.se. Send in counter candidatures on the 11th of April at the latest.

More information about the nominations and the elections can be found on the Elections 2022 page here on the website. Here are the nominees:

Presidium: Gloria Kowal Johnson

Operational Auditor: Ida Lunga

Education Committee Chairperson: Margot Knapen

Environmental Committee Chairperson: Jaques Atkinson

Party Committee Chairperson: Federica Calafiore

Sports Committee Chairperson: David Linfeldt

Environmental Committee Member: Sofia Bjarheim

Party Committee Member: Benjamin van Dijk

Sports Committee Member: Saleh Moradi

Yesterday, the board convened for its 14th meeting. The first matter regarded the work with the future masters programs in computational science and applied computational science. The board reviewed a report from the student representative in the internal working group at the Faculty, and discussed how we think the work is going. Then, the board decided to extend the role of the external student reviewer, Rebecca Svensson, to also include reviewing the program in applied computational science, which has been added after she was elected to the position.

The next matter was a discussion about the union’s insurance and pension agreements. The vice president had written a report about the contents of these agreements, and the board discussed whether these agreements were in line with the union’s needs. It was concluded that some aspects should be looked into further to see if the agreements could be better adapted to our organisation.

After a break, the board discussed the proposed changes to the Faculty rules of procedure, that determine how the dean, pro dean and vice deans are elected every three years. The board discussed the pros and cons of the suggested changes, and concluded that the changes could mean a stronger student influence in the process if done right. This means that the union will take a positive stance towards these changes.

The final matter was an evaluation of the LUNA fair that was arranged in the past few weeks. The board thought that the concept was good, but also discussed how it could be improved for the future to get a better outreach.

As a miscellaneous matter, the lack of candidates to the full-time positions for next year was mentioned (please apply <3). The next board meeting will be held on the 11th of April at 17:15.

The 3rd Parliament (RK) meeting took place on the 23rd of March. The matters on the agenda were few but important. First, the members of RK were presented a draft of the budget for the next operational year, 2022/23. RK asked some questions and had some feedback, but were generally satisfied with the draft.

Next, RK discussed the operational plan for 2022/23. This was a long discussion with plenty of input, regarding among other things digital education and accessability. While RK was mostly positive to the board’s draft, a new focus matter was added to work with student-teacher relations, in particular teacher availability and office hours.

Lastly, the parliament discussed the union’s answer to the Science Village Consultation Document. For example, the representatives discussed the situation for the students who get left behind on Sölvegatan, and the integration between research and education there. The board will continue to work with the document, and approve of the final version before the deadline.

The next parliament meetings will be the elective meetings on the 19th and 20th of April.

On the 14th of March, or π day, the board of 2021/22 held its 13th meeting. After some lengthy reports, the first matter on the agenda was the budget for the next operational year. The economy working group had prepared some suggested changes which the board discussed, leading to a draft that will be presented to parliament.

Next, the board discussed the potential of SNaK, a network for student unions representing science students all over Sweden. The vice president will be going to a meeting with the network this week, and wanted to anchor with the board what LUNA wants to achieve with its participation in the network.

After a matter had been postponed to allow for more preparation, the final discussion regarded the upcoming election of the next LUS presidium and hearing of the candidates. The board discussed what LUNA seeks in a good candidate and what questions to ask at the hearing.

The next board meeting will be on the 29th of March.

Here comes a late report from the 12th board meeting that took place on the 2nd of March. After reports from the full-timers and working groups, the board discussed the Science Village consultation document that LUNA will write an answer to. It was decided that a temporary working group will be created to write a draft of the answer, anchor it with the relevant student councils and present it to RK for approval.

Next, the board was informed about the ongoing process to apply for renewal of LUNA’s status as a student union at the university. Then, the board discussed paying for a new train ticket for the vice president to go to a meeting in Stockholm with the SNaK network, a meeting with other student unions in Sweden who represent science students. It was decided that the train ticket was worth the cost so that LUNA can participate in the network meeting and investigate what benefit it can bring the union in the future.

The next board meeting will be held on the 14th of March.

Yesterday on the 23rd of February, the union parliament (RK) had its second meeting of the year. The meeting back in its physical form at the Astronomy building with lots of fika. Firstly, the union presidium reported to RK about their work. The next matter was the by-elections, where Gertrud Wrange was elected as the new Gender and Equality Committee spokesperson for the remainder of the semester!

Next, the RK representatives discussed the offered sponsorship of a social media post from Vattenfall. The question was whether it is acceptable or not to accept a sponsorship from this company when taking sustainability issues in to account. RK concluded that while the matter is complicated, such a sponsorship would be acceptable and could benefit the union if the offer was reasonable.

The next matter was a decision about the updates to the Guideline for Information Channels. RK thought that the changes made to the document since last time were satisfactory, and decided to approve of the updates. The guideline now inludes a section on the union’s canvas pages! Before the break, RK also approved of a board decision to elect the union president to a working group within the Faculty Education Board.

Finally, the RK started discussing what matters to include in the next operational plan for the operational year 2022/23.
The next RK meeting will be held on the 23rd of March.

On the 16th of February, the board convened for its 11th meeting. It had been some time since the last board meeting, due to the meeting on the 31st of January being cancelled. It was also the first board meeting in months held in person at Geocentrum, which was appreciated by the board members.

The first matter was an urgent election of a student representative to a working group within the Faculty Education Board that will investigate a certain aspect of the admissions process. Tindra Weichselbraun Alvander was elected to the position. Next, the board discussed the possibility of a company sponsoring a Facebook post advertising their career event. Due to the company being questionable from a sustainability standpoint, the board discussed whether it was appropriate to be sponsored by them in accordance with the Policy for Environmental Work. It was concluded that RK should also discuss the matter with some more background information.

After a break, the board started discussing the next Operational Plan. The discussion was focused on the general topics to include as focus matters and monitoring matters. The result was a discussion basis with some suggestions to be sent to the next RK meeting. As a final matter, the board had a discussion about what the union’s delegation to the SFS Council (SFSFUM) should focus on when preparing for the Council in May. As miscellaneous matters, the board briefly discussed the upcoming election period and also what balls to go to.

The next board meeting will be held on 2nd of March.

The board has by a per capsulam decision decided to extend the previously established corona restrictions and recommendations until the 18th of February. This means that the fulltimers will primarily work from home and the office will remain closed. The board will hold its meetings digitally, and other union bodies are recommended to do the same. All union operations should be adapted to follow the Public Health Agency’s rules and recommendations. Hopefully we will be back at the office and in physical meetings soon!

On the 17th of January, the board held its 10th meeting on Zoom. The board first reviewed the report of the novisch period 2021 made by the Mentor Committee. The novisch period was very successful and appreciated by novisches and mentors alike, but as always there are some lessons to make future novisch periods even better. The board noted that the LUNA fair could be improved to get more people involved in the union at the start of the year, and that the board has an important role to play in this.

The next matter was revisiting the union’s measures to handle the covid situation. The board concluded that not much had changed since the last decision was made, and that the decision to extend or change the internal rules will be made per-capsulam on a later date. There was also a discussion on what the union’s stance towards hybrid examinations should be, and the board was mostly positive towards the concept.

Then, the board discussed the SFS 100 year jubilee ball, and whether the union could fund the travel costs of the board and SFS delegation members going there in March. It was decided that the matter should be left to Parliament since several board members hold a personal bias in the matter. After this discussion and a break, the board created a working group to manage the Honorary and Pedagogical Prizes of the union, to which the nomination period will soon open.

Finally, the board decided that Tindra and Tanvir will join Ida in the working group for writing the next operational plan, and that its work should start soon. The board then briefly discussed the upcoming RK meeting documents, the anchoring working group’s future and how to take care of the Gender and Equality Committee, whose spokesperson has stepped down from their position.

The next board meeting will take place on the 31st of January at 17:15.

Happy new year and god fortsättning! On the 7th of January, the board convened for the first time in 2022. The majority of the meeting was spent going through the operational plan and the progress that has been made. The board noted what remains to be done, who should be responsible and what to prioritize in case time grows short. The progress on the operational plan as well as the status of the budget will be reported to the parliament in its next meeting.

The only other matter on the agenda was discussing the current covid situation and how the union should adapt. The president gave a summary of what’s going on at the university. The board then decided to temporarily make the union’s operations digital, until January 31st. The situation will be reviewed again later in January, and the board hopes we can go back to normal as soon as possible!