Fredag d. 23. maj 2025 / Nørre Campus / Universitetsparken

Talks & Debate

TALK // Inclusion and exclusion when speaking English in Denmar

Kamilla Kraft, assistant professor and Dorte Lønsmann, associate professor – both at the Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies at UCPH.

English has become an everyday language in Denmark. People in Denmark encounter and use English every day, for work, on social media and with family and friends. English provides access to a multitude of information and opportunities, e.g. working in Denmark without speaking Danish. But English may also exclude one in the workplace and from social networks. 

In this talk Kamilla Kraft and Dorte Lønsmann discuss this paradoxical status of English in Denmark, focusing especially on English at work – and ask the audience to share their experiences with English as an everyday language.


This talk is in English

TALK // When women entered the university

Anne Bernth Jensen, curator at Medical Museion.

150 years ago, Nielsine Nielsen stepped into the auditorium at Medical Museion. This was the location of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Copenhagen. She became Denmark’s first female academic and doctor and paved the way for women’s access to higher education.

In this lecture, curator Anne Bernth Jensen unfolds the story of the first and most significant female doctors and researchers who had their daily routine at the museum, when it was a university. Today, the Medical Museion is still part of the University of Copenhagen. The museum has one of Europe’s largest collections of medical objects and creates exhibitions and events about body and mind, health and illness throughout time. Through science, art, and history, the museum builds bridges to the latest research.

Photo: Vibe Juul Sannig


This talk is in Danish

TALK // Danish trans literature

Mons Bissenbakker, lector and head of the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Diversity.

Transgender people have always been a part of Danish literary history. Yet, the 2020s have marked a new breakthrough, because trans experiences are appearing in fiction in new ways. Especially because trans- and nonbinary people have begun to write themselves. What is it that the new trans literature puts into words and challenges?

Through reflections on Danish literature, this talk discusses the differences between cis and trans ways of describing transition experiences.

Reading by author Freja Ro
Freja Ro (she/they) works with excavations in the collective consciousness. Her first book “vokser det udtørrede krat også i dig eller hvorfor stirrer du så strid” is an autofictional poetic work that explores the violence of masculinity, branching through time from the earliest memories of childhood to the adult self’s defection from the category of man.

The grief over ongoing alienation is interwoven with a psychoanalyst’s pointed remark and the pedagogical colleagues’ systematic upbringing of girls and boys.

The texts move across identities, and through rituals, grief and anger are transformed—with the help of seashells and crab claws, some of the pain is healed.

Photo: Valdemar Ren

 

This talk is in Danish

TALK // Equality and desire

Annamaria Giraldi is Denmark’s first female professor in sexology. She is a senior physician at the Sexological Klinik, where she helps people with reduced sexual desire.

Women in heterosexual relationships have fewer orgasms, while men in homosexual relationships have the most.

In research, women’s sexuality has been overshadowed by men’s – the size of the clitoris was only properly mapped in 1998 and the number of nerve fibers in the organ only in 2022. Perhaps because women’s sexuality has historically been associated with reproduction and not pleasure. At the same time, women’s desire has been the subject of many opinions – a woman can easily be either too little or too much.

At the UPCH Festival, Professor Annamaria Giraldi explores the biological and cultural differences that help shape our desire and sexuality, and which factors can help either promote or inhibit desire. Perhaps sexual equality cannot be measured in the number of orgasms, but what then? And can we even help each other to reach our desire?

Do you have any questions for the professor? Due to the intimate nature of the topic, there will be an opportunity to ask questions anonymously at this talk.

 

This talk is in Danish

TALKS // 2 x STudents projects

Join us for an informative talk where students who have received support from the Green Solutions Centre will talk about their projects and the opportunities that funding has given them. The projects are:

1. Coffee Livelihoods and Climate Change Vulnerability
Master of Science (MSc) in Global Development student Emma Eline Flarup W. A. ​​Munch will present how her study integrates quantitative and qualitative research methods to assess livelihood vulnerability among coffee farmers in Son La province in Vietnam. By examining the vulnerability of coffee farmers in Son La, Emma’s study will provide valuable insights that can serve as a basis for developing climate-resilient agricultural practices and livelihoods.

2. Fast Ride: Exploring the Urban Experiences of Food Delivery Workers in Copenhagen
Master of Science (MSc) in Global Development student Agustin Andres Müller will present how his study explores the urban experiences of food delivery workers in Copenhagen, focusing on their interactions with bicycles, cycle paths and other related urban infrastructure. Agustin’s project aims to contribute to a green and just transition by ensuring that green infrastructure, such as bike paths and urban facilities, is both
functional and inclusive.

We will be joined by GSC Living Lab Manager Mette Frimodt-Møller, who can answer questions about opportunities for student financing at GSC.

This talk is in English

TALK // Gender and academic career

Margaretha Järvinen, professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen and professor Nanna Mik-Meyer from CBS.

What does gender mean for your academic career? What has value and is rewarded in academia? What are “gaming strategies”? And how are they used to promote academic careers? Why doesn’t teaching and administration promote your research career? And what are the consequences of the way universities reward?

Hear more about all this when Margaretha Järvinen and Nanna Mik-Meyer visit the KU Festival and talk about their research on the subject based on their book “Gender and career in academia – behind the facade”.

 

This talk is in Danish

DEBATE // Who should the future UCPH student be?

The celebration of the 150th anniversary of women at UCPH provides an opportunity to look at what it is like to attend UCPH today, and not least to focus on who should be admitted in the future.

The Student Council will therefore ask key people at UCPH how gender, class and ethnicity are still a barrier to who gets into the university, and how we can create a more inclusive university today. We will do this by incorporating research, experiences from UCPH today and with UCPH’s leadership we will curiously investigate what should be done for the UCPH of the future.

The panel includes:

  • Anja C. Andersen, Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Science
  • Simone Mejding Poulsen, Ph.D. Fellow
  • Sakinah-Michelle Ahmed, Political Science student and member of the Student Council’s board
  • Kristian Cedervall Lauta, Prorector for Education

The discussion will be moderated by Anton Stubbe Teglbjærg, Chairperson of the Student Council.

 

This talk is in Danish

TALK // Climate action at KU

Intro to KU One Planet Climate Council
v. Dekan Bo Jellesmark Thorsen

Celebration of UCPH sustainability efforts

  • Sustainable travel practice award show
  • Humongous free sustainable cake for all

Free cake!

This talk is in English

TALK // Is climate change a generational thing… or even a fight?

On one hand, climate change is something affecting all of us. On the other, it has largely become a generational issue. We organize ourselves in generations – the Green Youth Movement or the Grandparents’ Climate Action. Surveys are made with an eye to the generational aspects, asking if it is the younger or the elderly of us who are mostly worried, feel mostly responsible for global warming, or want to change way-of-living the most?

We ask different generations how they see climate change as something separating or uniting the generations. How big is the risk of drifting apart? Or is it a chance to unite? And if so, how do we do that, starting with UCPH?

  • Susanne Ditlevsen, Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences
  • Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, UCPH board member, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Netcompany
  • Signe Berner, UCPH board member, the Student Union

This talk is in English

TALK // Birth control pills and depression

A woman’s life consists of many hormonal rollercoasters: puberty, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause—and not least, the monthly companion, menstruation. We know that hormonal fluctuations are linked to a higher risk of developing depression—and that women are more often affected by depression than men.

Around 300,000 women in Denmark turn off the body’s natural ups and downs by taking birth control pills. Some women respond positively, but others experience that the pill kills both their motivation to take on new tasks and their sex drive (yes, quite the form of contraception!). At the same time, women’s reproductive rights are under intense pressure globally, and there is a need for access to safe contraception for all couples.

Vibe Gedsø Frøkjær is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Copenhagen and a chief physician at the Psychiatric Center Copenhagen. At KU Festival, she will share insights into the hormonal landscape of women and why it is crucial to understand its nuances in order to refine treatment and counseling for women and couples.

photo: Markus Redvall

This talk is in Danish

TALK // How do we close the pay gap?

Children cost women the most. Danish women in heterosexual relationships lose an average of 10 percent of the expected salary development for each child. If you, as a woman, have two children with a man, you will typically earn 20 percent less than him. Research suggests that the same does not apply to women who have children in homosexual relationships. 

But unequal pay also exists when there are no children involved. A study of economics graduates with comparable experiences and grade point averages shows that female graduates earn less than male graduates. And another study suggests that men often evaluate men more positively than women – which can also have an impact on promotions and salary levels.

At the KU Festival, Dean of SAMF Vibeke Koushede explores the pay gap between men and women and focuses on how the trend manifests itself at the university as a workplace, as well as what we as a society and institution can do to promote equal pay. She does this together with

  • Jakob Egholt Søgaard, economist and researcher in, among other things, income inequality and gender differences.
  • Nadja Eifler, PhD student in economics and is concerned with gender differences within education, vulnerable young people, health and aging.

Photo Vibeke Koushede: Les Kaner

This talk is in English

TALK // Dammit  (该死的, اللعنة, Блин…) – learn to swear properly in multiple languages

Is it time to expand your swear word repertoire? Do you want to learn to swear properly, so you know the difference between delivering a well-formed insult and just swearing? Then join us when language teachers and researchers from the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies invite you to a language challenge at the UPCH Festival. Learn the most important swear words in Russian, Arabic, Korean, and Chinese, and understand the difference between understanding what is being said, and what is meant!

On stage you can experience Head of Department Annika Hvithamar, Associate Professor Mads Eskildsen (Russian), Associate Professor Hyun Joo Choi (Korean), Associate Professor Karin Jakobsen (Korean), Associate Professor Mikkel Bunkenborg (Chinese) and Associate Professor Ulla Prien (Arabic)

This talk is in Danish (and a little Russian. Korean, Chinese, and Arabic)

Panel // Decolonising knowledge – Who gets to produce, own, and share knowledge?

Natacha Klein Kafer, Maansi Parpiani, Thibault Adrien Capelle, Anja Simonsen. Moderated by Kavishya Umendri Kulatunga and Fernando Racimo.  

Universities have been a part of colonisation processes, and the University of Copenhagen is no exception.

Who is holding knowledge and power in the university? What kind of knowledge is produced within its walls? How do we decolonise the university? What does it even mean to decolonise, and how is the university complicit in past and present colonial projects? How can academic actors including researchers, staff, students and social movements help transform the university into an institution that works towards redressing and dismantling these ongoing injustices?

This panel will delve into the numerous challenging and uncomfortable questions that arise when discussing the ‘decolonial university’.

This talk is in English

Panel // Renovation with Roots – Preservation and Reuse at the University of Copenhagen

KU Bygninger

How do you reuse 100-year-old bricks in modern construction – and save CO₂ at the same time? Get behind the facade of the renovation of the Gardener’s Residence and the Medical Clinic at the University of Copenhagen. Project manager Lone Andersen and special consultant Louise Haugsted Kongsted will take you on a concrete and inspiring journey into sustainable construction,  where heritage buildings are transformed with respect for both history and the future.

  • Reuse of building materials
  • Preservation of cultural heritage
  • LCA calculations and CO₂ reduction in practice
  • Diversity among suppliers and craftsmen

A must for anyone interested in green transition, construction, and ground-level ESG strategies!

This talk is in Danish

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