Incoming Arts dean: "It’s a very, very important job to be the dean of Arts right now"

Horst opened the front door of her apartment building.

“My husband did say that the buzzer wasn’t working. Of course, I didn’t believe him...” she said with a smile.

I followed the incoming dean of the Faculty of Arts back up the stairs to her fourth-floor apartment on Amager. There’s no sign that she will be starting a new job in Aarhus in a week’s time. There aren’t any suitcases or moving boxes to be seen.

“My husband works at CBS, so what we’ve decided to do is find an apartment for me in Aarhus where I’ll stay during the week, and we’ll spend weekends here together, at least for the time being,” she explained.

With the exception of the IT University, Horst has either studied or worked at virtually every other university on Zealand. She earned a Master’s degree in sociology and communication from Roskilde University and a PhD in the sociology of knowledge from Copenhagen Business School. From 2011 to 2019, she served as head of the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at the University of Copenhagen, where she was also a professor of research communication. Then she moved on to DTU, where she has been a professor of responsible technology until accepting the position of dean at AU. So now she’s taking the leap to the other side of the Great Belt. She said:

“For quite some time, I’ve been thinking that if I were to work somewhere else, I would really love to work at Aarhus University. I really like the university, I think the city’s fantastic, and I like the leadership and organisational culture in Aarhus. And Arts is a fantastic faculty that’s very strong and broad. So when I saw the job ad, I thought: ‘I have to apply!’”

She looked out of the window as she spoke. But then turned to face me across the table.

With my background, having experience from many universities and several university policy forums, I’m also at a place in my career where I believe that I will be able to make a difference and contribute something in precisely this job.

With my background, having experience from many universities and several university policy forums, I’m also at a place in my career where I believe that I will be able to make a difference and contribute something in precisely this job.”

Horst served on the Danish Research and Innovation Policy Council under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science for six years, and for the past three years served on the board of the Independent Research Fund Denmark, and has chaired the board for the past two years. A position she will now step down from.

“I’m sad about stopping, both as chair and as professor – but the position of dean combines my research experience, my leadership experience and my experience from research policy committees, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

An important job

Horst was actually in the process of applying for funding for a new research project, but she’s put that on hold; after serving as chair of the Danish Council for Independent Research on top of a full-time professorship, she’s now looking forward to focusing on one job. And even though she’s passionate about her research – her eyes light up whenever she speaks about it – she’s also certain that putting it on the shelf for now is the right decision:

“If I start really missing it, I can always try to make a little time for it on Saturdays.” she said jokingly, before adding in a more serious vein:

“I feel fine about it, because I don’t feel like this is a definitive goodbye. I’ve downscaled my research for a while and then returned to full time, so presumably, I can do that again. But right now I’m taking an active decision to do something other than research because it’s important. It’s a very, very important job to be the dean of Arts right now.”

Arts isn’t in crisis – but it’s under pressure

As Horst explained, this is because a lot of changes have taken place at the faculty (and in the humanities in general) as a consequence of political reforms involving budget cuts, on top of which some humanities disciplines have been the target of intense political criticism and controversy. And she believes that it’s important to understand that if the trend we’ve seen over the past eight to ten years continues, knowledge will be lost that we’ll have a hard time doing without.

The knowledge generated at the Faculty of Arts and within the humanities is necessary in relation the crises we are currently facing as a society.

“It’s not correct that the area [the humanities, ed.] is in crisis, because it’s an extremely strong field. But Arts is subject to a variety of pressures, particularly external ones. At the same time, this is an area with a lot of potential, because the knowledge produced at Arts and within the humanities is necessary in relation to the crises we are currently facing as a society,” Horst said.

Take the green transition, she said:

“Economic knowledge isn’t enough on its own. We also need to know what motivates people to take action. What can make people believe that we can create a better future together. What creates the cohesion that’s necessary for society to make the transition.”

She went on,speaking with increasing urgency:

“And take the current international security policy situation. Who knows something about what creates meaning? What narratives drive both war and peace? Well, that’s the humanities in a broad sense. And then there’s new technology. How are we going to grapple with artificial intelligence?”

If you’re thinking that Horst is only referring to the humanities disciplines she herself represents – technology comprehension, media and communication - you’re wrong.

“There aren’t just a few selected disciplines that are relevant at Arts; the entire range of disciplines is necessary to our preparedness,” she said.

“I think it’s quite obvious that there will be a need for us in the future.

When it comes to addressing the mental health crisis among our children and young people, clearly, thescience of education is absolutely central. And take a discipline like dramaturgy, and then think about staging – it takes place throughout our society. The same goes for interpretation and interpretive translation, which of course have a long tradition in a variety of humanities disciplines. The importance of narrative is an omnipresent theme. Area studies and understanding cultures remains important. And as artificial intelligence gains ground, it will also become important to understand what is uniquely human. And that’s precisely what we learn at Arts, in all of its variety. “I think it’s quite obvious that there will be a need for us in the future.”

But the message needs to be clearer, Horst believes:

“And we can’t just talk about it: we have to show it. Bring humanistic knowledge into play in a positive way. This is already happening, but it could be clearer.”

This narrative must be shaped in collaboration with the faculty’s staff and students, she stressed. Horst has deep respect for the work that has been done at the faculty thus far in relation to dealing with the press, reforms and cutbacks. As an outsider, she thinks the plans that have been made are sensible – and as things look now, she doesn’t plan on making drastic changes.

She hopes that Arts is entering a more tranquil period. But she also acknowledges that it’s too early to breathe a sigh of relief, with the government’s reform of Master’s degree programmes on the horizon. So her goal is to counter any coming storms by building a bulwark of well-being and zest for work and study among staff and students.

My core task is to fan the flame of what makes us want to conduct research and teach.

“My core task is to fan the flame of what makes us want to conduct research and teach. What makes the faces of staff and students light up. That’s what we really need to defend,” she said.

Fascinated by controversy

When asked what makes her own eyes light up as a researcher, she said:

“Understanding controversy. Specifically controversies about new technology, especially biotechnology. What I think is fascinating is: Why do we disagree so strongly about new technology? Well, it’s because our attitudes are linked to our fundamental narratives about ourselves, our role in society, our identity – who we are and who we are not. It’s exciting, because it’s fundamentally about understanding what keeps society together – in other words, cohesion.”

It’s exciting, because it’s fundamentally about understanding what keeps society together – in other words, cohesion.

She became interested in these questions very early in her career: in 1996, when she wrote her Master’s thesis on fetal diagnostics. She based her paper on a report from the 70s, which recommended screening for Down’s syndrome on background of an economic analysis of cost to society.

In the 90s, that seemed really strange and unethical, because the Danish Ethics Council had been established in the 80s, and national guidelines around the autonomy of expectant parents had been drafted. That shift in the rationalization for a technology was exciting, I thought. And then I went on to study controversy around cloning, test-tube babies and gene therapy,” Horst said. And according to Horst, there are parallels with contemporary controversy around sustainable energy, energy security and food production:  

“There will be lots of questions of this kind – where are we going to put the wind turbines? In the future, our energy consumption will be regulated in relation to when electricity is produced – but will consumers put up with that? Are we willing to eat protein from insects? It’s about how we implement new technology in a way that allows us to keep our society from disintegrating.”

“When I look at a country like the United States, where people can no longer talk to each other, I get really scared. I worry about how we can continue to have a cohesive society despite our disagreements.”

Five quick questions for Maja Horst

The last time something really got my goat was: “After I mopped the bathroom floor in our summer house in the country and my husband stomped across it in his big boots. But I was only mad for 20 seconds.”

I can't imagine anything better than when I: “I can think of two things: One is a meeting where everyone contributes, and we find a new solution together. The other is after I mow the law with the riding mower and sit next to our fire pit in the evening at our summer house, with a bonfire and a glass of wine.”

I’m spending my summer vacation in: England and Scotland, where we’re going to visit family and friends. My husband is from England and has three children who live over there. And so I have eight step-grandkids in England. We’re going to a festival with our kids and grandkids in the south of England for families.”

My favorite app: I have a love-hate relationship with Duolingo. I’m trying to practice my German. I’ve been a visiting professor in Munich, but the problem is that everyone is so international that it’s very difficult to get a chance to practice your German. So now I have Duolingo, and it’s brilliant. But it’s also irritating, because every day it reminds me that I have to practice. Otherwise, I like my weather app – partly because I used to bike to work, and so then you’re very interested in whether it’s going to rain. And partly because I’d like a little rain for the fruit trees we just planted.”

Very few people know that I: “Have a Sunderland football scarf and go to matches on a regular basis when they’re playing. I married into a relationship to the club, but I also think that football as a culture is super interesting and fun. When I watch Sunderland lose 5-1, I’m really crushed. The Sunderland football stadium is on top of the last large mine to be closed, and in this sense the club symbolizes the decay of north-eastern England caused by deindustrialiszation. Now we'll have to see if I'm also going to have a relation to AGF; I don't have a Danish football club at the moment."