Sabbaticals
Why not have a sabbatical?
The purpose of a sabbatical is to enrich and renew a university employee’s academic life by allowing them uninterrupted time to think and do research. According to its Biblical origins, the sabbatical, or Sabbath, is a break from work, or a rest, of a few months to up to a year. In many parts of the world, this originally religious idea has been transformed into a cherished academic tradition, a period of “rest” for a university academic, a relief from the everyday stresses of teaching, supervision and administration – and often, upholding its Biblical roots, every seventh year.
Two types of sabbaticals
Here at the Department of Biology, we encourage two types of sabbaticals – those of the more traditional type where the academic is relieved of their normal duties for a period of several months to a year in order to pursue academic research at a foreign university (so-called “external sabbaticals”), and short-term “internal sabbaticals” that involve academics swapping divisions within the department for 1 to 2 weeks.
In both cases, the goal of the sabbatical is to be given undisturbed time to think, learn new methods and techniques and make new contacts and friends. And it is not only the academic who benefits from the intellectual stimulation typical of a sabbatical. The department benefits too, via the new inspiration and creativity that returns with the academic at the conclusion of the sabbatical.
Unfortunately, we can only offer external sabbaticals to teachers but internal sabbaticals in one form or the other can probably be arranged for anybody working in the department. However, through Erasmus+ all employees have the opportunity to visit one of Lund University's partner universities in Europe. More information about this is at Lund University's Staff Pages.
Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. Leviticus 25: 3-4