The department mission is to; To carry out research within our core research fields at a high international level and become one of the leading departments in Denmark within our field. The implementation of this objective is operationalised through a number of specific sub objectives:
- Create the necessary framework of an attractive research environment with international interaction
This is done by encouraging both formal and informal interaction between all researchers in the Department and a call on all researchers to participate in research and other networks as well as in exchange programmes with other Universities
- Concentrate on strategic and applied research
The strategic research is carried out within areas which are expected to be of considerable importance both internationally and nationally and which are aiming at making it possible to acquire the necessary knowledge within the area. The strategic research focuses on underlying causal connections, on the agents’ behaviour and in that way on the possibilities of influencing a future progress in a suitable way. The applied research aims at creating new knowledge which can contribute to the solution of specific problems. The strategic and the applied research complement each other. The strategic research effort depends on the applied research being of the necessary quality in the long term just as the applied research gives inspiration and empirical input to the strategic research. It is important to analyse the relevant research areas and to focus on the real social problems both in the short and long term.
- Continue to attract large external research funding
An important parameter for the universities is the acquisition of external research means. As the Department has this expertise it is only natural to continue to exploit this opportunity. An additional advantage is that externally funded projects may help in securing the connection between the strategic and applied research - International cooperation
Especially the economists at the department have an extensive international research cooperation, mostly through our international project portfolio. These projects result in a comprehensive empirical and theoretical built up of knowledge which again increases the research opportunities. This international cooperation further benefits our Ph.D. student’s possibility for stays at relevant foreign universities.