Who do we represent?
In contrast to many sections representing engineers, the Student Council of Biology (BÄR) does not 'only' represent a single university program. Everyone who studies a course at the Biology Education Centre (IBG) can be a member in BÄR, which includes bachelor students in biology/molecular biology, teacher students who study biology, masterstudents at IBG, and exchange students. However, the majority of BÄR:s members are bachelor or masterstudents.
P.S: Are the abbreviations and lingo confusing? Scroll to the end of this page to find a wordlist over the most important abbreviations and words to understand BÄR:s work.
Why do we exist?
As a part of the Uppsala Union of Engineering and Science Students (UTN), the most important responsibilities of BÄR are:
- Maintaining student-educational interests. For BÄR this most often works by regular meetings between student representatives in each course, and study counselors.
- Social events. Examples of this is the reception for new students, wedneysday beer, gasques, and much more.
- Working life connection in the education. This is mainly done by IBG and UTN at the moment, but BÄR is working on improving our work within working life connection.
These are the main pillars of UTN, and therefore also BÄR.
How does BÄR work?
BÄR is a section association within Uppsala Union of Engineering and Science Students, a union which consists of multiple different sections. There is a difference between section and section association which can be quite confusing. BÄR is a section association within UTN which represents the section BIO (abbreviation for Swedish translation of "science student in biology"). For the most part, only the term section is used, including by board members and on this website. What is important to know is just that in protocols and documents from UTN they usually mention BIO, not BÄR, but they are practically the same. For instance, if it in a protocol says that the president of BIO was present during a meeting, this means that the president of BÄR was there since it is the same role.
BÄR was founded in 1973 and has around 200 members. The section has many elected representatives who all work to make sure that BÄR works. All elected representatives are elected by the members at a yearly meeting in December, and their term starts at the turn of the year. Obviously, all elected representatives are important for the section, but below is a short rundown of the most central parts of BÄR.
The board
The board is ultimately responsible for the associations' ongoing operations. It consists of eight different people:
- President
- Vice president
- Treasurer
- Secretary
- Representative for study welfare
- Responsible for education
- Board member
- Responsible for information
If you want to find out who are elected in the board right now or contact any of us, click here; and if you want to know more about what the people on the board do, click here. The main responsibility of the board is to make sure that the section is doing what it is supposed to, and that its members can voice their opinions and concerns. Everyone with an elected position in BÄR work according to the section's statues, which you can find in the document archive. They are not currently fully translated to English, but will be before too long.
BIF and Darwin
BIF is the athletic association of BÄR, and Darwin are the event responsible. BIF consists of a president, a vice president, and a responsible for recreational activities. BÄR has two event responsible: sir/madam Darwin who is the main event manager, and the Darwin finch who aids the event manager. You can read more about BIF here, and Darwin here.
The kiosk
BÄR has a kiosk in the section room at EBC, which is funded by BÄR and managed by the section's two kiosk responsible. In the kiosk, students can find various foods, snacks, drinks, and patches for the overalls. The kiosk has an Instagram which you can find here.
Word list
- BÄR - Short for Biologiska Ämnesrådet. BÄR is an association for students of biology at Uppsala University founded in 1973. It is also a section association within UTN which represents the section BIO.
- BIO - A section in UTN whose members study biology on a master- or bachelor level, as well as master students in applied biotechnology. BIO is represented by BÄR.
- UTN - Uppsala union of engineering- and science students. A student union for students at the TekNat-faculty. Founded in 1956, it makes up a third of Uppsala university.
- Section - Everyone who is a member of UTN are divided into sections.
- Section association - An association which has agreed to represent a section in UTN and has been accepted by UTN's Union council.
- IBG - Biology Education Centre. Read more about IBG here.
