Welcome, Marianne Jahre! New Dean of Research at KLU

A photo of Prof. Marianne Jahre.

This September, KLU is pleased to welcome Marianne Jahre as Professor of Operations Management and the new Dean of Research, succeeding Professor Maria Besiou in this role. Like her predecessor, Professor Jahre has a deep expertise in humanitarian logistics, with additional focus areas including medical supply chains, supply chain risks, and crisis management. In our interview, she shares her motivations for joining KLU, the inspiration behind her nearly 40-year journey in logistics research, and her key priorities as she steps into her role as Dean of Research.

How do you feel after your first weeks at KLU?

Marianne Jahre: I've had the most exciting work week for years. I was very happy. People are friendly, supportive and patient. So far, I really like it.

You not only started a new job but also just moved to Hamburg. What’s your impression so far?

Marianne Jahre: People are so nice. We brought our little dog and people seem to love dogs here. We haven't had time to see enough yet, obviously, but we've been walking around in a few areas. We’ve been to Ikea, of course, and done all those different things that you need to do when you are moving. Hamburg looks extremely promising.

Let’s talk a bit about your biography as a researcher. You are now, among others, focusing on humanitarian logistics. Do you remember when your fascination for logistics as a subject started?

Marianna Jahre: When I started at BI Norwegian Business School as a student, I wasn't really that interested in business. Some of the subjects didn't really speak to my heart – or my brain, for that matter. But in the second year, and this goes back to 1985, I had a professor in logistics. It was the first time I heard the term. And the way he presented it was just like, okay, this is my field. So, when the time came to start applying for jobs, I really wanted to start working in research and ended up doing a PhD in sustainable logistics, back in ’95.

How has logistics managed to keep you interested during all these years?

Marianne Jahre: The reason why logistics really speaks to me is: it has a holistic approach to business and society – seeing both the forest and the trees. I equal the term logistics with supply chain management. I like the way our thinking is meaningful in all aspects of a society – it goes way beyond the profits of an individual company. And I like its ‘physicality’ – you can actually see it. For example I have a view of the harbor in Hamburg from my veranda -  just seeing the world trade like that – it's amazing.

Starting as a student, you’ve been at Norwegian BI for almost 40 years. Why did you decide to change to KLU now?

Marianne Jahre: One year ago, I got an email from KLU and I immediately said to my husband: No way. We're not moving to Hamburg (laughs). But somehow, the thought grew on me. I am really into logistics and operations management. Being able to work on these subjects at KLU was very tempting for me. And KLU’s idea of leading with an  operations mindset totally speaks to me. Since I started working with logistics, I've always tried to convince everybody else that logistics is key. It is so important in so many different aspects of business and society. And then we have a university who's really convinced of this, too. In the end it was just too exciting. I simply had to take the job, or I would have regretted it for the rest of my life.

What are your top priorities as Dean of Research at KLU?

Marianne Jahre: A key activity will be to strengthen third party funding at KLU. One of the things I enjoy a lot is developing research proposals, wrapping up a research question or problem area so it fits with a funding opportunity andand puting good teams together and getting them to work kage. That’s something I can’t do alone, but where I need to motivate others to do their part as well. And, of course, I need to learn more about how research funding works in Germany.

Secondly, I will focus on research dissemination beyond scientific publications. KLU has an amazing publication record for the number of people and the number of years it has existed. We really need to demonstrate the societal relevance of the projects as well. Part of my task is to help and support translating research findings into messages that media wants to pick up, because we need to do that translation. As a university, we can't expect the media to do it. This will also help us to get third party funding.

What are your plans as a researcher yourself?

Marianne Jahre: I have a couple of things in the pipeline. For example, I have a research project on medicine supply chains that is about to be finished with according journal papers to finalize. I would like to continue working with medicine shortage and hope to engage colleagues here at KLU in new proposals. And I really do hope to be able to work together with Maria Besiou on humanitarian logistics. Then, as a new topic and research project, I would like to help defining what is an – KLU’s Operations Mindset.

Thank you very much for this interview.