Mikkel K. Kragh steps down as Head of Department
Mikkel K. Kragh, Head of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, has decided to return to a career in the private sector. On 1 November, he will take up a position as Associate Director at the Danish office of the engineering and design firm Arup.
"I want to return to practice and use my engineering expertise to create impact through building projects," he says.
Over the past year and a half, Mikkel K. Kragh has played a key role in securing a historic ten-year grant from the Villum Foundation for the department. With the grant now successfully in place, he feels this is a good time to step down as Head of Department.
"I’m proud that we’ve established a strong agenda within regenerative building and secured funding that will shape the department for the next decade," he says.
Mikkel K. Kragh has led the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering since its formation nearly five years ago, leaving behind a consolidated department. The department’s development has focused strategically on education, green transition, and digitalisation in the construction sector—efforts that, among other things, led to the founding of the Aarhus Centre for Regenerative Building.
"I wish Mikkel the best of luck at Arup. He has shown himself to be a highly visionary person—both in his ideas about regenerative building and in his visions for the engineering field at Katrinebjerg, which the department will become part of in a few years," says Dean Eskild Holm Nielsen.
Mikkel K. Kragh’s last working day will be 11 October, after which he will take vacation for the remainder of his employment period. During the recruitment process for a new Head of Department, Deputy Head Søren Wandahl will serve as Acting Head.