A nightmare...

Cyberattack on NWO network cripples activities

It seemed to be a very normal weekend, with the Saturday paper and a walk, until the work telephone of the Director of Operations at NWO-I, Jan van der Boon, kept ringing. ‘I was one of the first people from NWO-I to be informed that NWO has been hacked, but it was not clear what and by whom. It was one of my worst nightmares, and I tried to imagine the impact on NWO-I. I spent the rest of the weekend in Zoom meetings.’

New Collective Labour Agreement 2021

Salary increase, paternity leave and bereavement leave are important subjects in the new Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutes 2021. The Employers’ Association Research Institutes (WVOI) and the trade unions FNV, CNV Overheid and AOb reached a final agreement about this on 24 March with the approval of the trade union members.

March salary payment, February salary slip and declarations

The cyber attack on the NWO network on 13 February also affected the salary administration of NWO-I. Fortunately, with the help of our payroll processor Raet, we have managed to pay the salaries for February 2021. At the beginning of March, the mutations were processed in retrospect. Your salary slip for February is, albeit in modified form, now available via NWO-I People. As a consequence of the hack, the NWO-I office had no access to travel costs and/or working from home declarations that were submitted after 5 February 2021. Did you submit a declaration between 5 and 15 February 2021? Then please resubmit this once more. Finally: the salary for March was transferred on 23 March. Should you have any questions, then please send an email to s-unit@nwo-i.nl or contact your P&O adviser.

Second new ship for national research fleet NIOZ

On 2 March 2021, the NWO-I Foundation Board approved the investment by NIOZ for the construction of RV (Research Vessel) Adriaen Coenen. This research and support vessel for the Wadden Sea will replace the current, outdated RV Stern. The new ship has an innovative design and will be built using advanced green technology and smart construction methods. “As sustainable as possible” is also an important goal for use: less CO₂ emissions, low energy consumption and less waste. The ship is named after Adriaen Coenen (1514 – 1587), a fishmonger and amateur fish researcher from Scheveningen. The delivery of RV Adriaen Coenen is expected to take place in spring 2022. The NWO-I Foundation Board already granted permission for the construction of RV Wim Wolff at an earlier stage.

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News from the NWO Central Works Council

The NWO Central Works Council (COR NWO) wants to thank all colleagues who ensured that everybody at NWO and NWO-I could resume work after the hack. Furthermore, COR NWO is organising elections in May because its period of office then comes to an end. COR NWO is looking for two candidates from the university workgroups (BUW); they will receive a contract extension for the time that they devote to their work for COR NWO. Finally, a new co-determination structure will be established with effect from May 2021 by creating a Group Works Council (GOR) to deal with subjects that only concern NWO-I.

About NWO-I

NWO-I, the Institutes Organisation of NWO, is an independent foundation belonging to NWO. The following nine institutes are part of NWO-I: AMOLF, ARCNL, ASTRON, CWI, DIFFER, Nikhef, NIOZ, NSCR and SRON. The 200-plus workgroups in which physics research takes place at Dutch universities and knowledge institutes are also part of NWO-I.

Contact

NWO-I
www.nwo-i.nl
info-nwoi@nwo-i.nl
(030) 600 12 11

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