Inside NWO-I May 2021

New NWO chair Marcel Levi about directing an organisation with professionals

‘I’m like the conductor of a symphony orchestra’

With Marcel Levi, NWO has acquired a straightforward can-do mentality and somebody who strives for optimal harmony. ‘NWO can be compared to an orchestra full of musicians who play the violin, oboe, harp or another instrument sublimely. My task is to ensure that such an orchestra as a whole sounds more beautiful than the sum of its individual musicians.’

New Financial System NWO-I (U4ERP) live

The colossal job which resulted in a good system and considerable solidarity

Just imagine: merging six financial systems and twelve administrations within NWO-I and then doing part of that in unfamiliar circumstances due to the coronavirus. This colossal job was brought to a successful end by more than fifty colleagues from NWO-I, together with temporary external colleagues. This end proved to be a beginning as well: on 1 May, the New Financial System (NFS) of NWO-I, U4ERP, went live. About trepidation, all nine NWO Institutes in a single large virtual office and a different dynamic.

NWO-I strategic real estate adviser Maarten Kruizinga wants to be prepared for the future

‘Not looking away, but looking ahead’

Excellent accommodation that seamlessly fits the needs of researchers. In a nutshell, that is the work of Maarten Kruizinga, strategic real estate adviser at NWO-I. He started working in this new position at NWO-I three years ago. After all of the NWO Institutes had been brought under a single organisation, the need arose for a central real estate policy with an eye for the long term. Kruizinga is working on that now. He is trying to realise a clear overview and prepare for a future without annoying surprises.

ASTRON offers work opportunities via the Participation Act

‘Everyone who can work and wants to work is welcome’

The Participation Act (PA) provides for people who can work but cannot make it on the employment market without support. This law must ensure that more people find work, also people with a work disability. NWO Institute ASTRON located in Dwingeloo in the province of Drenthe is actively responding to this and has no less than five employees who fall under the PA. ‘Everyone who can work and wants to work is welcome at our institute. Most of all, they should be curious and be interested in working here’, says Diana Verweij, head of HR, Communication and Support at ASTRON.

2020 in retrospect: the coronavirus year at NWO

A year of working from home, facemasks and Zoom meetings

In December 2019, a new coronavirus broke out in the Chinese Wuhan region and spread worldwide. NWO and NWO-I tried to respond to the developments to their best abilities, and the health of its employees always took precedence. Inside NWO-I looks back at a turbulent coronavirus year and the consequences that the virus has had so far on the organisation and its employees: how do the institutes deal creatively with the (partial) closure of their buildings, which specific policy measures did P&O take, and how do employees view working from home? And, last but not least, how is NWO-I looking ahead during the second lockdown?

Highlight AMOLF: painting with semiconductor perovskite

Imagine that you could paint by allowing the canvas to change colour instead of smearing paint on it. Two research groups from NWO Institute AMOLF developed a reactive ink that responds to the equally reactive canvas. Perovskite is produced through an ion exchange. It is a new and highly promising semiconductor material for solar cells and LEDs, for example. With this material, a new way of producing these electronics has come within reach. The airbrushed image of chemist Marie Curie was produced from light-emitting perovskite.

News from the NWO Central Works Council

On Tuesday, 13 April, the NWO Central Works Council (COR NWO) met, and NWO Executive Board representative Caroline Visser attended part of the meeting. The most important points on the full agenda were the New Financial System (U4ERP), the further development of the operational management of NWO-I, the new guideline for (re)appointing an institute director, the NWO-I health and safety annual plan 2021, the hack at NWO and the revised co-determination structure.

Calendar

17 May 2021 - Webinar NWO-I about Scientific Integrity

How do you behave when you, as a researcher, are confronted by violation of scientific integrity? How do you make the right choices in your research, in terms of design, implementation, reporting, assessment, peer review and communication? What dilemma’s do you encounter? In the near future, NWO-I will pay a lot of attention to scientific integrity. To begin, in an interactive webinar by Prof Ralph Wijers (Anton Pannekoek Institute of Astronomy at UvA) on Monday 17 May, 13:30 - 15:00.

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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