Different ways to measure and reward academic success

Laura Jussen and Michael Wise on the change that the Recognition and Rewards programme is to bring about within NWO-I

A scientist’s success is generally measured in terms of a strong record of publications, citations and funding raised. If you have that, your career will usually proceed smoothly. But what does your future hold if you have a feel and talent for teaching, or play a supportive role in research, and don’t want to go down the traditional path? With the Recognition and Rewards (R&R) project, NWO-I is taking steps towards a new balance in how scientists are recognised and rewarded. A committee led by Laura Jussen (policy officer at the NWO-I office) and Michael Wise (director of SRON) has developed a vision with concrete recommendations that was embraced by the Directors Consultation (DC) on 13 October. Wise: ‘This cultural shift will benefit everyone.’

Henk Tamsma is the new Head of P&O at NWO-I

Achieving more with and for each other

The management team of NWO-I has appointed Henk Tamsma as head of P&O at NWO-I. In this role, he will work closely together with the P&O managers of the NWO Institutes and lead the team of P&O colleagues at the NWO-I office. Henk will start in his new position on 15 November 2022.

Highlight NIOZ: using eyes in the sky to locate seals and polar bears in a rapidly changing Arctic

Figuring out where different seal species reside in the difficult accessible polar regions is challenging. Researchers from NWO Institute NIOZ, WUR and Aeria visited the waters around Svalbard, Norway, to make high resolution drone images of different species of seals. After comparing these drone images with satellite images, algorithms can be developed to automate the detection of seals in satellite images. To the researchers’ surprise, these satellite images not only revealed the location of breathing holes, but also tracks of polar bears. These images are an extremely valuable conservation tool for Arctic marine mammals, who are highly dependent on sea ice, which is rapidly diminishing due to global warming.

Stijn Hoogervorst (CISO) about the importance of information security within NWO-I

Information security is becoming increasingly important within NWO-I. Proliferating external threats require a high-quality security of (sensitive) data. Stijn Hoogervorst has therefore been appointed as the new CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) at the NWO-I office. He will bring technical expertise to the NWO Institutes and also share his knowledge of legislation and how to translate this into practice. Stijn guides the editors of Inside NWO-I through the maze of challenges that he will tackle at NWO-I as its CISO.

NWO hangs out rainbow flag during Coming Out day

Column Léon Ouwerkerk: ‘Safe work environments don’t just happen, not even with smart people‘

On 11 October, Coming Out day was celebrated, a day that devotes attention to the moment that lesbian women, gay men, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI+) openly come out for her/his/their sexual orientation or gender identity. NWO/NWO-I celebrated Coming Out day by hanging out the rainbow flag on 11 October at the offices in Utrecht and The Hague and at all NWO Institutes. This year, Léon Ouwerkerk, P&O advisor at CWI and LGBTI+ coordinator for the entire of NWO and NWO-I, has once again written a personal column about Coming Out day.

Highlight AMOLF: regular patterns – like those found in nature – now also produced in the lab

In nature, you find regular patterns in all kinds of places, such as the stripes of zebras, the bands on shells or the wings of butterflies. These patterns often have interesting mechanical or optical properties. This inspired researchers from NWO Institute AMOLF to find a new method to produce similar materials. They developed a physical-chemical process that yields patterns of highly regular microstructures. This research offers the prospect of a relatively simple way to manufacture advanced, functional materials like new sensors and efficient batteries. Furthermore, it can help us to better understand the genesis of natural patterns.

News from the works councils

The group works council NWO-I (GOR NWO-I) has received requests for advice on the first five domains within the Development Operations NWO-I programme. Written questions have already been submitted and an analysis has been carried out with the local councils. Based on this analysis and responses to the questions, the GOR NWO-I expects to issue its advice in the second half of October. After completing these five advice trajectories, the GOR NWO-I expects to receive and process requests for advice from the other domains. The Central Works Council of NWO (COR NWO) expects the request for advice on the NWO-I governance change to be on the table soon. In addition, the COR NWO has recently published the 2021 annual report on the NWO-I website.

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
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info-nwoi@nwo-i.nl
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