Development Operations programme gains momentum

Last June, with the approval of the vision on operations by the Foundation Board, an important step was taken in the Development Operations NWO-I programme. As described in the Inside NWO-I edition of February 2022, the programme aims to strengthen the quality and increase the efficiency of the operations. The group works council NWO-I (GOR NWO-I) issued a positive advice about the vision, and has concluded agreements with the council about the further timetable and a flanking (supporting) social policy. The key points of the flanking social policy are: no compulsory redundancies, no compulsory change of the place of employment, the appointment of a supervisory committee and publishing vacancies internally first. The flanking social policy is mainly important for those aspects of the programme that have consequences for certain groups of employees (Personnel & Organisation, and Finances & Control).

Final Collective Labour Agreement 2022-2023

Collective labour agreement for 18 months with 6% salary increase

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The previous negotiators’ agreement for a new Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutions was converted into a final collective labour agreement on 21 July 2022 by the Employers’ Association for Research Institutes (WVOI) and the employees’ organisations FNV, CNV Onderwijs and AOb with 100% approval from their respective boards and members. The agreement applies from 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2023 and states that salaries will increase by 4% with effect from 1 August 2022. In addition, every employee employed on 1 August 2022 will receive a one-off gross payment of 1050 euros. This payment will be calculated in proportion to the scope of their contract. Salaries will increase by 2% as of 1 January 2023. Also, from 1 August 2022 onwards, all working parents are entitled to 9 weeks of (partially) paid parental leave under the new Paid Parental Leave Act (Wbo).

Wim van der Zande appointed interim director of ARCNL

Dr. Wim van der Zande (ASML) has been appointed as interim director of the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) as of October 1st, 2022. Until a permanent successor has been found, he succeeds prof. Joost Frenken who started as dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) at the University of Groningen on July 1st. Wim van der Zande knows ARCNL very well. He has been involved in the institute since shortly after the start of ARCNL in 2014, acting as a liaison between ASML and ARCNL. From 2019 onwards he has been ARCNL’s Source Department advisor. Currently, Van der Zande is Senior Manager NXE EUV at ASML.

Highlight Nikhef: tenth anniversary Higgs particle

‘It was a door that opened’

‘On 4 July, it was 10 years ago that the discovery of the Higgs particle was announced. Particle physics was briefly world news’, writes Stan Bentvelsen, the director of Nikhef, in the institute’s magazine DIMENSIES. The discovery of the Higgs particle in 2012 provided evidence that there is indeed a universal influence that gives particles mass. It enabled physicists to considerably advance our understanding of the universe. Nikhef has been involved in the hunt for the Higgs particle right from the start at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva. There the Dutch help to build the ATLAS detector and make an important contribution to analysing the measurement data. On the Nikhef website, you can find more information and interviews with several past and present Higgs particle hunters.

NWO-I launches “Toolbox Scientific Integrity”

Tools for conversations about acting with scientific integrity

NWO-I has published the “Toolbox Scientific Integrity” on the NWO-I website. It is an interactive PDF containing many ideas, tools and information to stimulate and support conversations, discussions and meetings about scientific integrity. The toolbox is intended for researchers, support staff, PhDs, management teams, boards and everyone else within NWO-I who wants to learn from and practise the five principles of research integrity: honesty, scrupulousness, transparency, independence and responsibility. The ultimate aim of this initiative is to maintain high standards for the quality and reliability of science. The Toolbox Scientific Integrity can be downloaded from the NWO-I website.

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NWO-I opts for The Carpentries, a hands-on teaching method that contributes to more Open Science

Credits: Shutterstock.com

NWO-I established the Digital Competence Center (DCC) in 2021 and appointed Reinder Radersma as Coordinator Data Stewardship at CWI. The DCC provides easily accessible advice, expertise and practical support to researchers at the NWO Institutes so that they can make their results, research data and software suitable for reuse in the context of Open Science. Recently, NWO-I became a member of The Carpentries, a non-profit organisation that helps set up foundational coding and data management workshops. Radersma is enthusiastic about what these workshops could offer NWO-I.

NWO announces new strategy for the period 2023-2026

‘Science works!’

Submitting an application to NWO has to become easier and less of a burden on researchers. The time it takes to process application procedures has to decrease. And the success rates in the open competition and the talent programme must be at least 25 percent. These are 3 of the 38 ambitions from the new NWO strategic plan 2023–2026. The new strategy “Science works!” was presented by NWO’s Executive Board president Marcel Levi to Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, on 6 July 2022.

Section ‘NWO celebrates…’ comes to an end: recap of a series of personal stories

In May 2021, we started with the section ‘NWO celebrates…’ in which, each month, personal stories were published about different (festive) days that are important for NWO colleagues. The stories appeared on both the NWO-I website and intranet Joost. It was a big success; each month, somebody from NWO-I or NWO-D shared something about a special day in the year. We therefore celebrated many different days, from Keti Koti to Father’s Day and from Chinese New Year to World Autism Awareness Day. And although we are rounding off this section now, that does not mean we will stop celebrating.

News from the works councils

Just before everybody left for their summer holidays, a change was made on the dossier Development Operations NWO-I: GOR NWO-I (group works council NWO-I) and the Executive Board representative agreed to discuss a separate request for advice for each point for improvement (domain). To prepare the responses to the first five requests for advice, GOR NWO-I will organise a work conference in September with delegations from the works councils of the institutes and the office. GOR NWO-I will receive the remaining four requests for advice in October. The Executive Board representative and GOR NWO-I will strive to complete the process before the Christmas holidays. COR NWO (Central Works Council of NWO) shared its vision about the possible options for the governance of NWO-I with the Executive Board representative.

Calendar

Weekend of Science: 1 & 2 October 2022

On Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October 2022, the doors of science will open once again! During the Weekend of Science, you can take a look, free of charge, behind the scenes of science and technology throughout the Netherlands. The weekend is suitable for (all) ages but is particularly fun from about 8 years old and over. Visitors will get a unique look behind the scenes and are allowed “backstage” of places usually closed to the public. The NWO Institutes AMOLF, ARCNL, ASTRON, CWI, Nikhef, NIOZ (location Yerseke) and SRON (Leiden and Groningen locations) will also welcome the public during the Weekend of Science.

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.

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