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We are NWO

In April, NWO's new core values were brought to the attention. In the coming years NWO will work on the new strategy by being groundbreaking, committed, reliable and connecting. Who? We. That is NWO-D (domain organisation), NWO-I office, the BUW (the Administrative Unit for Research Groups at Universities of the former FOM Foundation that is gradually being phased out) and the nine NWO Institutes. With almost 2.500 employees, together we form a new single NWO. Together we convey the core values in our daily work at NWO: from interacting with colleagues to HRM policy and NWO’s communications.

What are we?
At the end of 2017, the NWO executive board approved the four core values. These did not come out of the blue. Many people, including the institute directors, were involved in the search for words that best fit our organisation. The four core values chosen say something about how we carry out our tasks and how we want to collaborate with researchers, companies, government bodies and societal organisations.

What do the words mean?

  • Groundbreaking: at NWO, we pioneer and explore the boundaries of knowledge, applications and processes. And we go further in this than anyone has gone before.
  • Committed: At NWO, we are committed to our organisation and we anticipate current issues in science and society.
  • Reliable: At NWO, we do what we promise. We are honest, open and meticulous. And you can hold us accountable to that.
  • Connecting: At NWO, we seek to collaborate and see the big picture. We are open and bring stakeholders, different areas of expertise and agendas together.

What does this mean for you?
You probably recognise yourself in one or more of these core values. However, it is always good to occasionally chat with your colleagues about how you convey these values and what these values mean for your work and for science. To help get this conversation going, compliment cards were handed out in April. These are five-sided cardboard cards and each card is dedicated to one of the four core values. You could give these to a colleague who is groundbreaking, connecting, committed or reliable in your eyes. And after that you can get creative and use the cards to make a twelve-sided regular polyhedron (see photo).

And now?
We need to convey these core values in our daily work at NWO. Because we think that this is the best way to realise scientific research with scientific and societal impact. You can see that in the NWO strategy, personnel policy, in all our communication and via your line managers. And… via all 2.500 NWO personnel. The meaning and expression of the core values differs per job and per person. And that is both fine and unavoidable. For example, the NWO Institutes also have their own scientific mission and realise their own strategy.

Want to read more?
Employees working at the NWO-I office or at the NWO Institutes can visit intranet Joost. Please note! PhDs working in the BUW cannot access Joost, the intranet at NWO. If you are interested in NWO's core values, then you can request these via info@nwo-i.nl.

Summary of the new NWO strategy.
Animation (English subtitles) about the new strategy and the five ambitions of NWO.

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