{"id":135638,"date":"2022-02-04T12:05:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T11:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=135638"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:06","slug":"nwo-survey-on-talent-grants-causes-unrest-among-young-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/02\/04\/nwo-survey-on-talent-grants-causes-unrest-among-young-researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"NWO survey on talent grants causes unrest among young researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The talent programme with its popular research grants has been in existence since 2008 and NWO believes it is time for reflection. The organisation has written a memorandum and is now gauging the opinions of researchers, administrators and the ministry.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The NWO-grants veni vidi and vici are named after a quote from Julius Ceasar after a battle. gra(painting by Lionel-No\u00ebl Royer from 1899)<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublic Domain<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

If you canvass so many people, a leak is bound to occur. That happened<\/a> via the news site ScienceGuide, where a day later a group of 95 young scientists, mostly in the medical field, expressed<\/a> their concern. Among the signatories are fifteen researchers from Erasmus MC.<\/p>\n

Tinkering with the talent programme would put the future of science in the Netherlands at risk, they say. In their opinion, the good position of science in the Netherlands is due partly to the Veni, Vidi and Vici grants.<\/p>\n

Rush<\/h2>

NWO\u2019s memorandum outlines the problems with the current system. The grants have become so important for researchers\u2019 careers that there is a rush to get hold of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big rise in the number of potential applicants is out of proportion with the grant options available under the NWO talent programme, which have remained the same for many years\u201d, the memorandum says. \u201cThe system of allocating research budget in competition is becoming increasingly expensive and time-consuming.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grants should therefore become less important for individuals\u2019 careers, in the view of NWO. The research institutions should look after the careers of researchers, not NWO. In addition, European grants are available, which partially overlap the Dutch talent programme.<\/p>\n

If NWO goes ahead with its plan, scientists will have to appeal to European programmes when their career is already in full swing, while there will be more room at NWO for postdocs on a temporary contract.<\/p>\n

Recognition and reward<\/h2>

Another current discussion complicates matters. How should researchers be appraised? The trend in the Dutch scientific community is to \u2018recognise and reward\u2019 talent other than just research talent. Education, leadership and outreach (EUR often calls this impact, ed.) are key factors as well. And NWO has committed itself to the corresponding cultural change.<\/p>\n

The presumed benefit is that scientists would then be less dependent on research grants. But this could succeed only if the universities and other research institutions have enough funding, in other words through extra government investments.<\/p>\n

By reason of \u2018recognition and reward\u2019 NWO places less emphasis on output such as publications in prestigious journals. It would rather appraise researchers on the basis of a \u2018narrative CV\u2019. That is the wrong direction, in the opinion of the 95 researchers, who talk of an \u201cessay competition\u201d. NWO should focus on research, they believe, and not on other talent. \u201cAnd yes, there are good researchers and less good researchers. And yes, this is reflected partially in measurable, internationally accepted output indicators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Survey online<\/h2>

In the meantime, NWO has put the memorandum online, because ScienceGuide supposedly summarised it poorly. The research funding organisation also stresses<\/a> that no decisions have yet been made. They want to know what others think about topics such as researchers\u2019 CVs, the role of NWO in talent policy and the relationship between the talent programme and European research programmes. \u201cThese are open questions as far as NWO is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young scientists are not the only ones who have doubts over \u2018recognition and reward\u2019. On Monday, top researcher Hans Clevers, former president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, warned<\/a> of the \u201cdisastrous consequences\u201d of \u2018recognition and reward\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t