CoARA: First Call for Working Groups and National Chapters

On 28 March 2023, CoARA launched a call to all Coalition members for proposals of Working Groups and National Chapters. This is the first time such a call is launched since the Coalition’s inception in December 2022. This call is a significant step in the Coalition’s action responding to the need to reform research assessment. Operating as ‘communities of practice’ under the principles of mutual learning and collaboration, the developed outputs of these Working Groups will support CoARA members in their implementation of the commitments agreed upon when joining the Coalition.

Compositions of Working Groups

Three types of Working Groups (interest, discipline and institutional communities) are aimed to be formed, with the objective to build upon what is already being done within the community and to add value. In addition, inclusivity is a major driver for the composition of the Working Groups, as they are expected to involve organisations of varying types and sizes, from different geographical areas, and participants of all career stages. Following a three staged approach, Expressions of Interest are submitted by April, 27, followed by a community discussion, cumulating in a full working group proposal by June, 6. All applicants submitting a working group proposal will be informed of the outcome of the selection process by 13 July 2023. A short evaluation report will also be provided.

National Chapters

In addition, CoARA calls for proposals of National Chapters. National Chapters will contribute to CoARA’s work by facilitating the exchange of knowledge, mutual learning and discussions on CoARA-relevant issues specific to different types of organisations of a given country. There is no limit as to the number of National Chapters that can be approved, however for now there cannot be more than one per country. Proposals for National Chapters will continuously be assessed on a monthly basis starting 6th of June 2023.

Find more information on the criteria and procedure of the call for working groups and national chapters on the CoARA website.

Source: https://coara.eu/news/first-call-for-working-groups-and-national-chapters/

Recognition & Rewards annual report 2022

The Recognition & Rewards Annual Report 2022 was released today. The annual report contains a comprehensive overview of the activities undertaken from the joint programme.

The Joint Programme Recognition & Rewards was launched in 2020 to realise the goals of the position paper Room for Everyone’s Talent. Also in 2022, the national programme team commissioned by the steering committee worked hard to realise these goals. By means of the annual report, we want to make the steps we have taken together more visible.

Many of the activities in this annual report were initiated by the national programme team, often in consultation with the project leaders of the local Recognition & Rewards Committees.This annual report therefore explicitly assumes the joint programme efforts. Developments within individual institutions are less discussed in this report. This does not mean that little is happening within the various institutions, quite the contrary. Each partner within this programme chooses its own approach to change, prioritisation and pace to suit its own context. Where possible, we provide an overview of key pilots, experiments, successes, challenges and dilemmas.

READ THE ANNUAL REPORT

Register now: Recognition & Rewards Festival, 13 april 2023

Register now: Recognition & Rewards Festival, 13 april 2023

On April 13th, 2023 from 9:30 to 17:00h we organise the third edition of the Recognition & Rewards Festival at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht. It will be the first time the Recognition and Rewards programme is able to host an in-person festival, so we are very much looking forward to meeting you. Sign up now!

REGISTER

Curious about the programme? You will find the description of the plenary programme and workshops on the website.

PROGRAMME

We kindly ask you to register for the festival as soon as possible. We have limited space at the location and to ensure the quality of the workshops, we had to maximise the number of participants. 

Theme ‘Rethinking Assessment’ 

This year the Recognition & Rewards Festival has a special focus on ‘Rethinking Assessment’. In our broad movement on a different way of recognising and rewarding in academia, questions arise on ‘how’ to do so. How can we implement our ambitions? On which basis will we assess research, teaching, teamwork and so on? How do we ensure the quality of assessment? And how do assessment and development relate to each other? There is a big international movement regarding Reforming Research Assessment. But what are the main developments in the other domains of academia? 

Programme 

The festival kicks off at the Pieterkerk in Utrecht with a warm welcome by Joke van Saane, Rector magnificus of the University of Humanistic Studies, and our host of the day Eveline van Rijswijk. We then continue with a plenary table discussion on Rethinking Excellence with, among others, Onur Sahin, Marieke Adriaanse and Yarin Eski.  

Following the plenary opening, we move on to two rounds of workshops. The workshops provide insight into the day’s theme ‘Rethinking Assessment’. You can indicate your choice of workshops in the registration form. More information on the workshops can be found here. 

We will conclude the day with a plenary session covering the highlights of the day. This will be followed by closing drinks where it will be possible to continue the dialogue and meet other participants. 

Practicalities:
Location: University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht 
(Note: Registration and the plenary sessions will take place in the Pieterskerk, Utrecht)
Registration: 09:30 – 10:00
Recognition & Rewards Festival: 09:30-17:00 

About the Recognition & Rewards Festival 

The Recognition & Rewards Festival is primarily a live event. However, the plenary sessions will be streamed online as well. Workshops can solely be attended in person. The language used at the Recognition & Rewards Festival will be English and admission will be free. 

The festival is organised by the Recognition & Rewards Programme, a partnership between the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU), the Dutch Denominational Universities (NLU), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the of Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) and the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw).  

We are looking forward to the festival and to seeing you there on April 13th! 

Implementation Recognition & Rewards started – Maastricht University

An update from Maastricht University: 

The Recognition & Rewards programme has entered a new phase. Now that the academic profiles have been adopted, all UM academics – together with their managers – will be able to shape their own academic career path in 2023; one with a personal focus that matches their development plan and the development and needs of the organisation.

Academic profiles have been drawn up for three job groups: one for assistant, associate & full professors (with or without patient care) and separate profiles for research or teaching. In the teaching and research profiles, the UM job titles have been changed, as requested by our community, when compared to the national university job classification system (Teacher/Researcher 1 to 4). The academic profiles serve as guidelines for academics – together with their leadership – to shape their academic careers. They provide clarity on what is expected of academics. Their leadership and assessors can also use the profiles as a guide. They are not checklists, but tools for a comprehensive and ongoing dialogue on development.

Components of the profiles
Each profile always starts with the core UM values that every UM employee should develop: academic citizenship, personal/professional leadership, teamwork and impact, and Open Science (if applicable). In addition, the profile contains assessment components for each job group. From the level of assistant professor onwards, every academic combines the core activities of teaching and research (and patient care in appropriate cases) to some extent. In addition, elective components offer plenty of opportunities to specialise in one or more domains.

Where are we now?
In autumn 2022, an implementation meeting took place in each faculty including all department chairs and members of the assessment committees. During 2023, they will draw up a personalised academic profile with each academic in their department. Each faculty will inform their own academic staff about the next steps.

Resources
All academic profiles, with a clear schematic representation of all development components, can be found on the website. In order to conduct the development dialogue in line with these profiles, a format has been developed: the UM Career Compass. This Career Compass will most likely be available in the spring of 2023 (after completion of the decision-making process) and provides tools to support these dialogues. Leaflets summarising the various elements of the academic profiles will also be distributed via the department chairs (this leaflet can also be found in digital form on the website).

What’s next?
In the course of 2023, the processes around development and promotion (such as annual appraisals and assessment regulations) will be aligned with the philosophy of Recognition & Rewards. In addition, where necessary, faculties will review the composition and processes of the bodies and individuals involved in development and promotion.