Striving for an organisation where everybody can be themselves

Inclusion & diversity at NWO: current state of play

The organisation of the meeting Connect@inclusion & diversity, the filling of vacancies via the Dutch Participation Act and an incentive grant for refugees in science: these are just a few examples of the many initiatives that have been deployed during the past two years in the context of the NWO-wide “Implementation Plan Diversity” that was launched in 2018. Angeniet Gillissen (Institute Manager at NWO Institute NSCR) coordinates this project in the area of internal personnel policy and Astrid Zuurbier (NWO Domain Science policy officer) coordinates the aspect related to science funding. Gillissen and Zuurbier talk with the editor of Inside NWO-I about the progress of the project, their personal involvement with the theme and what they think an inclusive and diverse organisation should ideally look like.

Special leave for care tasks made available again in second lockdown

Last August, NWO-I announced that from 1 September 2020 onwards, leave for care tasks would once again be granted in accordance with the prevailing CAO regulations. Schools and childcare had safely reopened and so there was no longer any reason to accord special leave independent of the collective labour agreement. This situation has changed again now that the second lockdown has come into effect since 16 December 2020. Therefore, NWO-I is once more granting leave for care tasks until it is safe for schools and childcare to reopen.

Highlight NWO Institutes: magazine De Ingenieur appoints Technology Talents at AMOLF, ARCNL and CWI

Each year, Dutch technology magazine De Ingenieur designates several engineers younger than 35 years as Technology Talents. In 2020, it nominated fifteen such talents, and three of them are researchers at NWO Institutes: Bas Overvelde (group leader soft robotics at AMOLF), Peter Kraus (group leader at ARCNL) and Stacey Jeffery (senior researcher at CWI). ‘Their young age and technical excellence are not the only characteristics these engineers have in common. Sustainability and care for their fellow human beings feature remarkably often in their work. Not only do these engineering talents dare to dream of a better future, but they are also working hard on realising that’, according to De Ingenieur.

P&O highlight: specific leave for particular reasons

As an employee, you want to continue working in a motivated manner throughout your career and in different phases of your life. You are responsible for your development and deployability in this regard. As your employer, NWO-I will support and facilitate you in this. Certain circumstances or phases in your life might require more time for your private life. The collective labour agreement has specific leave possibilities for several circumstances. This concerns paid pregnancy and maternity leave and paternity leave, paid parental leave and paid care leave to care for a sick loved one.

Information about the NWO Institutes in the magazines Onderzoek and Results

NWO publishes the relations magazine Onderzoek three times per year. This magazine shows how NWO develops science policy in dialogue with its stakeholders. Onderzoek examines trends, wishes and other items from the scientific field. Furthermore, NWO also publishes the magazine Results at the end of each year. This is an anthology of groundbreaking, surprising and, above all, societally relevant research results. The autumn edition of Onderzoek and the 2020 edition of Results offers splendid articles about research from the NWO Institutes accompanied by superb photos.

News from the NWO Central Works Council

In December 2020, the NWO Central Works Council (COR NWO) spoke with Dirk Jan van den Berg (president of the Supervisory Board), NWO Executive Board members Stan Gielen and Caroline Visser and NWO-I director Miriam Luizink about the general state of affairs within NWO. In addition, the COR NWO received an update about the postponement of the launch of the New Financial System (NFS) of NWO-I. Meanwhile, the COR NWO is already looking forward to upcoming subjects such as the handover to the new COR NWO in May.

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
www.nwo-i.nl
info-nwoi@nwo-i.nl
(030) 600 12 11

Follow NWO