Recognition & Rewards on a ‘summer tour’ of the institutes

‘Veronica is coming to see you this summer’ – some of you might remember this 1980s jingle from the Dutch radio station Veronica. During the summer months, you could come across the Veronica promotion team at the local fair or on the beach. On behalf of the NWO-I project team Recognition & Rewards (R&R), P&O policy advisor Lucienne Stavenuiter and Communication advisor Mirjam Hartman also went on a tour this spring. However, their focus was not so much to promote R&R, but rather to listen to what people at all the institutes had to say.

NWO-I health, safety and the environment (HSE): the added value of more collaboration

Professionalising HSE so that employees can do their work in a healthy and safe manner

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All NWO-I employees have to deal with ‘health, safety and environment’ (HSE) on the work floor. However, there are big differences in the HSE risks different employees face. These range from working at a desk to working with hazardous substances, lasers and many other tasks with specific risks. HSE is important throughout NWO-I and the HSE coordinators, prevention staff and other experts help colleagues to do their work safely. Sjoerd Wouda is the HSE advisor at NWO-I. He is working with his colleagues on further professionalising the discipline within NWO-I, as is clear from the publication of the annual HSE plan 2023, which also contains the safety audit, and the implementation of a new IT system for HSE.

Highlight CWI: increasingly efficient cryptographic techniques

Transferring money online or sending other sensitive information: cryptography ensures that your data do not fall into the wrong hands. Thomas Attema, a mathematician at CWI/TNO, graduated from Leiden University with PhD research into new techniques to make cryptographic protocols more efficient. In his PhD thesis, Attema focuses on zero-knowledge proofs; techniques with which a person can prove they know a secret without revealing the secret, for example with a digital signature. Attema: ‘We are already working on a wide range of applications. One such example is cloud computing, where you allow another party to perform calculations on your data. Zero-knowledge proofs enable you to efficiently assess whether the outcomes are really correct.’

Second confidential advisor scientific integrity at NWO-I

NWO-I employees can approach Freya Senf and Thom Palstra

Freya Senf has been appointed as confidential advisor scientific integrity at NWO-I with effect from 1 June. She replaces Tanja Kulkens, who in 2022 became the director of NWO Domain Science. Kulkens could not combine her new job with the position of confidential advisor scientific integrity. With the arrival of Senf, there are now once again two confidential advisors who NWO-I employees can approach with questions about scientific integrity. Thom Palstra has been confidential advisor scientific integrity since 2021.

CAO negotiations officially launched

On May 31, parties started negotiations on a new Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutions (CAO-OI). The parties are the Werkgeversvereniging Onderzoekinstellingen (WVOI), of which NWO, NWO-I and the KB (National Library) are members, and the employee organizations AOb, CNV and FNV. Besides duration and pay, the common themes that were discussed constructively were sustainable employability, expansion opportunities in AVOM and diversity & inclusion.

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Holiday, insurance & discount

A travel insurance from OHRA

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Discover. Swim. Relax. Lounge. Admire. Explore. Whatever you do during your (summer) holiday, you want to be genuinely free. And you want to enjoy yourself without any worries. That’s why a good travel insurance is so handy: in case something goes wrong, your things are stolen or there is an emergency back home, which means you need to come back earlier. NWO-I has made collective agreements with healthcare insurer OHRA. As an employee of NWO-I, you also get a discount on your travel insurance from OHRA.

News from the works councils

The agendas of both the Central Works Council of NWO (COR NWO) and the Group Works Council of NWO-I (GOR NWO-I) have been well-filled in recent months. The COR NWO discussed the introduction of diversity days (in the collective labour agreement) and the possible introduction of an ombudsman. The GOR NWO-I advised on the roll-out of Youforce, the central personnel system. GOR NWO-I also approved the health, safety and environment (HSE) year plan and the “Pregnancy and the wish to have children” policy.

Calendar

Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) at 'Zwarte Cross'

‘Zwarte Cross’ is the biggest music festival in the Netherlands and the biggest motocross in the world. The Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) brings science to this event that takes place in Lichtenvoorde.

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 48 workgroups in which physics research takes place at Dutch universities and knowledge institutes are also part of NWO-I.

Contact

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

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