Podcast Fairly Recognised #Third episode: Hands-on and value-driven

Source: personal Substack Newsletter @sanlifaez

Listen te the podcast here.

Content from the newsletter:

In the 3rd episode of our mini-series on experiences with the recognition and rewards programme at Utrecht University we will hear from Paul Boselie, who is at the steering wheel of the open science programme about combining his executive task with his academic expertise on human resource management.

In the past two episodes, we have heard from Henk Kummeling, former rector magnificus on the chosen university strategy for the programme: to give space to front-runners and young people with energy. We have also heard from Verena Seibel, one of those young faculty members that consistency and verifiability of the good intentions are still important, and mid-career academics should also see that senior faculty are contributing their fair share to the reform process.

What I take away from this series of interviews is that both university management, and early and mid-career academics appreciate the new ways of structuring academic work, and accept the time and efforts that it will need. This is a bridge we are walking on, while we are still building it. For a successful operation, we need to collaborate at all levels within official structures, AND also build new communication channels to get a first hand picture of the impact of the programm

And for us to stay on the positive side during this transition, we ought to revisit our expectations. What are our needs for thriving as employees in a university, and how to separate these needs from our “wants” that are encouraged upon us by the outdated system? It is clear to me that the classic individualistic path to stardom is no more seen as the only valid one. But the new ways of collaborating at-scale, within universities and between disciplines, still need to be laid down and paved.

This is a path that we need to walk together.