Elsevier Gender report 2020 released

While the participation of women in research is increasing overall, inequality remains across geographies and subject areas in terms of publication outputs, citations, awarded grants and collaborations. That is among the findings of Elsevier's latest gender report. The report, titled 'The researcher journey through a gender lens', examines research participation, career progression and perceptions across the European Union and 15 countries globally in 26 subject areas, and can be downloaded here.

More women experts in the media

Did you know that the LNVH has a media list, to which women professors and associate professors can register with their fields of expertise? This list has been set up in partnership with the editorial office of the NOS (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting). This way, we try to bring gender balance among the experts who are getting air time. Are you an affiliate of the LNVH, but not yet on the list? Send an e-mail to info@lnvh.nl for more information and/or to register to the list.

Database update

Coming month, the LNVH will be updating its database. We would hereby like to remind all our affiliates to update their own profile. You can change your profile by logging in on our website.

Call for FWIS will open soon

Currently, only 23.1% of Dutch professors are women. This puts the Netherlands at the bottom of the ranking compared to other European countries. The For Women in Science programme aims to boost scientific careers of women and as such, aims to contribute to an increase of women professors. The LNVH is proud to be partner of the For Women in Science programme, together with L’Oréal Nederland, Unesco, and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS-KNAW).The prestigious international ‘For Women in Science’ programme is a collaboration between Unesco and L’Oréal with the tagline: ‘The world needs science, science needs women’. Laureates are awarded a residential fellowship for a semester at NIAS-KNAW in Amsterdam, and are provided a place to think, study and write, while being released from regular responsibilities such as teaching, administrative or clinical tasks. NIAS-KNAW offers an inspiring workplace in an interdisciplinary and international environment. The call for applications will open soon, for more updates check the For Women In Science website.

LNVH Spring Symposium

28 May 2020 | 12:00 - 14:00hr

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak the LNVH has decided to change the format of the Spring Symposium to an online event.
Please visit www.lnvh.nl/lnvh-symposium to stay up to date.

15 new chairs at RUG

During the presentation of the Aletta Jacobs Prize on Friday 6 March, Rector Magnificus Cisca Wijmenga announced that the University of Groningen (RUG) has created an incentive fund to set up fifteen new chairs, which will be assigned exclusively to women academics. The chairs will be named after the figurehead of the RUG: Aletta Jacobs.

The fifteen Aletta Jacobs chairs will be divided between all eleven faculties. The incentive fund will enable the faculties to convert existing Associate Professor posts into Full Professor posts this academic year. The RUG already runs the Rosalind Franklin Fellowship Programme, which allowed the RUG to appoint its 100th  talented women academic in 2019.

32 scientists NWO Vici grants

32 leading scientists will each receive 1.5 million euros from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This Vici grant will enable them to develop an innovative line of research and set up their own research group in the coming five years. Vici is one of the largest scientific grants for individuals in the Netherlands and targets advanced researchers.

Of the 242 proposals, 85 (35%) were submitted by women and 157 (65%) by men. Overall, 18 female candidates and 14 male candidates were awarded a grant. The award rate is therefore 21 and 9 per cent respectively.
The LNVH congratulates all awarded candidates with receiving the Vici grant.

Call for organization experts  

Galan Groep, a Dutch consultancy and interim management agency, has reached out to the LNVH with a request for suggestions for women (associate) professors to equalize their database, currently consisting of mostly male academics. For their masterclasses and lectures, they are trying to reach gender-balance amongst their experts and speakers. Are you a (n associate) professor working in one of the following fields and do you wish to be in Galan’s database? Send us an e-mail at info@lnvh.nl, with your name and field of expertise.

• Leadership
• Organizational change
• Organizational management / Governance
• Modern (reorganization) public administration
• Professionalization of implementation organizations

New SEP protocol

On March 16th, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), the Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) presented the new Strategy Evaluation Protocol (SEP, FKA Standard Evaluation Protocol). Once every six years, the research organisations revise the evaluation protocol for academic research, which is used by research universities and KNAW and NWO institutions to evaluate research units. A committee, headed by Prof. Thom Palstra, Rector Magnificus Twente University, has been reviewing and revising the SEP. The new protocol, effective from 2021, builds further upon the existing protocol to incorporate recent developments relating to the recognition and rewards of researchers as well as the concept of Open Science. 'This protocol is less focused on numerical lists and is based on a quality assurance system incorporating strategic thinking and action', says Palstra. (Source: VSNU)
 
The LNVH is pleased with the increased attention to diversity in safeguarding and assessing the quality of science and in the new SEP. However, it is extremely important to (continue to) pay attention to bias in the assessment of the quality of research - as well as recruitment and selection - by committees. Especially if the assessment will be based on narratives, in addition to hard criteria such as publications and citation scores. Therefore, this is an important topic of discussion during the meetings the LNVH has with universities boards and umbrella organizations.

Interesting reads

• Gender inequalities in science: Evidence and ideas from bibliometrics - Leiden Madtricks, 13 February 2020
• ‘Een sollicitant staat op het punt van bevallen: moet een werkgever daar rekening mee houden?’- De Volkskrant, 26 February 2020 (In Dutch)
• Samenvatting- het vertrek van de vrouwelijke wetenschappers bij de Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen op de VU: trend of toeval? – samenvatting masterthesis Shadya El Shafiy (In Dutch)
• ‘Bent ú doctor?’ Drie vrouwen over hun promotie en carrière - Universiteit Leiden, 3 March 2020 (In Dutch)
• Online lectures on digital teaching – Open University, 19 march 2020

Appointments & Awards

Vacancies