Utrecht’s open science fellows to drive staff assessment reform

A Dutch university is to embed open science fellows within every faculty and formally recognise “team spirit” in its promotion criteria as part of ambitious efforts to change how academics are assessed.

In what has been hailed as one of the boldest institutional plans to encourage collaborative science, Utrecht University is installing what it calls “reward and recognition fellows” in each faculty to encourage deans to experiment with new initiatives that promote team spirit, public engagement and responsible open research practices.

The scheme follows an institutional recognition that open science practices can create an “additional burden [on researchers] without direct rewards” unless evaluation processes are changed to “emphasise transparency, reproducibility and public engagement”.

“We want young people to get involved with this scheme, not just the usual suspects, and deans have committed themselves to cooperate and implement proposed policies,” said Paul Boselie, head of the Utrecht School of Governance and a project leader for the Recognition and Reward scheme. 

Previous recognition and reward initiatives include the creation of new promotion policies within certain faculties to recognise an individual’s contribution to fostering team spirit and a PhD student-led policy saw the creation of new annual appraisals for doctoral candidates.

The university’s new framework goes further by asking all faculties to introduce their own system of rewards and recognition based around open science by early 2022. Under the proposed TRIPLE model, six components will be assessed in the end-of-year talks and in promotion committees: team spirit, research, impact, professional performance, leadership and education, with Utrecht stating explicitly that there is “no place for journal impact factors” in recognition and reward policies.

“Team spirit comes first and is the most important thing if we want to move science forward,” said Professor Boselie.

Frank Miedema, vice-rector (research) and professor of open science at Utrecht, said that the fellowship scheme would be important for embedding open science practices across the university but it was only possible because the scheme enjoyed strong support from the institution’s president and rector. “Something really important is going on in Dutch academia – this kind of activity is no longer confined to a small group of people talking among themselves but enjoys backing from university leaders and the Dutch government,” he said.

Previously dean of medicine at Utrecht, Professor Miedema said he was pleased that science and academia were finally addressing their idiosyncratic and sometimes unfair forms of assessment and reward.

“As a scientist, the order in which your name appears on a paper can make your career and that was ridiculous – now people are asking what you contributed to a study or to the team,” said Professor Miedema.  “I used to play volleyball, which a true team sport. It is basically the same with science – it is all about teams and I’m glad we’re recognising that now.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com