Recognition & Rewards in short

What is Recognition & Rewards?

Less emphasis on quantitative indicators such as the number of publications and more focus on performance in other core areas such as education, social impact, leadership and, in the case of University Medical Centres, also patient care. The EUR wants to offer its academic staff an environment and career paths in which they can develop their talents and choose the direction that suits them. This would help people excel in what they are good at. To achieve this ambition, the current system of acknowledging and valuing academics needs to be reviewed. A new system is needed that better suits the current tasks of our academics, the EUR and what society expects from us. 

Many academics feel that there is too much focus on research. For example, there is great pressure to publish as many articles as possible in famous scientific journals. In the scientific world, great value is attached to traditional, quantifiable output indicators such as the number of publications, the journalistic impact of the scientist's work, the H-index (used for measuring productivity) and the number of citations.

Key domains

Our university aims to become a more attractive place to work for both current and future academic staff, with the goal of bringing out the best in everyone. EUR also wants to develop into an impact-driven university in the coming years.

To achieve these goals, we need to review the current system of Recognition & Rewards of Academics to:

• Ensure high educational standards;
• Promote research excellence;
• Increase our impact on society;
• Encourage inclusive leadership;
• In the case of Erasmus MC, to ensure the delivery of excellent patient care.

Combining these paths in the academic career (diversification) is encouraged, but it is unrealistic to expect scientists to excel in every field. Our university places equal value on the five core areas. Moreover, it must be possible to switch between the different key areas during the course of one's career (vitalisation). Whatever combination is found, the aforementioned interrelation between research and education should always be leading. This chosen 'profile' or 'career path' (to which the scientist himself agrees), is important because it indicates how to assess academics next.

A cultural shift

To initiate this cultural change, a new system of recognition and rewards is needed. It is also important that academics are not only praised for their individual achievements, but also for the contribution they have been able to make to, for example, their team, department or organisation. Another condition is to become an impact-driven university.

With a view to social impact, it is also important that 'open-science' is practised. The aim is to strengthen cooperation, both among researchers and between other parties and scientists. Research becomes more transparent, verifiable, faster, more efficient, reproducible and sustainable with open-science. The idea is that civil society organisations, patient organisations, companies and other organisations can benefit from low-threshold access to scientific research.