The Communications Department will only be recruiting temporary staff in 2026. The department wishes to retain the flexibility to ‘organise things differently’ once it is clear how it will proceed with artificial intelligence (AI).
The Communications department is located in the TU Delft Library. (Photo: Thijs van Reeuwijk)
This is what Carola de Vree, Director of Communications, writes in a newsletter to staff. The department intends to experiment more with AI in the coming period, according to De Vree. When asked, she gives examples: writing and sending newsletters or emails, drafting content for TU platforms, or posting and responding on social media.
If AI can take over these tasks, or if it turns out that other, human tasks will become more important as a result, then roles may change. Temporary contracts will give the department the flexibility ‘to organise things differently in the future, once we have made a conscious decision on how and where we will deploy AI’, writes De Vree.
‘We have a lot coming our way’
For this reason, the phrase ‘with the prospect of a permanent contract’ will no longer appear in job advertisements, at least not by 2026. Exceptions are only possible for roles that would otherwise be very difficult to fill.
Like all other TU Delft departments, the Communications department has to make cutbacks. Last year, the department was already reduced by seven FTEs (full-time equivalents). Nevertheless, the potential expansion of AI-assisted work is not intended to cut more jobs, De Vree asserts.
What is already happening, for example, is that translation services are now being procured more cheaply. From 1 April, a new external partner will be providing these services: Translation Kings. They offer three options: fully AI-generated translations, AI-generated translations with human editing, and fully human translations. ‘This allows a suitable balance to be struck between speed, quality and cost for each request,’ states the Communications Newsletter.
Permanent contract still possible
De Vree notes that her department is not the first or only TU Delft unit that only offers temporary contracts. And people on temporary contracts can still be offered a permanent contract. “We just don’t commit to that in advance anymore, because we have a lot coming our way.”
- Delta is part of the Communications department and also has a vacancy, for a science journalist. You can find that vacancy here (in Dutch).
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Saskia Bonger
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