Dijkgraaf fan of ‘recognition and rewards’

Dijkgraaf fan of ‘recognition and rewards’

 

 

The ideal of ‘recognition and rewards’ enriches the scientific world, according to Robbert Dijkgraaf, the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science. He said this during an online festival on 4 February.

 

With ‘recognition and rewards’, employers should not only assess their scientific staff on their publications, but also on matters such as education, leadership, social impact and open science.

 

Critics of the new movement fear that all kinds of ways of measuring the performance of scientists will be scrapped, without it being clear what will replace them. President Ineke Sluiter of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) assured them that nobody wants to see a situation in which you are no longer allowed to excel in science and that all the emphasis will be on other subjects.

 

There is some concern about whether Dutch scientists will still have a chance abroad if the Netherlands is the only country to switch to ‘recognition and rewards’. Nobody knows for sure. “It will only make sense if this will happen internationally,” said Minister Dijkgraaf. “We have to spread the ‘news’. We are at the forefront of this.” (HOP, BB)