Short news
When distributing research funding, reviewers and collaborators should not use AI programmes such as ChatGPT and Perplexity. This is stated in a new guideline from research financer NWO.
Last year, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) already drew a line in the sand: juries, referees and committee members were not allowed to use generative AI for the time being. This ban is now permanent.
Risks
According to this directive, what applicants do is up to them. According to NWO, they are free to use AI as long as they are aware of the risks: for example, fabricated footnotes, ingrained prejudices and plagiarism. Above all, be transparent, is the advice.
But for grant application reviewers, the use of ChatGPT and similar programmes is absolutely out of the question. Just uploading an application would violate confidentiality, NWO believes. You also don’t know if the review is diligent if you leave it to AI.
Approved
Employees of the NWO organisation (lawyers, policy officers and so on) are only allowed to use approved AI programmes, so no ChatGPT, Gemini or Midjourney.
Moreover, they may only use even those approved AI programmes in a limited way. For example, they are not allowed to contribute to draft versions of justifications or defences in appeal proceedings.
As a matter of fact, hardly any AI programmes have been approved yet. According to the NWO website, there is only one: ‘Currently, NWO staff are allowed to use the DeepL translation application.’ (HOP, BB)
Education at TU Eindhoven has been resumed on Monday 20 January after the cyber attack that had started eight days earlier. The attack targeted SURF, the ICT partnership of the Dutch education sector. The attack hit TU Eindhoven hard, forcing the university to shut down all education for a week.
The so-called DDoS attack was stopped on Friday afternoon, according to SURF. During such an attack, large amounts of data are fired at a network with the aim of taking it down. To prevent further damage, TU Eindhoven took its internal systems and wifi offline. On Sunday afternoon, TU/e reported in an update that the university network had passed all functional tests. Only the VPN connection could not yet be used.
Other educational institutions, especially in the south of the country, also suffered from the cyber attack on SURF. At TU Delft, the inconvenience was not too bad, ICT director Erik Scherff told Delta on Thursday. However, TU Delft did tighten up monitoring and blocked the hacker’s IP addresses.
A large-scale cyber attack is causing network problems at Dutch educational institutions such as TU Eindhoven, Maastricht University and Fontys University of Applied Sciences (in Dutch). At TU Delft, it remains at ‘some inconvenience’ for the time being.
The cause of the problems is a large-scale DDoS attack on the network of SURF, the ict platform to which many educational institutions are affiliated. In such an attack, a large amount of data is sent to a network with the aim of shutting it down. SURF has to deal with DDos attacks on a daily basis, according to the organization itself, but the attacks of Wednesday and Thursday are much larger than normal. Institutions in the southern Netherlands in particular suffered from a slow or absent network connection.
At TU Delft, the inconvenience is not too bad, says ict director Erik Scherff. “We have had limited delays and only very limited inconvenience.” TU Delft did, however, step up monitoring. TU Delft also blocked the ip addresses of the hackers caught red-handed who were behind the attacks in Eindhoven, adds Scherff. When the attacks will be completely averted is still unclear. SURF reports that it is working hard to find a solution.
Lecturers, researchers, and other staff in higher education are planning to go on strike to protest the Government’s budget cuts. It will be a ‘relay strike’. The idea of the relay is for a different university or university of applied sciences to strike each time. The FNV union informed its members that ‘How each institution will strike and their timing will vary according to institution’.
The General Union of Education (AOb) has also decided to take action. Members are ready to protest, a spokesperson said. “After all, there is still EUR 1.1 billion in cuts on the table, and that’s no small matter.”
The strike plans are in the early stages, and it remains to be seen where the relay will lead. The FNV is considering a nationwide day of action coinciding with the parliamentary debate on the Spring Budget Memorandum. The AOb is still undecided.
A tense year ahead
The Spring Budget Memorandum could prove tricky for the four coalition parties in the Government. PVV (Party for Freedom) leader Geert Wilders has already described this year as a tense year and taken a stand: he is opposed to allocating extra funds for the climate or Ukraine.
Throughout the year, the Government typically deals with financial windfalls and setbacks. The four governing parties (and potential support partners in the Senate) will need to agree on adjustments to the national budget. For the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science’s (OCW) budget, the coalition parties have already reached a deal with the Christian Union, SGP (Dutch Reformed Political Party), CDA (Christian Democrat Party), and JA21, partly at the expense of the Ministry of Health. It seems unlikely that much will change in this agreement.
HOP, Bas Belleman
The unions have finally received a response to their ultimatum to Education Minister Eppo Bruins. He is willing to meet with them. A word of warning, though: fewer budget cuts are not on the table.
The unions’ ultimatum expired last Saturday. They demanded that all cuts to higher education and research be scrapped, otherwise strikes might be imminent. On Thursday, the unions said they no longer expected a response from the Minister, as they had been waiting for months without hearing anything.
But on Friday, the Minister broke his silence. In a letter to the unions, he reiterated that he must adhere to the governing coalition’s financial framework. ‘I therefore cannot comply with your demand to reverse the cuts to higher education.’
Workload
The Minister intends to implement the cuts ‘as wisely as possible’ and is open to discussions with the unions. These talks should include the issue of workload, which the unions have expressed significant concern about.
Bruins has allocated EUR 78 million from the remaining university budget to ease the workload pressure. To do this, he is freeing up money by cutting the Research and Science Fund.
Now that the unions’ demands – led by CNV, FNV, and AOb – have not been met, they are considering possible follow-up action. Last week they explained that the ultimatum partly served a legal purpose: should it expire, they have the option of calling a ‘political strike’.
HOP, Olmo Linthorst
TU Eindhoven took its network offline on Sunday due to a cyber attack. There is no Wi-Fi on the campus of the technical university for the time being, and internal systems are down as well.
This Monday, all teaching at TU Eindhoven has been cancelled. The buildings remain accessible, but there is no network access. All but one of the canteens are closed, as the cash registers are not working.
The network has been switched off ‘to prevent worse’, as per an official statement. Wi-Fi and internal systems will be accessible again on Tuesday morning at the earliest. Details about the attack are not yet being given by the university.
Extra alert
The university urges everyone to be extra alert to phishing emails. These are fake e-mails from hackers asking you to click on a link or log in somewhere. ‘The TU/e will not send these kinds of emails,’ says the university.
Cyber attacks, targeted or not, on colleges, universities and research institutes are more prevalent. The weakest link in ICT systems is usually the user, who may click on suspicious links or choose weak passwords.
Last August, research funding body NWO suffered an attack. Personal data of 530 thousand people were stolen at the University of Arnhem and Nijmegen in 2021.
Hostage software
But the most notorious attack took place at Maastricht University. During the Christmas holidays of the 2019/2020 academic year, systems there were taken hostage. The university eventually decided to pay a ransom because of the damage to teaching and research. (HOP, BB)
A team of students from the interdisciplinary Building Serious Games master course has won the Best Student Game Award at the 13th Game and Learning Alliance (GALA) Conference in Berlin.
Their game, Pizzicato, was developed by TU Delft students Martin Starkov, Scott Jochems, Luca Stoffels, Ravi Snellenberg, and Joris Rijsdijk. They collaborated with neuropsychological researcher Dr Rebecca Schaeffer from Leiden University and her student Marijn Coers. The Building Serious Games course is led by Dr Rafael Bidarra from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science.
Music for motor skills
Pizzicato is an activation game designed to make practising motor skills more enjoyable through music. Regaining fine motor skills in the hands requires repetitive exercises. Insights from neuropsychology show that providing auditory feedback on movements – known as sonification – is an effective way to study and improve motor behaviour.
The students designed Pizzicato as a rhythm-based game where players pinch their fingers together in time to the music. Participants reported not only improved motor skills but a stronger sense of autonomy as well.
How does it work?
Curious about your own motor skills? Pizzicato is available online and works in any browser with a connected webcam. Simply activate your camera to detect your hand and fingers, choose a melody (slow, medium, or fast), and move the indicated finger at the right time and place towards your thumb.
The therapeutic potential of Pizzicato is being further investigated in clinical settings. So far, the game has been tested on young, healthy volunteers and has been optimised to keep players engaged.
- More on the Gala-conferentie
- Scientific publication on Pizzicato
Starting Monday, 13 January 2025, the Hambrug bridge in Delft will be closed for major maintenance. Cyclists and pedestrians will need to take alternative routes via the Sint Sebastiaansbrug or the Abtswoudsebrug during this period.
The works are scheduled to last until Monday, 7 April, and travellers are advised to allow extra time for their journeys. Detour routes will be clearly marked on-site.
Rowers
The province is undertaking various works to enhance the safety and functionality of the bridge. These include upgrading the bridge controls and software, applying a new wear-resistant surface, and raising the pedestrian path to improve separation from the cycle lane. Additional measures will also be implemented to prevent ice formation in winter, and the bridge will receive a fresh coat of paint.
There is some good news for rowing clubs Laga and Proteus: the waterway will remain passable. However, a waterway closure will be in effect from 06:00 on 20 January to 16:00 on 31 January, and again from 06:00 on 18 March to 06:00 on 7 April.
Every 15 years
The works are part of routine maintenance on movable provincial bridges carried out every 15 years. For more information and updates on accessibility, please consult the project page.
After a year of absence, the oil and gas giants Shell and TotalEnergies will again have stands ‘as usual’ at the next Delft Career Days. This was announced by the student Board of the Delft Career Days job market in a press release.
“We want every sector to be represented to meet the demand from students,” explained the Chair Matthijs Roos. “We want students to have the opportunity to find out everything they can and to support a culture of open discussion.” The job market where students can meet future employers will be held from 17 to 19 February 2025.
Roos does emphasize, however, that his board has not selected companies that do nothing about sustainability. In doing so, he says, their decisions are in line with the results of last summer’s consultations on collaborations with the fossil industry.
Mandatory presentation
For these fossil-based companies, the normally optional presentation during the job fair is mandatory, Roos says when asked. “In this presentation, they have to give an honest picture of the company, highlighting both the more and less sustainable sides – without greenwashing, but with extensive space to be able to have an honest and open conversation.”
The previous Board of the Delft Career Days 2024 opted otherwise for the first time when companies like Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Total and Tata Steel were not welcome. At the time, the board decided that sustainability should play a bigger role in the range of companies after questionnaires had shown that students preferred to see fewer fossil fuel companies at the job market.
To Delta, the then Chair emphasized that the succeeding board had the freedom to invite the companies that were rejected again. Since the interest for a stand at the fair is greater than the space available, it is it is not unusual for not every company to attend every year.
Utrecht University is again the best ‘broad’ institution in this year’s Keuzegids, while the Open University and Wageningen top the list of ‘other’ universities.
Utrecht University continues to do very well, says the Keuzegids Universities 2025, published on Thursday. Radboud University has lost a point, but is still the second best ‘broad’ university. Leiden University has been ousted from third place by the University of Groningen. Both Amsterdam universities close the row again.
In the category ‘other’ universities, which offer a less broad range of fields of study, Wageningen now has to share its first place with the Open University. At the bottom of the heap are TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Methode
The editors of the Keuzegids based this edition on the opinions of over 268 thousand students who completed the National Student Survey this spring. They gave marks for the content of their courses, their teachers, testing, the atmosphere and the way they are prepared for their careers. In addition, how many students advance to the second year and whether they graduate within four years weigh in. (HOP, HC)
