Want to find out more about Academia in Motion? The ambassadors can come and tell you more
An open academic culture, where quality beats quantity, where science and society are closely linked and where we recognise and reward everyone’s contribution is the aim of the university-wide Academia in Motion (AiM) programme. But how do we achieve this? And how can you and your team, department or faculty work to achieve this?
Such questions are the focus of meetings that are currently being held throughout Leiden University, conversations among staff that AiM ambassadors and coordinators are all too willing to join. At Leiden Law School, over 50 managers recently met for an afternoon session on recognition and rewards.
After Dean Suzan Stoter’s opening remarks about how important it is to listen to one another, Marieke Adriaanse, a Recognition and Rewards Ambassador for AiM, began the session with some questions: ‘Who knows what recognition and rewards is about? Who is positive about it and who is concerned or sceptical?’ Adriaanse was keen to emphasise that all opinions are welcome. ‘Because there are still lots of open questions, and solutions start with discussion and room for different perspectives.’
Hand in hand
Adriaanse explained how the AiM programme is accelerating and supporting both open science and recognition and rewards. Integrating the two is important because they go hand in hand and can therefore reinforce each other. Work is already being done at many levels, she said: both centrally and with colleagues throughout the university as well as in the Netherlands and even worldwide. Leiden’s Faculty AiM Teams (FAiMs) are very important. They ensure that the programme is brought to life at all the faculties by fostering bottom-up initiatives and dialogue. They also make sure that open science and recognition and rewards are interpreted in a way that suits the individual faculties.
Now they had heard more about AiM – and how to give shape to this as a manager – it was time for the attendees to discuss the biggest opportunities and challenges within the faculty. The focus was on how to promote topics such as leadership and career development as well as recognition and promotion opportunities in education and what we understand the term ‘team science’ to mean.
A general conclusion of the afternoon was that a lot is possible and that together we want to create an environment in which we can learn from one another and in which it’s alright to make mistakes.
Want to join the conversation on Academia in Motion?
Great, you can contribute in several ways.
- Get in touch with your faculty AiM team. They can keep you posted about what is going on at your faculty.
- Invite the university’s AiM team to explain the programme.
- Sign up for the newsletter. This will keep you posted on open-science and recognition-and-rewards developments in Leiden.