Newsletter for NWO-I employees
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Kick-off event marks start of LGBTIQA+ group at NWO/NWO-I
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Leads Léon Ouwerkerk (CWI) and Russell Shipman (SRON): ‘We want to build a community at NWO/NWO-I ’
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NWO/NWO-I regularly devotes attention to the LGBTIQA+ community via events such as Purple Friday, Coming Out Day and the NWO Pride Event. However, the LGBTIQA+ community at NWO/NWO-I needs more. Consequently, a special LGBTIQA+ Employee Resource Group (ERG) has been established for which Léon Ouwerkerk (HR manager at CWI) and Russell Shipman (astronomer at SRON) are the leads. They are organising a kick-off event to launch this ERG on 22 May. “We want to build an LGBTIQA+ community within NWO and NWO-I, where everybody feels welcome.”
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Russell Shipman (SRON) & Léon Ouwerkerk (CWI)
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PhD training courses have started again
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This month (April 2024), the four training courses that NWO-I organises for PhDs have started again. ‘Taking charge of your PhD’ gives early-stage researchers grip on the PhD trajectory. ‘Scientific Writing’ and ‘Presenting your Science’ are skills training for second and third-year PhDs, in which they work on their own material. ‘Career Orientation’ helps PhDs to choose a course for their career and teaches them how to proceed along this path. Further information and details about the registration procedure can be found on the NWO-I website.
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Interview with Carolien Oppeneer, head of Legal Affairs at NWO-I
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Team can make a big difference when it comes to the legal issues institutes face
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Carolien Oppeneer joined the NWO-I office in October 2023. She is an all-round legal adviser with a passion for organisations that create societal value. The prospect of building up an own team for Legal Affairs (LA) appeals to Carolien: “The world is becoming more complex and that also applies to legal issues. That is where the LA team can make a big difference for the institutes.”
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PhD students start network at NWO-I
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Katrin Hättig, Kevin Murzyn & Thecla van Wageningen
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A total of 459 PhDs work at the nine NWO Institutes. Although they all share the same position, there is little contact between them. However, that will soon change. Katrin Hättig, PhD at NIOZ, took the initiative to set up a PhD network at NWO-I. Kevin Murzyn, PhD at ARCNL, immediately joined. In the first exchange with other PhDs from NWO Institutes, everyone was enthusiastic. Katrin: “There instantly were a lot of ideas for what the network could do, for example, helping PhDs find their way in the jungle of different rules.”
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Highlight AMOLF: new metamaterial ensures increasingly greater amplification of sound waves
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Researchers from NWO Institute AMOLF have demonstrated a new type of metamaterial through which sound waves can flow in a previously unknown manner. This is the first time a ‘bosonic Kitaev chain’ has been realised and a novel form of amplifying mechanical vibrations has been observed. This fascinating behaviour, which was predicted in 2018, has never previously been demonstrated in a natural material or any metamaterial. AMOLF group leader Ewold Verhagen: “We linked nanomechanical resonators, small vibrating strings, to each other via the radiation pressure of laser light and thus discovered the unusual behaviour. The new amplification mechanism has the potential to improve sensor technology.” The discovery was published in the journal Nature on 28 March 2024.
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Artist impression of the bosonic Kitaev chain
Credits: AMOLF/Ella Maru
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News from the works council
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Health and safety at work is something that we often take for granted. However, optimal working conditions are for the most part created by the work of the health and safety and environmental experts from the institutes and the NWO-I office. The Group Works Council (GOR NWO-I) dealt with three requests for approval prepared by them: the health and safety plan 2024, the procurement and use of the software application LabServant, and the regulation occupational health assessments and vaccinations. The GOR NWO-I and the Executive Board representative also discussed the progress made in the trajectory Development Operations. The Central Works Council (COR NWO) received an update about developments concerning the governance of NWO-I.
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CALENDAR
NWO/NWO-I LGBTIQA+ network event: connecting identities through Employee Resource Groups
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On Wednesday 22 May the LGBTIQA+ network presents an event that aims to explore the goals and benefits of Employee Resource Groups (ERG’s). ERG’s are groups within organizations where employees from historically marginalized groups come together. These networks offer support, raise awareness and further DEI policy (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) through education and ally engagement. The LGBTIQA+ network at NWO and NWO-I has existed for several years and is now officially organized as an ERG. To celebrate this relaunch we invite all colleagues from the institutes, NWO-D, the NWO-I office to join us, whether you identify as part of the LGBTIQA+ community, as an ally or as interested in the topic of ERG’s.
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As an NWO-I employee, you receive the personnel newsletter Inside NWO-I. The newsletter publishes important news and announcements for you as an employee. Do you disagree with NWO-I using your email address to send Inside NWO-I, and would you like to stop receiving the newsletter? Then please let us know this by sending an email to info@nwo-i.nl.
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NWO-I, the Institutes Organisation of NWO, is an independent foundation belonging to NWO. The following nine institutes are part of NWO-I: AMOLF, ARCNL, ASTRON, CWI, DIFFER, Nikhef, NIOZ, NSCR and SRON. The workgroups in which physics research takes place at Dutch universities and knowledge institutes are also part of NWO-I.
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