Newsletter for NWO-I employees |
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CWI and DIFFER collaborate with universities of applied sciences in L.INT lectorate: "I try to link the applied research at our university of applied sciences with the theoretical knowledge at CWI" |
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DIFFER and CWI collaborate with universities of applied sciences via a L.INT research group (in Dutch: lectoraat) headed by a L.INT research professor. Over four years the institute and university of applied sciences built a long-term partnership. Engineering lecturer Chris Lee (Fontys Hogeschool, DIFFER) and computer scientist Jurjen Helmus (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, CWI) talk about the power of combining fundamental and applied research. |
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Jurjen Helmus (CWI), Chris Lee (DIFFER) |
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Negotiation results for the Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutes 2025-2026 |
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Credits: shutterstock.com |
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On 13 October 2025, following intensive and constructive negotiations, the WVOI and employee organisations FNV, CNV and AOb reached a negotiation result on a new Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutes (CAO-OI). This result strikes a balance between improving purchasing power, expanding leave provisions and promoting sustainable employability in a broad sense. The employee organisations will present the negotiation result to their members and announce by 6 November at the latest whether this negotiation result constitutes a definitive collective labour agreement. Employers will submit the negotiation result to their boards for approval. |
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Pension at NWO-I: changing jobs |
The implications for your pension(s) when changing employers |
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At NWO-I, you accrue pension via ABP, the General Pension Fund for Public Employees in the Netherlands. It’s possible you have worked elsewhere in the past and accrued pension there as well. Where is your pension pot in that case? And what happens to the pension you have accrued at ABP if you leave NWO-I at some point? Will your pension still be there if you change jobs after having worked at NWO-I for a shorter or longer period of time? This month, in our series on pensions, we will explain exactly how this works and what you need to do to get your full pension paid out later – when you stop working. |
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Credits: shutterstock.com |
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Looking back: Science Weekend at SRON in Groningen and Leiden |
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Demonstration Science Weekend. Credits: SRON |
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Five of our institutes participated in this year's Science Weekend on 4 and 5 October. One of these was SRON, which opened the doors of its Groningen location to visitors. A week later it held another open day, at its Leiden location. This time as part of NL Space Week . Claudia van Oostrum is head of communications at SRON and helped organise both open days. Together with her, we look back at the events. |
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NWO/NWO-I celebrates coming out day |
Column David van Walderveen: ‘I didn't feel like it either, but I did it anyway.’ |
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Saturday 11 October was Coming Out Day, a day that draws attention to the moment when someone openly declares their sexual orientation or gender identity: coming out. We also celebrate Coming Out Day at NWO/NWO-I. To mark this day, David van Walderveen (team leader Strategic Support at DIFFER) has once again written a column this year. He places Coming Out Day 2025 in the current reality: ‘I didn't feel like it either, but I did it anyway.’ |
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Credits: shutterstock.com |
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ARCNL highlight: Hard diamond breaks down- even at the nanoscale |
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From left to right: PhD students Dennis Kang, Enrico Pedretti and Ozan Sahin show a diamond-coated sample in the lab.
Diamonds are a drill’s best friend |
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(Synthetic) diamond is considered one of the hardest materials on earth and is used, for example, in drill bits. Yet even this powerhouse breaks down sooner or later. At the nanoscale: atom by atom.
The deterioration of synthetic diamond is also subject to environmental factors such as humidity. This has been demonstrated by research conducted by ARCNL and the University of Bologna. They investigated the imprint of a shifting diamond – under constant pressure of more than a billion kilograms per square metre. With this insight, researchers can predict the lifespan of diamond coatings: particularly valuable for the many applications of diamond, from cutting tools to micromechanical systems (MEMS). |
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Esther Jansen wins ERG Neurodiversity design competition |
Small pins with a big impact |
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This summer, the NWO/NWO-I Employee Resource Group (ERG) Neurodiversity organised a button badge design competition with the assignment 'How does my brain feel today?'. To our delight, we received beautiful and thoughtful designs from virtually every corner of NWO-D, the NWO Institutes and the NWO-I office. In total, we received almost 80 entries! This wide variety beautifully demonstrated what we already knew: that, regardless of neurodiversity, every brain is different. |
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On behalf of the ERG Neurodiversity, Bahar Salbacak (left) and Harald den Breejen (right) present the award to winner Esther Jansen (centre). |
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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 ten institutes are part of NWO-I: AMOLF, ARCNL, ASTRON, CWI, DIFFER, HFML-FELIX Nikhef, NIOZ, NSCR and SRON. |
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