08 Operationalising our impact ambitions

For Erasmus MC, impact was already an integral part of their strategy for 2023 — Koers23: Technology & Commitment — in which they described Erasmus MC’s ambition to create impact and make a difference for a healthy society by being at the forefront of innovations in medical care and being a committed and valued partner. Building further on Koers23 (EN: Direction 2023), Erasmus MC sharpened their impact ambitions for the next strategic period—Koers28: The future starts by doing. The name says something about the lessons Erasmus MC took from the previous strategic period. In order to really create impact, they found that they needed to give concrete substance to Erasmus MC’s societal responsibilities in transforming healthcare - not only by ‘thinking’ about strategies but also by ‘doing’ (i.e. executing those strategies). 

The main goal as described in Koers28 (EN: Direction 2028) is to transform healthcare by making it more accessible, sustainable and balanced. Erasmus MC’s impact ambitions go beyond ‘just’ ensuring good care, focusing on three specific ambitions through which Erasmus MC aims to transform healthcare: (1) strengthening tertiary, digital, and fitting patient care; (2) solving societal challenges through scientific research; and (3) investing in learning for the care of the future. Erasmus MC also found that a strong foundation is necessary to achieve their ambitions. They build further on this foundation by working to keep and attract employees, foster a value-driven culture and leadership, building an innovative technological and digital infrastructure (together with partners), and through effective management. Instrumental to start ‘doing’ has proven to be Erasmus MC’s participation in collaborations, such as Convergence and the collaboration with other hospitals in the region. 

As the pilot School for the R&R programme at EUR, ESSB has implemented several significant steps towards enhancing their academic environment, and fostering professional development, since its inception in 2019. These steps include the use of narratives for the development cycle for all academic staff, new promotion criteria accommodating R&R, the implementation of team-based working and team leads, leadership training for team leads, and differentiated career paths for assistant- and associate professors through focus profiles. In addition to the ‘classic’ profile in which teaching and research form the main focus, associate and assistant professors of ESSB can now opt for an education profile, a research profile, a management profile, or an impact profile. Even though each of those initiatives benefits ESSB’s impact capacity, this report will focus mainly on their impact profiles.

As part of a pilot together with HR, two impact profiles were implemented within ESSB. These preliminary profiles are generalisations from semi-structured interviews with scientific staff, at assistant- and associate professor level across ESSB departments. Because impact is complex, diverse, and quite intangible, some additional considerations were presented as context with the profiles. For example, it was important to highlight that many staff members ‘do’ impact in some way and should be acknowledged, rewarded for their work and stimulated to continue.

In line with the objectives of the R&R framework but tailor-made to the School’s culture and ambitions, ESL has worked to shift the focus of their system for career development of academic staff. This shift moves from an exclusively output-driven evaluation process with quantitative indicators, to recognising and appreciating the academic staff’s individual talent, skills, and contributions to the School’s and their department’s objectives. The framework of guiding indicators for portfolio assessment research are set out in separate guidelines, defining for the School the quality framework for research.

This framework divides activities into three pillars: products/activities, use/impact, and marks of recognition. Assessment of output in the three pillars focuses on two aspects: scientific quality (targeting scientific peers) and societal relevance (targeting policymakers, legislators, legal, criminology or tax law professionals, and the public). This means that, in addition to research and teaching, societal impact and relevance form a key activity of academics at ESL. The starting point is the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) report ‘Towards a framework for quality assessment of social science research (2013, in Dutch). As a result, within ESL’s system of career development of their academic staff, impact is a visible topic of conversation. Based on ESL’s guidelines and the advice on how to evaluate this, a combination of a pre-determined checklist and a ‘hand-weighted’ impression of the overall portfolio is used to evaluate the impact of the outputs someone has produced. Societal relevance is also an important demand within the guidelines for the promotion committee of ESL.

Both ESE and ESHCC reward impact work in the form of awards. Every year, ESE presents several awards to employees, rewarding and promoting the quality of education, research, and professional support. From 2016, ESE has introduced a Societal Impact Award. The awards are presented to a member of the School’s staff who has made an important contribution to the application of scientific insights within society at large and/or the improvement of sustainability within ESE during the past year. This year, the award went to Team Sustainable ICU, consisting of Prof. Albert Wagelmans, Dr Sophie van der Zee, Dr Wilco van den Heuvel, and Prof. Pilar García-Gómez.

ESHCC introduced a yearly societal engagement award in 2023. By highlighting the best examples of societal engagement within ESHCC’s academics, they show that societal engagement is something the School strives for and is proud of. For the societal engagement award, all staff members within ESHCC can nominate themselves or colleagues—both academic and professional services staff. The award can be won for many different types of output, ranging from an academic article to an educational project or course. After receiving ten strong nominations in 2024, the two winners for 2024, Dr João Gonçalves and Tessa Oomen were selected.

To further facilitate the recognition and reward of diverse activities and talents, several units and Schools across EUR have implemented a new form of assessing personal development of staff – moving from the Performance & Development cycle to the development cycle. The goal of the development cycle at EUR is to provide an accessible and structural way for managers and employees to focus on the growth, development, well-being, and quality of employees. Paying attention to these elements brings out the best in employees and teams. Connectivity and diversity are encouraged, enabling employees to create a positive impact on the goals to be achieved. 

In line with this, ISS aims to promote a culture of impact every step of the way. This starts with hiring staff members who are impact-oriented and giving them the space and freedom to fulfil this focus. This may mean for instance having the opportunity to travel as part of one’s research projects. However, this is not enough. If you want to change a culture, you have to start with the leadership. Therefore, ISS strives for impact to be part of everything leadership does, specifically in the ‘little’ things: from the questions leaders ask during a meeting (e.g. ‘who benefits from your research?’ and ‘how have you worked with your stakeholders?’; instead of ‘what journal are you planning to publish in?’) to the Dean being part of and actively engaged with the content of as many of the events organised by and at ISS as possible. This way, leadership shows an intrinsic interest in what staff are doing. However, this type of organic leadership focused on impact also brings its own challenges. A persistent question within ISS is ‘where are the procedures for this?’. For ISS, these procedures are difficult to describe – much of the value of leadership lay in less-tangible actions. Another challenge for ISS is that people remain worried about the focus on impact in terms of their future careers. Therefore, ISS leadership is encouraged to emphasise several options in ‘how to build your profile’. A central question here is: ‘How can we allow for different impact identities to flourish without constraining them?’. Proceduralising everything is not the answer. Nonetheless, this narrative-based new approach to the development cycle is a step in the right direction.

Within ESE, engagement is one of the four domains outlined in their Strategic Plan, alongside education, research, and operations. This signifies a fundamental shift in mindset and working practices. In September 2022, a Director of Engagement at ESE – Dr Bas Karreman – was appointed to help facilitate this shift and serve as a focal point for the School’s societal impact-related work; act as a liaison with affiliated companies; provide advice to the management team on matters of social impact; and foster an impact-oriented community including alumni, academic partners, and stakeholders from the public and private sectors. To support the Director of Engagement, policy advisor for engagement Nina Escrivá Fernandez MSc was hired in September 2023. Their most recent Impact Day Energy Transition in May 2024 showcased how academic insights and industry practices can jointly drive the energy transition.

ESL also established governance for impact with a strong focus on engagement. Several years ago, they appointed a Vice Dean of Impact and Reputation, Prof. Philip Hans Franses. This role shows leadership of the School in these specific topics and makes related initiatives more visible. ESL naturally has both feet in society and is driven by creating impact through their research and education. However, for ESL, it is important to further this impact through engagement. To shape this engagement even more clearly, it is also the task of the Vice Dean to encourage employees of ESL to make the impact they create visible to the outside world. In practice, this has manifested in several ways and through several themes. A good example of the Vice Dean of Impact and Reputation contribution is the focus on improving ESL’s science communication. By encouraging and enabling their researchers to be active in the public debate and communicate about their research, they have not only substantially improved the number of readers about ESL’s (scientific) news as well as the time they spend on each webpage but also successfully contributed to the public debate through news outlets.

For ESPhil, it was important to facilitate value-driven work throughout EUR in order to seek connections, drive social engagement, and stimulate the development of an open-minded perspective and thus an open society. With the Erasmus of Rotterdam research Centre (ERRC), the EUR spearheads national and international debates on social values within organisations as well as in society at large. In affiliation with the ERRC, Prof. Ronald van Raak was appointed as a Professor of Erasmian Values focusing on questions concerning academic integrity and trust in science. For van Raak, it is really about the content when it comes to EUR creating positive societal impact:

‘What are the limits of academic freedom? To what extent may commerce be of influence in science? Why is science more than simply an opinion?’ These are the questions that a university community should tackle to determine its place in society. Erasmus University can draw inspiration from its namesake here, and from the values this great European thinker stood for. 

In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, effective communication is essential for maintaining productivity and job satisfaction. Recognising this need, Project FOCUS—Flourishing Diversity through Constructive Conversations—aims to equip its workforce with essential mediation skills that foster a positive and supportive workplace atmosphere.

Education & Student Affairs (E&S) contributes to an environment made for impact through their support and guidance for students, helping them achieve their potential. One of the ways in which E&S has worked to improve their student support is through the deployment of student guidance counsellors with a focus on specific themes. Specifically, these guidance counsellors offer specialised support on specific themes, such as international students, studying with a disability, finances, prevention, and diversity and inclusion. E&S has also started a pilot with a health coach. By focusing on these themes, E&S ensures that the chances of study success for students are increased. Moreover, by making it financially attractive for international students to acquire a basic level of the Dutch language, E&S works to contribute to a higher stay-rate of EUR’s international students.

E&S has also invested in a more inclusive Eurekaweek, which has led to greater diversity in the programming, allowing smaller student organisations to present themselves to new students. The annual process of recruiting and selecting the team that organises Eurekaweek has also been reviewed and adjusted in collaboration with IDEA to make Team Eureka as diverse as possible. E&S has also established and launched a Core Team for Acute Crisis Areas in 2023. This team ensures that students (and employees) receive the right support to continue their studies in the event of an acute crisis abroad. In addition to their support for students, E&S supports academic staff across Schools, so they can focus on teaching and research in the best way possible.

Offering the ultimate learning environment in which researchers, teachers, students, and employees feel comfortable and are encouraged to create impact is at the heart of what Real Estate and Facilities (REF) does. REF contributes to our learning environment in many ways. By working on physical accessibility, but also in demonstrating that everyone is welcome, for instance with the realisation of the rainbow pedestrian crossing on campus Woudestein. REF also aims to inspire and excite students and researchers by providing a stimulating environment, through their management of the EUR art collection. REF offers a sustainable environment by building or renovating buildings according to the BREEAM standard, making them an example for other real estate parties. They also include sustainability requirements in their tendering requirements, which encourages EUR’s suppliers to become even more sustainable. Sustainability has been part of REF’s purchasing policy in 2021, and in 2023 an EUR-wide framework was established around six sustainable procurement themes: Climate, Circular, Chain Responsibility, Diversity and Inclusion, Social Return, and Environment and Biodiversity.

There have been some challenges in adhering to these new guidelines. While REF’s work requires them to plan ahead, unclarity about what is sustainability and inclusivity—and which choices the university should make there—often results in ad hoc decision-making. Often, once policies for impact are put in place, executing them regularly evoke resistance from staff or students in their implementation. Measures that are taken to create impact for different reasons can be conflicting as the most inclusive choice is not always the most effective or efficient one. And the most efficient choice is not always the most sustainable one. When initiatives come from outside REF’s department, often REF is not involved from the start. This may result in decision-making that affects their work without REF having a chance to think about solutions. A challenge for REF here is to anticipate more, rather than putting out fires. By getting involved at an earlier stage and being more flexible, they can better tailor their services to the needs of end-users. In the end, REF highlights that research and education are the most powerful way to create societal impact as EUR. Enabling this, through an inclusive, stimulating, and effective learning environment, is their main goal. Campus Woudestein can be a perfect testing ground for innovation—more than it is now. To establish this testing ground, REF is open to innovation and new partnerships.

Aiming to connect and enlarge this group within the university, and in response to student-led movement Occupy EUR, we organised twelve university-wide dialogues on sustainability in 2023. These dialogues were intended for and well-attended by both students and staff. In total, over 500 staff and students contributed their ideas to set new standards for sustainability at EUR. All Schools hosted dialogues tailored to School- and discipline-specific sustainability challenges. The dialogues were prepared, organised and followed up by staff and students from each participating School. Content and organisational support came from DIT  and the Erasmus Sustainability Hub. The school-specific set-up also ensured that the dialogues were linked to ongoing sustainability initiatives at the Schools, ranging from established sustainability experts, existing workgroups, or even full sustainability programmes. Moreover, a multidisciplinary team hosted three cross-School dialogues revolving around sustainability topics that impact the entire university.

The topic of sustainability sparks diverse and sometimes conflicting opinions at EUR. Nonetheless, each School’s Dean and the University Board have committed to integrating insights from these dialogues into sustainability strategies across individual Schools and the university.

On the road to a more sustainable future, several initiatives have taken place on Campus Woudestein. One very tangible example is the long-planned renovation of the campus pond, carried out in 2024. The renovation was a great opportunity to make the pond more compatible with its natural surroundings. EUR asked an ecologist to advise on adjustments, to promote biodiversity on campus. Together with the ecologist and the Municipality of Rotterdam EUR has transformed the campus pond into a place in which biodiversity can increase rapidly. Another example of a renovation that reiterates EUR’s ambitious sustainability programme, is the renovation of the Tinbergen Building. The much-needed renovation, started July 2024, will result in a building that will feature improved roof and floor insulation, energy-efficient elevator systems, and solar panels on the roof. It has also been agreed with the contractor that materials removed during the renovation will be reused as much as possible.