Jacqueline Drost started as the new Recognition and Rewards project leader on the 1st of April. She has previously worked as a PhD student and assistant professor at the Nijmegen School of Management at Radboud University and finished her PhD on rankings at the University of Twente. "In my PhD research, I aimed to gain a better understanding of the role rankings play in (public) organisations: the becoming and enactment of rankings in daily organisational practices and the unfolding performative consequences for the rankings, the daily organisational practices, and the organisation at large.
“Studying the becoming, enactment and performative consequences of rankings has enabled me to theorise about the Quantum-effect of rankings: the inability of rankings to represent what they intend to; their inability to create transparency. My study shows that although rankings measure, value, and visualise performances - like the quality of a researcher - the particular ranking practices of measuring, valuing, and visualising, change these performances at the same time. The rankings can thus hardly provide a representation of the performances they intend to represent. Rankings intend to create transparency, but since they will not be able to, they are thus the opposite of what they are meant to be or meant to create. This is the irony of rankings.”
Recognition & Rewards in Action
Since the start of the Recognition and Rewards programme, new collaborations have been initiated and the first steps were taken in revising policies in line with Radboud University's vision. For example, the Radboud Institute for Culture and History (RICH) recently decided to award researcher start-up grants to pairs. To establish new academic collaborations, a group of researchers shared their research interests and searched for ways to fruitfully connect and combine their expertise. The result: a start-up grant assigned to two assistant professors, who now jointly supervise a PhD student.
"In my first weeks as project leader, I have observed lots of initiatives towards Recognition and Rewards, both at a policy level and within the faculties, and inspiring examples in which people work together to translate Radboud’s vision of Recognition and Rewards into practice. To name a few: introducing Recognition and Rewards committees, the signing of the Agreement on Reforming Academic Assessment, developing new policies on academic career paths, and the start of the Recognition and Rewards route for professional services," says project leader Drost.
Conversations are essential for change. In May, the dialogue card game mmmAcademia will be released widely within the university. This card game aims to stimulate conversation on Recognition and Rewards by inviting employees to reflect on the programme at Radboud University.
Recognition and Rewards is teamwork
Drost: “The ambitions of Radboud’s Recognition and Rewards programme become much more vibrant when we collaborate. We need to work together, reflect, and share our thoughts and experiences to further translate and refine these ambitions into our daily work practices. Please contact me if you would like to share good practices, new ideas or initiatives, but also if you have questions about the programme. Only together can we make this transition a reality."