On Thursday, the 29th of August, the Deans of the Dutch engineering disciplines met for the annual Engineering Day held at the University of Twente. Together with representatives of the engineering discipline councils and NWO, they discussed how to strengthen the organisation of the Engineering domain in the Netherlands. The introduction of discipline councils was highlighted as a significant step toward increasing visibility for individual disciplines and providing a central contact point for external organisations such as NWO and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). These councils help strengthen the position of scientists by uniting efforts. It was agreed that reports and best practices between discipline councils would be shared to prevent each council from "reinventing the wheel".
After lunch and tours to the DesignLab, Robotics Centre, ITC and NanoLab, there were parallel sessions focused on Sectorplans, Large-Scale Research Infrastructure and Outreach.
In the first session, we discussed the upcoming visits from the Sector Plan Committee, which are seen as an opportunity to evaluate whether the funds have been effectively utilised. One key discussion point was how universities are managing the unfilled positions within Sector Plan Technology 2, given the uncertainty surrounding future funding.
In the second session, we agreed that maintaining a comprehensive overview of the Large-Scale Research Infrastructure (LSRI) and developing a new roadmap by 2025 is crucial. There is a proposal to ensure that scientists play a greater role in the LSRI Technology Group.
The third session focused on our collective efforts to reach out to high school students and make the engineering domain attractive to them. Action points, such as coordinating outreach efforts with available seed funding, were discussed to drive joint initiatives forward.
All in all, a very fruitful day!
