Claartje Levelt nieuwe WD LUCL: ‘Wil iets terugdoen voor het instituut’
Claartje Levelt was appointed Scientific Director of LUCL on 1 September. ‘It is precisely in these financially uncertain times that we want to create new opportunities.’
Levelt has been working for LUCL since 2000. ‘That’s a long time,’ she says. ‘I think it’s a great institute, with wonderful colleagues, good research, and a pleasant atmosphere. I wanted to give something back.’
Financially challenging times
She is starting her term in a period of financial turmoil. Although a reorganisation is off the cards, the faculty still has to cut costs. ‘Fortunately, LUCL is not in a bad position,’ she says. ‘At the same time, we will also have to deal with natural attrition and positions that can’t be filled due to the vacancy filter that remains in place. We will have to find creative solutions for this and make sure that we don't have to do more with fewer people.’
New opportunities
Levelt will soon begin a series of discussions with all the research groups. ‘Because I have been working here for so long, I know most of my colleagues well, but I don't always know exactly what is happening in their field of research. I understand from my predecessor, Sjef Barbiers, that as Scientific Director you constantly come across interesting research that you didn't know existed, so I’m really looking forward to those discussions, also to see how we as an institute might be able to innovate.’
AI will certainly play an important role in this. ‘My predecessors Lisa Cheng and Sjef Barbiers have already been very active in exploring opportunities in the field of AI and computational linguistics. This is not hype or something that will blow over, so we really need to look at which research areas within LUCL could be strengthened with AI.’ To this end, it may be helpful that Barbiers is moving to the INT, where a lot of work is being done on AI research. Levelt: ‘One of the recommendations from the research assessment was to seek more collaboration with partners outside the university. This is one way we could achieve that.’
Collaboration
Levelt also intends to seek collaboration with her colleagues who are responsible for education at the institute. ‘When you make cutbacks, you have to ensure that you not only keep your programmes running, but also that you maintain their high quality and that students continue to enrol in them. A great deal has already been done to improve the efficiency of our bachelor's programmes; now we need to get to work on the master's programmes. It's great that our Director of Education, Tijmen Pronk, is willing to stay on for another six months. Together with him and the programme chairs, we will work to keep the programmes as strong and attractive as possible within the financial constraints.’
Open door and a chat
Levelt emphasises that she is also open to ideas from colleagues on a more informal basis. ‘I hope everyone knows where to find me. Sjef always had his door open when he wasn't in a meeting, and I want to keep that tradition alive. I also plan to walk around a lot and keep everyone away from their work with a chat.’