Academia in Motion: ‘Our collective responsibility to create, share and improve knowledge’
Anna van ’t Veer is the face of Open Science Community Leiden (OSCL). She calls for an academic system that centres transparency. ‘Culture chance can only be achieved together.’
Assistant professor at the Institute of Psychology, Anna van ’t Veer, tells us what Academia in Motion (AiM) means to her: ‘For me, it means bringing our community together to create an open future.’
What does an open future look like to you?
‘That we no longer see science as an individual endeavour but as a collective responsibility to create, share and improve knowledge. That means not only making publications, data and methods accessible, but also critically reflecting on the systems in which we work.
‘My ideal is an academic system that enables us to work transparently and responsibly from a shared set of values. That includes openness and academic integrity, but also justice, inclusion and diversity. If we do Open Science well, we can drop the word “open” because then it’s just science.
‘If we do Open Science well, we can drop the word “open” because then it’s just science.’
‘Ideally, it would be a self-correcting system: open to collaboration from different perspectives and grounded in critical reflection and verification. That is the exact opposite of what I see all too often – a culture in which academics survive by being closed, individualistic and competitive.
‘In my ideal future, publishing is no longer about showcasing your work in high-impact journals, but about using a diversity of formats that align with the purpose of the research and its intended audience. We could, for example, share steps in the process at an earlier stage and select the best format to convey our findings. That would encourage real dialogue with the intended audience and allow for broader input from the outset.’
How do you put this into practice yourself?
‘The work I do, be it in teaching, research, community management or policy, is about how we can improve science. I try to make my work as open and transparent as possible: through tutorials, pre-registrations and preprints, for example.
‘But alongside these tangible outputs, my focus is mainly on making connections, collaborating, taking responsibility for creating the time and space within our system so that others can work as openly and honestly. I deliberately invest a great deal of time in community building because I believe that culture chance can only be achieved together.’
You’re the OSCL community manager. How is the network developing?
‘I’m proud of how the OSCL has grown into a place where people feel at home and learn from one another, and of how the network of these communities is expanding across the world. Change is often driven by colleagues at the early stages of their career because they see what’s at stake and the barriers that exist in the system. I see the OSCL as a platform for supporting and amplifying our colleagues’ initiatives and good practices.’
‘There’s greater awareness as well as more policy and infrastructure to support transparent ways of working.’
How far have we come?
‘We’ve made significant progress, especially compared with where Open Science stood a decade ago. There’s greater awareness as well as more policy and infrastructure to support transparent ways of working. At the same time, we’re in the middle of a transition, where old and new systems exist side by side. This can lead to tension: for example, in how researchers are evaluated during annual reviews, promotion processes or recruitment. I see it as an exploratory phase of figuring out what these new norms should look like in practice.’
Within your institute, you’re involved in a project focusing on working strategically within AiM. What does that entail?
‘My colleague Marret Noordewier and I are working on a national (Open Science NL) grant aimed at translating the AiM philosophy to the departmental strategies. A strategy isn’t an abstract document but a guide that supports conscious decision-making about how we work together and recognise and reward people openly and fairly, particularly in GROW interviews, promotion processes and recruitment.
‘Much of this strategy already exists implicitly in teams, but making it explicit sparks meaningful conversations. For example, about moving away from the idea that everyone should be chasing papers and grants, and instead evaluating people on the roles and contributions they make to the strategic goals of their department.
‘That can feel risky at times, especially given that changes are needed at every level of the organisation before all the pieces fall into place. But at the same time, I can see how this approach helps people thrive.’
How we’re setting Academia in Motion at Leiden University
This interview is part of a series highlighting the various actions colleagues are taking to support culture change at Leiden University. Together we are becoming an open knowledge community, closely connected to society, that recognises and rewards everyone’s contribution to our strategic goals. Curious? Visit the Academia in Motion website.
Text: Margriet van der Zee