Cursor 17 - year 55 by redactie Cursor

17 May 8, 2013 | year 55

Biweekly magazine of the Eindhoven University of Technology For news: www.cursor.tue.nl and follow tuecursor on andmm

6 | Fighting for females 3 An Orange Green Strip

4 A Mondrian from the computer

10 University news

2 | For Starters

Colophon Editor in chief Han Konings

Executive editor Brigit Span

May 8, 2013

Discussing women shortage taboo? The thing that surprised me most while doing a background story on female assistant professors at TU/e was the apparent taboo on the subject. Departmental boards didn’t answer

our questions. Women were reluctant to speak their minds, fearing for their careers. TU/e still has a long way to go before it will have more women in high positions, anyway. So how are we ever

going to get there if we can’t even discuss the issue properly?

Read the special starting on page 6.

Judith van

Editorial staff Judith van Gaal Tom Jeltes | Science Frits van Otterdijk Norbine Schalij Monique van de Ven

Rewwwind www.cursor.tue.nl

Photography

Gaal

Our Rewwwind feature provides you with snippets of last week’s news. What happened online after the previous Cursor magazine was published?

Bart van Overbeeke

Cover David Ernst

Community garden at TU/e

Translation Annemarie van Limpt (pages 2,3,6,7,8) Benjamin Ruijsenaars (page 4,5)

Layout Natasha Franc

Editorial board prof.dr. Cees Midden prof.dr. Hans Niemantsverdriet Angela Stevens- van Gennip Thomas Reijnaerts Arold Roestenburg Anneliese Vermeulen-Adolfs

Address editorial office TU/e, Laplace 0.35 5600 MB Eindhoven tel. 040 - 2474020 e-mail: cursor@tue.nl

7 May 2013 - Last weekend, between Paviljoen and Connector, a modest piece of land was converted to a vegetable garden to-be. Everyone with green thumbs itching to get started at TU/e is most welcome. The vegetable garden idea came from Saurabh Aurora and Eveline de Hoop, two TU/e faculty members. De Hoop: “I set up a community garden before, back when I studied at Oxford. A lot of TU/e folk took to the idea, including professor Ruth Oldenziel. She started lobbying for us with the Executive Board, which OK’d the plan in mid-April.

Landscaping then ploughed in a small strip of land between Paviljoen and Connector.” The spot is a convenient one for several reasons: it may be expanded should its popularity increase; there are no plans for construction anytime soon, and it’s close to the IPO building, so De Hoop can keep gardening tools in her office. “Everyone’s free to come and garden with us, a link with TU/e is not yet required. We do have to set up some type of association still, however.” Whoever wants to help out can contact Eveline de Hoop at e.d.hoop@tue.nl.

Cursor online www.cursor.tue.nl

Print Janssen/Pers, Gennep

Advertisement Bureau Van Vliet BV tel. 023 - 5714745

The Science of Sound new elective at Bachelor College

Eindhoven second in Batavieren Race

3 May 2013 - Sound as a new theme at the Bachelor College? That doesn’t sound half bad, some TU/e departments must have thought. A number of assistant professors got to work and now present ‘The Science of Sound and Music’.The program aims at students who are interested in sound.

1 May 2013 - Team TU/e-Fontys came in second place in the University ranking of the 41st Batavieren Race. The 175-kilometer relay from Nijmegen to Enschede for students was won by team RU-HAN from Nijmegen. Finishing first in the first stage, the Eindhoven

They may be found at Built Environment (acoustics, urban noise), Mechanical Engineering (loud machines), IE&IS (perception of sound), Electrical Engineering (amplifiers), or Industrial Design (sounds quality in product design).

running team made their mark right away. In the following stages, results varied. Thanks to good results in other laps the team managed to secure second place, coming in 17 minutes after the winning team.

Brainmatters Psychology is becoming ever more important at TU/e. Technical systems and artifacts, be they games, cars, robots, lighting systems or buildings, are all meant for human end users eventually. It’s essential to know how these users perceive, think, feel, and act. The new human-oriented program Psychology & Technology examines every technical design from a psychological perspective. From now on, Cursor will be taking a closer psychological look at students, teachers, labs, technical artifacts, the workplace, the scientific business, campus, education, and websites.

The Bachelor College ‘For faculty members, the Bachelor College means motivated students, support in the development and use of new teaching methods and techniques, more results from educational efforts, more time for student coaching and a more challenging workspace because of collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines.’ On the intranet, the above text attempts to outline the merits of the Bachelor College (BC) for faculty members. Let’s see what the BC really means for the staff, based on two pillars that predict people’s behavior at work: health and professional motivation. Does the BC provide a ‘healthy’ and motivating workplace for its faculty? Research -by yours truly, among others- shows that people work most healthily and motivated in workplaces with feasible job demands and where they have access to ample resources. Job demands are aspects that require effort, and for that reason they’re associated with costs. Examples are workload, time pressure, conflicting expectations, and conflicts with students. Resources are aspects that relieve the handling of job demands and reduce the costs associated with them. Examples of this include autonomy (or discretion), colleague support, supervision and organization, and opportunities for development.

Being presented with feasible job demands and sufficient resources, people are willing and able to work hard for their jobs. It may have been inevitable that with the implementation of the BC came more job demands (developing new Eva Demer outi, profes sor of Organ courses, implementing new test methods, Human Dec izational B ision Proc ehavior an esses of th more teaching hours, many deadlines, and d e HMP grou Photo | Bar p at IE&IS t van Overb . more students). But are there enough resources eeke to alleviate all these job demands? Think of instrumental help with the development and teaching of new education and teaching assistants, administrative help, discretion, social support, recognition for good work, teacher coaching. In the long run, the combination of high job demands and insufficient resources may lead to burnouts (and the consequences that come with those). For the BC (and the performance of TU/e) to be successful, it’s therefore essential for faculty members’ job demands to remain feasible, and to offer sufficient resources.

For Starters | 3

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Vox Academici Prof.ir. Wil Kling, professor of Electrical Energy Systems, Department of EE

Is an all-encompassing energy agreement feasible for the Netherlands?

Wil Kling. Photo | Bart van Overbeeke

The SER (Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands) wants to draw up an energy agreement for sustainable growth, which should include binding arrangements concerning energy saving, clean energy technologies, and climate policy. Marcel Galjee and Hans Schoolderman, two consultants at PwC, researched the possibilities and concluded in newspaper FD that an ‘Energiewende’ like in Germany, a country that wants to phase out all nuclear energy eventually, is unfeasible in the Netherlands. So then what do we do? “By 2020, the European Union wants the Netherlands to get fourteen percent of their energy from renewable energy sources. The government raised that number to 16. For the generation of

electricity, that means 42 percent of the total should be renewable. Currently, it’s only 10 percent”, says Wil Kling, who’s been a fulltime professor at Electrical Engineering for the past five

years, and worked at national electricity transmission operator TenneT in the ten years before that. “In order to meet that goal, we’ll have to do serious investments in the years to come. The share of renewable energy in the Netherlands is currently only 4.5 percent. To make sure electricity systems reach that sixteen percent, and remain stable and reliable at the same time, Energie-Nederland (representative of power companies) estimates we need 38 billion euro.” It’s an astronomical sum of money, especially in these financially dire times. “As a scientist, I don’t focus on the economic situation, but on whether or not it’s technically feasible to arrange a system using the specific characteristics of those renewable sources. The high investments are the result of the fickle nature of sun and wind, requiring backup systems and networks that can help out during peaks in energy consumption. It’s something we’re researching a lot right now: couldn’t this be more efficient, using smart grids, more control, more financial incentives, etc.” “Network stability and supply guarantees are important aspects, too, aspects that electricity transmission operators and producers and suppliers of energy

debate about. When there’s no wind - and half the time there isn’t any - or when the sun doesn’t shine, the operator wants a backup plan. In case of strong winds and bright sunny days, conventional power stations have to be able to switch back. Right now, the Netherlands are faced with major overcapacity, but the operators don’t like energy producers closing gas or coal plants, because that would be detrimental to supply guarantees and stability.

“We’ll have to do serious investments in the years to come”

“These are groups of individuals and companies that want to produce their own energy, either for mutual exchange or to offer to others. You could say they’re modern-day versions of antennae associations. But because all these households own their own homes, the government isn’t ready to OK their plans just like that. They probably fear losing tax money. For now, only companies located at industrial areas, or institutions like TU/e are allowed to. I expect the law to be adjusted within five years. I think by then, there’s a distributed solution with local incentives to control supply and demand, something a country like Germany doesn’t fuss about as much, for example. But even then a reliable transportation and distribution network will be necessary.” (HK)

In turn, producers feel the government should compensate them for keeping those plants up and running. This financial jousting between these companies and the government has been going on for several years now. But it’s a global discussion, really.” One thing Kling is genuinely excited about, are ‘energy cooperations’.

Green Strip temporarily orange On April

30, SSRE celebrated

the last Queensday on TU/e campus, with performances

5 artists who entertained 10,000 visitors (according

to security estimates) from

1-10PM. 30 minutes

before the official end time the festival was almost abandoned, so the organization pulled the plug.

4PM, approximately 3,500 party people were

Around

trampling the grass on the Green Strip. Due to the chilly spring, the grass wasn’t strong enough yet. Luckily, SSRE factored in that financial blow, because it will be charged for the resowing of the strip. The price tag for the new grass:

700 to 800 euro. (NS)

This photo pictures the day after and was taken by Mathematics student Bor de Kock.

4 | Research

May 8, 2013

Loe Feijs. Photo | Bart van Overbeeke

Research | 5

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A Mondrian from the computer Art and technology have more in common than people often think. As is proved by TU/e professor Loe Feijs. Having written a computer program that creates ‘Mondrians’ he made the most beautiful variant of the painter’s famous Victory Boogie Woogie. It yielded him a performance with Pauw & Witteman and an honorable place in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. Right next to the real Victory Boogie Woogie. By simply pressing the space bar of his laptop prof.dr.ir. Loe Feijs starts his program. On the screen we see a brother (or sister) of the Victorie Boogie Woogie arise within thirty seconds. Starting from randomly chosen ‘cell nuclei’ the characteristic yellow lines with the colored small blocks first emerge, which determine the rhythm of the Boogie Woogie. Subsequently colored planes appear between these lines, which are in turn filled in with smaller rectangles. Feijs opens a window with the code and adjusts a parameter. “This produces a composition with some more detail. You’ll see that the computer also takes a little longer to draw this.” He has not pushed things to the limit to make the program work as fast as possible, the professor of Designed Intelligence explains. The benefit is that the genesis of the composition takes place before your eyes as a real-time process, which presents a beautiful spectacle. Feijs has been fascinated for a long time by the relation between abstract art and computer science. After having graduated as an electrical engineer he worked at Philips for many years on computer science-related projects before coming back to TU/e at the turn of the century. When he was still employed by Philips, his leisure time was spent for many years on ‘programming’ abstract works of art. In the 1990s he was engrossed in the niceties of what makes a Mondrian a Mondrian. “If you can encompass an abstract work in a computer code, you have learned something about the essence of the work of art. You could regard the code as the DNA of the painting.”

“Of course, you can divide a painting into pixels and store it like a bit map of a couple of megabytes”, Feijs explains, who graduated on computer science theory, “but you can achieve the same result with a handful of bits, which tell you where a line is running and where there is a plane of a certain color.” The real art is to describe the whole painting with as little code as possible. By that I do not mean an exact replica of the Victory Boogie Woogie (that would be too simple and hardly instructive), but a personal composition whose properties come closest to those of a Mondrian. “What you really want to know is how much information there is contained in such a composition. According to Kolmogorov’s information theory the length of the program that you need to describe a work is a measure for the amount of information.”

“You could regard the code as the DNA of the painting” Many books have been filled with descriptions of the development in Mondrian’s work, and in Feijs’s study we can find a large number of them. “Mondrian went ever further in breaking down the figuration. He painted the same objects time and time again, like trees and churches, and in the process they turned more and more abstract. That is called plastic accentuation.”

Nothing was to remind anyone anymore of the ‘real world’. At a certain moment Mondrian only used rectangles and horizontal and vertical lines in his compositions, in the primary colors and black, white and gray. “To rid the composition of all tension, he even stopped using slanting lines.” One of the challenges of mimicking Mondrian is to create the illusion of a grid, without starting from a predesigned structure. The solution that Feijs came up with for this consists of the random placement of growth nuclei (by means of a random generator), which then develop into lines. “By proceeding like that you achieve the intended grid effect in an organic manner.” The thickening growth of the canvas with lines and planes is similar to a biological process, like the genesis of bacterial colonies in a Petri dish. Indeed, nature was a source of inspiration for the professor. He even tried via a so-called genetic algorithm to arrive at the most beautiful Victory Boogie Woogie. “To achieve this, I crossed half of the properties of a painting with half of those from another. From the offspring I then selected the best ones, which I subsequently crossed with each other again. Unfortunately, however, evolution unfolds over many generations, and I myself had to act the part of an ecological niche and take care of the natural selection. After a number of nights I’d had enough of that. It was simply taking too much time.” Still, even without the helping hand of evolution Feijs had managed to produce quite acceptable variants of different Mondrians. He published about his program in journals such as Leonardo, an academic journal for the application of science and technology to visual arts and music. In addition, he made the programming of abstract art part of the ‘Creative Programming’ assignment, which he provides with colleagues for students of his Department of Industrial Design and the Bachelor College. “This project connects our competences of

‘integrating technology’ and ‘socialcultural awareness’. The students are always very enthusiastic about this subject.” Never did Feijs venture into the Boogie Woogies (except the Victory, Mondrian also made a Broadway Boogie Woogie). Until the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, which boasts the world’s finest collection of Mondrians -including the Victory Boogie Woogie- held a competition. Feijs saw this as a nice opportunity to get feedback from experts. “Among the members of the jury were three people who had since the 1960s attempted to make this type of generative art themselves, as well as two Mondrian experts who are endeavoring in the Gemeentemuseum to unravel the genesis of the Victory Boogie Woogie by means of X ray and chemical engineering technology.”

“When the Broadway turned out to succeed, I also had the confidence to get started on the Victory” So Feijs took up programming again earlier this year. First he dug into the slightly simpler Broadway Boogie Woogie. “When that turned out to succeed quite nicely, I felt confident enough to get started on the Victory.” The concept of recursion has an essential role in the approach adopted by Feijs. Omnipresent in computer science, recursion is probably known best to the outside world as the ‘Droste effect’, derived from the old-fashioned cocoa tins showing the picture of a lady with a

Droste tin on a tray, showing the picture of a lady with a Droste tin on a tray, showing... etc. In computer programs recursion simply means that a function (a piece of code that carries out a certain assignment) invokes itself. For the Victory Boogie Woogie Feijs programmed the filling of the mini canvases -the planes which in turn are also divided into planes- as if they are paintings of themselves. Or to put it more precisely: each element of the composition (the basic small blocks -atoms-, lines, planes, mini canvases and the whole canvas) is described in a similar way in the program. “They inherit from the same class”, is how Feijs formulates this. He thereby profited from a form of recursion that is naturally present in the composition. “Unfortunately the computer has no sense of balance and beauty. That is why my program creates the best Victory’s when I carry through the recursion slightly further than in the original. The drawback is that the composition actually acquires too much detail then, although it does enhance the statistic chance that the program generates a composition that is beautifully balanced.” For the competition, Feijs selected one of the Victory’s that had worked out better and submitted it to the Gemeente museum, together with an explanation of his approach. The jury was enthusiastic, the result being that his life-sized entry now stands in Feijs’s study in the Hoofdgebouw. More important, though, is that the Gemeentemuseum had a film made in which elements of the composition are connected with pieces of programming code. This film is shown next to the original Victory Boogie Woogie. “I find that a highly applicable and contemporary approach. And of course it is a great honor as well.”

Interview | Tom Jeltes Photo | Bart van Overbeeke

6 | Zoom in

May 8, 2013

Fighting for females Interviews | Judith van Gaal and Tom Jeltes Illustrations | David Ernst Photos | Bart van Overbeeke ‘Rector: women first’. It was one of the headlines on the Cursor website recently. The news that several departments might switch to hiring female assistant professors (UD) exclusively starting in 2014 startled our university. Time to get to the bottom of the matter. Do we really have a shortage of women at the scientific top? Why? And how do we turn it around? The Executive Board decided that in 2012 and 2013, half of all new UDs must be women in order to encourage diversity at university. A proper male/ female ratio of professors, associate professors (UHD), and UDs would result in innovation and better insights, according to the Executive Board. Should departments fail to meet the board’s objective, the latter is considering approving of the appointments of female UDs exclusively for these departments starting from 2014. Rector prof.dr.ir. Hans van Duijn announced the idea at a University Council meeting last April. In 2009, TU/e signed the charter ‘Talent to the Top’, which set down the ambitions regarding the number of women in high positions. At the time it was agreed upon that the percentage of female UDs was to be increased to 26. Early this year it turned out the number of female UDs had seen a serious drop in 2012, and that consequently the charter goals will not be met. Reason for the board to sound the alarm - loudly. In a later interview, chairman of the board dr.ir. Arno Peels refined the Rector’s claim. “Primarily, departments should see it as an incentive. I advocate the idea of women getting higher up naturally. And I believe they will. But it’s important there’s constant progress. Seeing the number of women at a department stay behind, we’ll check how many women applied. We’ll enter

Network (Women in Science Eindhoven): “It makes sense to ask departments that don’t meet the Executive Board’s goal to temporarily hire female UDs exclusively in order to catch up. The differences between departments are too great. It should be decided for every department individually what’s a balanced male/ female ratio, based on the number of male and female doctoral candidates.”

The proposed measure raised some question as well. Can we actually do this? Won’t it qualify as discrimination? Checking with the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights, the answer proves ambiguous. An employee says ‘the legal framework for positive discrimination is quite strict’. “Men have to be offered a fighting chance at all times. It has to be a temporary measure.”

According to the law, affirmative action is allowed on four conditions: the shortage must be proven. No candidate can be excluded right away. The preferential treatment must be proportionate to the problem, meaning the shortage is serious. And the preferential treatment has to be made known in the recruitment period.

into a discussion with the departmental boards to hear what they feel is the reason for the discrepancy. We’re not simply going to add up and suddenly say: ‘you can only hire women from now on’. Departments will have time to solve the problem, and who knows what ideas they’ll come up with. It’s only in extreme cases that we may enforce the measure.” Opinions regarding the rector’s statement at the University Council meeting differ greatly. People commented on the news item on the Cursor website via our site, but on social media as well. We also asked our interviewees about their thoughts on the matter. A selection: Jan-Jaap Oosterwijk, PromoVE board member: “The word is out now. But what good is the measure, really? What if several women have been hired? There’s a good chance everything will go back to the way it was before.” Dr. Inge Bleijenbergh, researcher of gender and diversity, Radboud University Nijmegen: “[…] This is not a matter of women being privileged. Rather, it’s a temporary and proportional compensation for the latent discrimination brought about by a dominant group tending to opt for candidates that are like them (i.e. men). […]” Dr. Andrea Fuster and prof.dr.ir. Ines Lopez Arteaga, chairwomen of the WISE

Inflow and outflow of academic staff at TU/e (up until and including December 2012) Man/woman ratio for professors (HGL), associate professors (UHDs), assistant professors (UDs), and doctoral candidates at TU/e In 2012, a total of 21 UDs were appointed, two of which were women. In the first quarter of 2013, 12 UDs were appointed, of which 5 were women. PROFESSORS 2012 2011 2010 2009

TOTAL

WOMEN

171 175 171 168

12 11 9 8

7% 6% 5% 5%

Prior to January 1, 2012, M+F

Mutations men

Mutations women

After December 31, 2012

M out M in

F out F in

M+F

HGL

168

-17

166

UHD

123

-9

-1

120

277

-16

-11

271

Doctoral candidates UHD

TOTAL

WOMEN

2012 2011 2010 2009

122 127 126 125

10 8 5 5

UD 2012 2011 2010 2009

TOTAL 274 283 288 296

8% 6% 4% 4%

WOMEN 45 56 56 54

16% 20% 19% 18%

Currently, 28% of TU/e doctoral candidates are women. Numbers for 2012 are not yet available pending the annual report. Inflow doctoral candidates (on payroll)

Number of women in academic positions at Dutch universities Institution

HGL

UHD

Leiden University

Utrecht University

222

University of Groningen

Erasmus University

Maastricht University

University of Amsterdam

121

VU University

Radboud University

Tilburg University

Delft University of Technology

Number

% women

Eindhoven University of Technology

Year 2011

175

23 %

University of Twente

2010

228

29 %

Wageningen University

2009

224

34 %

Open University

2008

207

24 %

2007

171

28 %

Source: WOPI 2011, reference date December 31, 2011.

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What problems do departments face? The number of female UDs in their departments seemed to be a touchy subject for several Departmental boards. We e-mailed and phoned all departments, but we were answered by the Executive Board, which sent us a response on behalf of all departments. Unfortunately, the response discussed the problem at TU/e in general and didn’t say anything about individual departments. Only Built Environment, Mathematics & Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering sent us an elaborate reaction. The board of Electrical Engineering commented, but didn’t want to go into the number of female UDs in their department, or how many were appointed recently, ‘for privacy reasons’. The other Departmental boards hardly responded (ID and IE&IS), or didn’t respond at all (Chemical Engineering & Chemistry, Applied Physics, and Mechanical Engineering), even after having been contacted repeatedly. Prof.dr. Emile Aarts, dean of Mathematics & Computer Science (W&I): “I don’t feel our hands are tied now the Executive Board may require us to appoint female UDs only for a while in 2014. Should we fail to meet the targets, I expect there’s room for discussion. I’m sure they’ll want to find out why we deviate from the norm. Sometimes, deviations should be allowed. We’re aware of the issue and we’ve recently appointed another female UD. Women are important for group dynamics. They see things differently. The fact the number of female UDs at W&I is less than at some other departments has to do with a limited choice, too. We have to make sure we don’t miss out on potential. Computer Science and Mathematics are more popular in Eastern Europe, for example, where there are more women in higher positions. We have to show girls how much fun technology can be at an early age already. It’s naïve to think it’s a matter of talent. It has shown that mothers play an important part in their children’s academic career choices, so we should focus on them, too. We’re going to attach greater importance to role models in our programs by putting them in the spotlights - on our website, for example - and teaching them the value of creating and maintaining a solid network. We need to become more effective in our recruitment policy, establish personal connections with women, and keep an eye on alumni. It’s all about being alluring and being allured.”

It’s all about being alluring and being allured

Since 2012, W&I hasn’t appointed any male UDs, and 1 female UD. The total number of female UDs at Mathematics is 3; 16 are male. At Computer Science, 2 UDs are female and 23 are male. Dr. Suzanne Udo, Managing Director, Electrical Engineering: “We don’t receive many applications anyway at out department. Most are from abroad. Our graduates usually have many jobs to choose from, and although we offer the same salaries as businesses, most are not ambitious of scientific careers. We have to search our network, and ask acquaintances of acquaintances. Those looking for new faculty members should be looking for women, or you run the risk of creating an old boys’ network.

The atmosphere should change to ‘of course you’re a woman who works here’

The atmosphere should change to: ‘of course you’re a woman who works here’. On top of that, I think it’s important the quality of selection committees is defined properly and multidimensionally. Do we judge the quantity of articles, or do we consider the content as well? Changing or clarifying such criteria could make women the better candidates. Men and women have certain preconceptions about each other, so it would be a good thing for selection committees to realize that.”

Annemarie Hendriks-Roefs, HR advisor, Built Environment: “Our department has increasingly more women, in high positions as well. The flow is good; we have some talented doctoral candidates. We try to fill positions internally first, and if that fails we go external, mostly through our network. The professor network is important. We try to emphasize more female qualities such as teamwork in our job advertisements. Of course, Built Environment doesn’t qualify as hard science, and I think that’s part of the reason we have more women. Until three years ago, we weren’t doing great female-wise, but now we have several female talents who are ready to shine.” Built Environment currently counts 37 UDs, 12 of which female. 4 UDs have been appointed since January 2012, 3 of which were women. Mr. Rob Debeij, Managing Director, Biomedical Engineering (BMT): “Our department hasn’t enforced any explicit recruitment strategy aimed at female and/or foreign staff members. We demand scientific excellence, recruitment skills, and good communication, regardless of nationality or sex. Selection committees on the other hand, are mixed and represent our departmental makeup, and the nuanced judging that comes with that. On the other hand, there is a special interest in female staff members, and considering our department’s expertise, that interest is reciprocated by staff hopefuls and potential students. We don’t expect the exclusive recruitment of female staff will be necessary.” Of the total number of assistant professors at BMT, 44% is female. In 2012, the department appointed 1 UD, a man. Since January 2013, BMT has appointed 4 new staff members: 2 assistant professors, 1 postdoc that will become an assistant professor, and a Master’s coordinator. All these positions have been filled by women. Drs.ing. Jos Hermus, Managing Director, ID and IE&IS: “We recruit male UDs the same way we recruit female candidates, and we’re not planning to change our policy. We do ‘all kinds of things’ to recruit candidates. It’s just that ads don’t work. We have to determine whether or not we can post a job opening, and whether or not someone fits the department’s profile. We’ve agreed to the targets. After all, we’re part of this university, so we adhere to the policy and display that. We’ve entered into individual agreements and we stick to those.”

What is TU/e doing to attract more women?

Since 2010, the steering committee Talent to the Top, the ambassador network of the same name, and Personnel and Organization (DPO) have set up various campaigns: • Departments draw up plans that show where there will be job openings (if any) in the next ten years. • Entering into discussions with experts in gender diversity. • Organizing workshops for HR advisors. • Intensifying the collaboration with the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH). Improving the position and support of the WISE Network. Drs. Nicole van der Wolk, director of DPO, explains: “We advise departments on the right tools to use for finding women, among other things. We do stress that quality should remain key. It’s hard to say why their numbers stay behind. Recently, we analyzed why female scientists leave, and it happens for a wide variety of reasons. It seems to be the result of a number of local situations. Sometimes we do think: ‘nobody wins here’. The chairman of the charter Talent to the Top recently said our instruments are fine, and that we should keep going. Sometimes departments are really close to hiring someone, but then the candidate turns down the position anyway. For personal reasons, for example. We have to keep our heads up. I think it’s been a temporary dip.”

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Dr. Andrea Fuster, chairwoman of the WISE Network (Women in Science Eindhoven), postdoc at W&I and BMT

“In the Netherlands there’s no balance”

With the WISE Network, Fuster wants to improve the position of female scientists at TU/e. The Spanish postdoc sees a number of reasons for the shortage of female UDs. “In this phase of their career, many women have children. They go on maternity leave and don’t have as much time left to spend on their work. I had two babies myself and at the time I could only work four days a week, so it took me longer to finish my dissertation. Luckily, that wasn’t an issue when I applied for a postdoc position, but it is something many women face at some point. Although a four-day workweek might sound great, it usually comes down to the same workload that needs to be taken care of in fewer days.”

“I think women tend to take on more social tasks in their work. They spend more time on education and supervising students. They’re also more likely to go to schools for promotion. Those are all important things to do, but they don’t generally lead to a publication. The criteria for appointing a new UD are different for every department, but often one of the guidelines is candidates should have published at least X articles over the past Y years.” “In Spain, it wasn’t like that at all. Like in the rest of Europe, the distribution of men and women in technological and scientific studies is fifty-fifty. In the Netherlands there’s no balance. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why,

because Dutch women are very liberated otherwise. Moreover, in Spain women work full-time. Daycare is much cheaper there at only 250 euro per child for a whole month. It really does make a difference.” The solution? “Adjust the selection criteria, so they take into account the caring role of women, but men too. Organization should help their female employees to grow. Daycare is wonderful here; there isn’t much room for improvement there. In the end, you need to look for the perfect candidate. Women don’t want to be appointed because they’re women, but because they’re good. It’s still a very sensitive issue.”

Prof.ir. Maarten Steinbuch, professor of Mechanical Engineering, member of task force talent to the Top:

“The engineer of the future is a woman”

“It’s awful TU/e is dangling at the bottom of the list. I’m glad they’re broadening the subject matter and try to welcome more women that way. But staff members still tend to hide behind the excuse: ‘There aren’t enough women out there’. The transition is way too slow and we have to take action. I agree with the Rector’s statement entirely. It has nothing to do with favors. Quality is still top priority.” “Girls have to warm to technology while they’re young. They grow up with female teachers, and mothers are quite influential. The Netherlands still likes the idea of women at the stove, and men

on the land. I’m convinced the engineer of the future is a woman, or at least a man with female qualities.” “They say there aren’t enough goof female candidates, but I don’t think we’re searching hard enough. We need to start thinking outside our network. Recently, I advised a colleague to inform a women’s network of a vacancy. He hadn’t thought of that.” “The number of female UDs at Mechanical Engineering is peanuts. Quite a few left, too. Some were unsuitable, didn’t fit the culture, or we didn’t scout properly. We now have a better coaching program within the

department, though. If a central person at TU/e were to help me in my quest that would be great. I’m happy with the decree that selection committees should include at least two women. We have to create awareness. Women, for example, tend to give more socially accepted answers, and seem unsure of what they really want. But that’s just not true.” I don’t like the idea of PhDs and postdocs moving up to UD positions right away. They should gain experience elsewhere, first. Countries like Greece, Italy, and Spain are brimming with talented women. Get them over here!”

Prof.dr Ruth Oldenziel, professor at IE&IS, America expert, history of technology expert, member of task force Talent to the Top

“Universities can’t let things run their course”

“There are more than enough female science students, PhDs and postdocs to meet demands, but appointments seem to come to a halt at university. For that reason, the Rector announced the gravity of the situation. Deans have discussed the matter at every meeting with the Executive Board, and they have all seen and talked about the numbers. It couldn’t have come as a a surprise for them to hear the number of woman UDs

isn’t up to par. Still, note that the differences at TU/e are so small that a single person, a single mutation can make all the difference. And that’s exactly what happened in the past two years. It especially shows universities can’t let things run their course.” About possible solutions: “TU/e is doing a good job by attracting more female students with the Bachelor College. That effect is a result from content rather

than recruitment. If the university subsequently wants to see more women in higher positions, they should mobilize professors, and not just the Executive Board. They know the field like the back of their hand, but they could definitely use some help finding and keeping female talent. It requires great effort.”

Prof.dr.ir. Sabine van Huffel, honorary doctor TU/e “It’s a extremely drastic measure. I wouldn’t want to be the woman that’s hired under those conditions”, Van Huffel says in response to the threat of the Executive Board to force departments to hire female lecturers only temporarily. “It’s obvious something needs to change. There’s a heated discussion on the matter in Belgium as well, because their minister expects all universities to present a gender plan with obligation of result soon.” “You should always opt for the best candidate, but the criteria that are used to decide who that is could do with improvement. Currently, these criteria focus on quantity, especially the number

of publications and the impact factors of journals. Other qualities, like leadership skills, student supervision, and care for society, are deemed less important. This emphasis on short-term performance ignores the value a candidate may have for the university as a whole. As a result, the university creates a very competitive atmosphere, undermining good fellowship and the individual’s search for a balance between work and private life. First of all, such developments prevent scientific progress because people will hold back knowledge, but I also think it leads to women quitting more easily. The best way to attract more female professors is to increase the percentage of women in selection

committees to at least 33%. At the base of a more diverse team of professors is a diverse committee that has a broad definition of ‘the best’. Mentor programs can also help women in the process of running for an appointment.” “Female professors are valuable, and needed to change the university’s culture. Because they interpret criteria differently and focus on other aspects, they broaden objectivity in assessments, and allow for other profile to enter into the picture. For example, men prefer theoretical knowledge over practical uses and collaboration.”

“Female professors are valuable”

Photo | Rob Stevens