Rewards and incentives

 

KU Leuven's commitment

KU Leuven aims to create the conditions necessary for academics to develop flexible and sustainable careers and to make the best use of their talents, allowing room for all other important aspects of life.

Having professional autonomy, academics are in charge of their own career  growth, in which they must seek a personal and sometimes shifting balance of their assignments against the background of their field and organisational unit. The University stimulates and supports them to reflect on their career path, personal development, work organisation and life-work balance in dialogue with their colleagues, coaches and seniors.

Rewarding and recognition is much broader than what is discussed in formal evaluation and assessment procedures. The assessment process should be embedded in a broader career policy🗝  and use metrics when relevant, in a responsible way. 

As a member of CoARA, KU Leuven published its action plan on reforming research assessment (2023-2027) for public consultation on Zenodo.

The context of Open Science

Open Science is about providing global, free and timely access to knowledge. Transparency, replicability, and research integrity are at the heart of this approach to the scientific process.

Against this backdrop KU Leuven has evaluated its policy on rewards and incentives for academics. As an academic community the University can establish an independent quality assurance system with relevant supporting rewards and incentives, including those vital to promote Open Science practices. 

 

The fundamentals of assessments

Formal assessments at KU Leuven are organised by different bodies for different purposes. Nevertheless the following common principles can be defined:

  • Achieving excellence in the three mutually reinforcing core areas of education, research and engagement is the goal. Career paths can be flexible and assessments should allow shifts in priorities among these core domains.
  • All information, whether qualitative or quantitative, should be examined to take into account different career paths 🗝 and academic fields.
  • Peer review is the fundamental mechanism for assessing academics. 
  • Metrics can only be used when a clear rationale has been formulated and the limitations are fully understood.
  • Assessors must be aware of the influence of implicit bias and should be provided with ways to conduct the assessment process in an objective manner. 

The four transversal dimensions KU Leuven values 

 

Collective excellence

Collective excellence at the level of the university, the institutes, the research units or didactic teams allows groups of people with different talents and roles to work in a complementary way, as all necessary drivers of excellence are represented.

The ability to collaborate and work together in a collegial way are highly valued assets in our reward policy, regardless of whether one works in a monodisciplinary or interdisciplinary environment.

Personal growth and innovation

For all academics, personal growth and innovation are a focus of attention in KU Leuven’s reward and incentives policy.
Opportunity to experiment, even leading to negative results, blue sky and high-risk research are essential drivers of innovation, provided they are based on reflection and strict follow-up. Learning from mistakes leads to personal growth and innovation, whereby innovation is understood as both the process and outcome of reflection, peer review and self-assessment.

 

Leadership: inspiration and influence

The term 'leadership' refers to being a leading authority in a field, as well as to taking up a leading role in the organisation and to being a good team manager.

Good leaders are good coaches and can attract those persons and means necessary to achieve collective excellence. They create a stimulating working environment, exert a positive influence and are an inspiration to their colleagues and students.

Open Science

Insight into the principles and practices of Open Science is considered essential to all academics. Contributions to the promotion of Open Science, whether in research or education, are to be valued as inherent to an academic profile.

Transparency, research integrity, replicability and the willingness to share methods, software, or research results in significant ways within a field, are integral aspects of a system of rewards and incentives.

Biosketch and appreciation of diversity at KU Leuven

In 2018, KU Leuven introduced the biosketch 🗝 in hiring and promotion processes for senior academic staff.

The biosketch aims to enhance the quality of researcher assessment procedures by giving researchers the opportunity to stress what they think is relevant within the three core tasks of senior academic staff (research, education and engagement). It allows faculty to give background to personal circumstances and to the choices they have made in their careers.

This transparency enables the university to appreciate a diversity in profiles and experiences also those outside academia.

The biosketch also provides a context to more tabular or quantitative information and creates a buffer against the growing number of obligations and expectations that seemingly one needs to comply to.

Responsible use of metrics at KU Leuven

Within a stimulating and appreciative environment for academics quantitative indicators can be relevant when assessing research(ers). Users & providers of metrics are however expected to adhere to strict guidelines to ensure a scientifically correct and responsible use of these metrics.

In this context KU Leuven endorses the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, the Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics and the Hong Kong Principles for Assessing Researchers. KU Leuven is also a member of CoARA.