From June 2020, the 4TU.NIRICT research centre is launching a new ‘’Diversity-Equity-Inclusion’’ (DEI) fund to support projects that boost diversity, equity and inclusion within the 4TU ICT community. Eligible projects could include provisions to make ICT conferences more inclusive, by offering translators, for example. Other ideas might involve developing training programmes to enable ICT lecturers to cater more effectively to a diverse range of students or initiatives to raise the visibility of underrepresented groups.
United ICT community
The 4TU.NIRICT centre aims to create a united ICT community that can help tackle the social challenges faced by Dutch society. 4TU.NIRICT plans to use the DEI fund to support projects that promote a culture and environment in which all members of the 4TU.NIRICT community can take part and develop their talents to the full.
Birna van Riemsdijk, member of the 4TU.NIRICT management team says: ‘’Sadly, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia and other forms of exclusion and dehumanisation are still part of our society. As scientists, we are not remote from society, but part of it. Even within our own community, these mechanisms can mean that some people’s voices are heard more than others and not everyone feels welcome or has the same opportunities. This results in the underrepresentation of different groups, a phenomenon that is even more prevalent in the engineering sciences. This will not change of its own accord. With this call for proposals, 4TU.NIRICT aims to actively contribute to more DEI, making 4TU.NIRICT a truly united community.’’
On the details of the call, she says: ‘’We’ve already had good experience of this type of grassroots funding in our other call that focuses on research and education. This kind of initiative can give the boost needed to pursue ideas that are already out there, and the financial support we offer obviously helps too. We’re adopting a very open approach to this, so as long as people can explain why their proposal supports our DEI objectives, all kinds of things are possible. We can’t wait to find out what ideas there are in the community related to this theme!’’
For whom?
The call is aimed primarily at 4TU.NIRICT central staff members, but doctoral candidates, students or employees of other universities can also take part, providing that the various conditions are met. More information on the conditions under item 1 in the call.
Available budget
4TU.NIRICT is making a total budget of €50,000 available, which is expected to support approximately 3-5 proposals.
Timelines
Applications to the fund can be submitted from today to programme manager Margje Mommers (m.mommers@tue.nl) and the initiative will last until June 2021.
More information
More information about the call can be found here.
For specific questions about the DEI fund, please contact management team member Dr. Birna van Riemsdijk m.b.vanriemsdijk@utwente.nl