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The inaugural edition of JASEIN (Junior Academics in Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation in the Netherlands) was held on Jan. 25th & 26th at the beautiful castle Kerckebosch, sponsored by the University of Amsterdam Business School (UvA-ABS). 47 assistant professors from 10 Dutch universities gathered together for the first time to get to know each other and discuss their academic ambitions, challenges as well as their future research ideas.
The primary goal of this initiative was to cultivate a vibrant academic network to foster information exchange, stimulate research collaboration, and offer social support to Assistant Professors working in the Netherlands. To achieve this objective, JASEIN did not follow the classic format of academic conferences and seminars and was not held in an academic environment.
The event includes both social and academic activities. The participants were welcomed on Thursday afternoon for a welcome cocktail and sit-down dinner. The participants of each university were distributed across different tables to give them the maximum chance to meet different people. A pop quiz over the Netherlands and academic questions played as an ice breaker.
Friday was the main day of the event. The event officially starts with welcoming remarks by the co-organizers.
Then a panel was run to discuss grants, impact and valorization in Dutch universities. Three experienced colleagues, Panikos Georgolis (UvA), Vittoria Scalera (UvA), and Janina Klein (VU), moderated by Joris Berns (TSB) discussed each topic, their relations, and successful strategies to realise these opportunities. One big take-away from this discussion was anticipating the increased dependence on “Other income streams“ as the third pillar of funding research in Dutch universities. A lively conversation was had about constructing greater ties with industry partners, contract teaching/research for organizations/government. In nutshell, thinking about valorization as an independent branch of research activity that can be progressed in parallel to pursuing academic publications.
Next, Arien van Witteloostuijn (VU) took the floor to introduce an in-progress database, FIRMBACKBONE, a longitudinal data-infrastructure with information on Dutch companies for scientific research and education. The database is based on annual reports of Dutch companies and includes hundreds of variables, covering financial data and main strategic actions. To put it in perspective, this database intends to be more accessible and better suited for the study of Dutch firms than is currently offered by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
After lunch and a walk in the surrounding area, a rotating roundtable, inspired by the cafe method, was run. During this session, participants were divided into smaller groups of 8 or 9 based on their research interest keywords to get the chance to introduce themselves and share their future research ideas. Each table was run by a chair who moderated this 45-minute discussion by classifying and connecting the research ideas. Then the tables were switched in spans of 10 minutes, so participants could know the discussed ideas in other tables and relate/add their own. After the full round, they returned to their original table to discuss what had been added to their initial ideas by other participants.
The last activity was a roundtable based on a 'Limitations and Constraints' exercise that participants submitted in advance of the event. During this session, we discussed co-authorship, research pipeline, teaching, funding, and other challenges. In each of these roundtables we also addressed how JASEIN can contribute to the resolution of these issues and other potential solutions.
The event closed with some announcements of upcoming events ('Community Board') that participants presented to the group (VU Ecosystem Day, NIAS symposium on the Built Environment and the Spatial Segregation of Neighborhood Orgs/Entrepreneurs, Workshop on Organizational Legitimacy (VU), DARE Annual Meeting). We ended the closing session with an acknowledgement of our sponsors, ABS and the section heads of S&IB and E&I.
