NWA-ORC — the very idea
Wiebe E. Bijker, chair selection committee
Webinar 17-09-2020
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NWA-ORC:
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Fundamental — Applied Scientific — Societal
NWA
Dutch Research Agenda
NWA and NWA-ORC are unique
Dutch Research Agenda (NWA):
• Society asks Science (2014-2016)
• 11.000 questions -> 140 clusters of questions in 25 NWA Routes
• ≈ 130 M€uro annually for this NWA (Regeerakkoord 2017)
Research along Routes by Consortia (NWA-ORC):
• Answers NWA questions
• Is interdisciplinary
• Done by consortia: joining capacities, perspectives, approaches
• Leads to scientific and/or societal breakthroughs
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New opportunities
New ‘social contract’ between science and society
• Increased trust by society in science
• Extra funding for research
• Science answers society by addressing big questions
Long-term, socially embedded, team research
• Large budgets: 0,5 — 10 M €
• Long-term research: 6-8 year
• Broad knowledge chain
• In productive interaction with societal actors
1. Universities + HBO + TO2 +
UMCs + Rijksinstellingen
2. Researchers + knowledge users
New responsibilities
To give answers to ‘Nederland’
• Knowledge utilisation and science communication
• Breakthroughs: output—outcome—impact
To realize social embeddedness
• Width of knowledge chain
(i.e. including fundamental and applied research)• Co-creation and co-design
(i.e. collaboration between researchers and knowledge users)Impact plan
Impact outlook
Knowledge utilisation
Impact Plan approach
• Productive interaction
• Aimed at societal and scientific breakthroughs
• Aimed at societal impact: societal change
• Knowledge utilisation is integrated in project design
• (most NWA Routes, most projects)
Impact Outlook approach
• Productive interaction
• Aimed at scientific breakthroughs (because of the nature of the cluster question(s))
• Open to opportunities for social impact during the research
• Expanding opportunities for societal impact during project
• (few NWA Routes, few projects)
Every project should use one of two approaches:
• Consortium chooses most appropriate approach
• Selection committee will assess suitability of chosen approach and may advise to choose the other
• Different forms in full proposal stage
• Clear relationships between
NWA question & route —> proposal’s core question —> research question —> consortium —>
methods —> knowledge utilisation plan —> breakthrough
• Combination of expertises is necessary and innovative
• Breadth of knowledge chain fits both the research question and the intended breakthrough
• Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity are not merely in consortium but also in project design and research approach
• Productive engagement by social partners / knowledge users in the project design and execution
• Convincing and original scientific question, plan, intended breakthrough
(experience from previous years…)
Strong points of pre-proposals
Problem: ‘application pressure’ (aanvraagdruk) Choose your funding instrument wisely! NWA-ORC offers good
opportunities, but:
not every project fits the NWA-ORC!
• Proposals will be assessed for addressing NWA cluster questions and fitting the chosen NWA Route
(NWO will organise match-making meetings together with the 25 routes)
• Proposals will be assessed for their knowledge-chain-wide and interdisciplinary character and for the
‘productive interactions’ within the consortium
• Proposals will be assessed for their ‘impact plan’ or ‘impact outlook’
In doubt? Please contact NWO for advice.
8NWA-ORC, the very idea:
To stimulate research and innovation aimed at the 25 NWA Routes and 140 question clusters,
• aiming at scientific and/or societal breakthroughs,
• by joining strengths in consortia,
• to do interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research,
• involving the entire width of the knowledge chain, including fundamental and applied research
• and collaborating with societal parties (including companies),
• resulting in knowledge utilization through a well-argued impact plan/outlook.
