Gaston Heimeriks

A few facts I wish more Dutch voters knew:

Access to Web of Science will end on 1 January 2026 The university library has decided not to renew the licence for access to the Web of Science citation database (including Journal Citation Reports).

What might seem like a small announcement—it’s just one institution—actually carries substantial weight and has a strong symbolic meaning.

@utrechtuniversity.bsky.social, has taken another bold step: it won't renew its Web of Science license. www.uu.nl/en/news/acce...

Chats open - let us know if you would like to be added to (or removed from) our TIP starter pack!

go.bsky.app/JrihoW5

It seems that the Commission will indeed propose one big fund to cover all existing structural funds and the CAP and to organise the payout from this fund via a single national plan That would mean a huge departure from how the EU budget and the MFF negotiations have worked so far.

Here is why:

🔗 More info: euspri-forum.eu/call-for-par...

#STIPolicy #InnovationPolicy #SciencePolicy #GovernanceOfSTI #EUSPRI2025 #PhDOpportunity #EarlyCareerResearch #TransformativeInnovation #JustTransition

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The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now Europe’s very real problems don’t look so bad by comparison

The thing about Europe: it's the actual land of the free now.

Whatever problems Europe has - and it has plenty - it is looking pretty damn good by comparison these days.

My Charlemagne this week

www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

Important and interesting work on EU regional cohesion policies and how they need to be reformed.

Europe has a generational opportunity to generate a brain gain that would benefit its research and its economy, but funding needs to follow

It's not just a matter of attracting US-based scientists, it's also a matter of home growing scientists

Columbia University loses $400mn in US government grants Federal agencies say the ivy league institution failed to protect Jewish students from harassment

Here lies a monumental chance for European universities: recruit the best & brightest academics in America, axed by Musk - now!

www.ft.com/content/64ad...

The EU’s Clean Industrial Deal is out. While the communication is mostly a grab bag of announcements for future legislative proposals, it still marks a real shift in how the EU approaches industrial policy—and, for the most part, a positive one. Three key takeaways:
ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

How Uncertain is the Emergence of Knowledge Related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals? An Analysis of Scientific Knowledge Diversification at Utrecht University The study of synergies and trade-offs among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has captured growing scientific interest. However, how scientific knowledge addressing multiple SDGs emerges and c....

A New Scientific Article on How SDG Knowledge Evolves in Universities onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

We explore how knowledge related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emerges within universities and we examine how knowledge communities form, evolve, and interact.

"The goal isn’t just to change who runs government agencies—it’s to fundamentally transform how power operates, shifting it from democratic institutions to technical systems controlled by a small elite."

The Arizona State University charter is really rather lovely -

Call for proposals for Doctoral Researchers and Early Career Researchers in Eu-SPRI member organisations.

Eu-SPRI Forum Early Career Researcher and PhD Circulation Award

Submission deadline: 11th March 2025

Further details are available on the Eu-SPRI website
bit.ly/3E7TmnX

Musk’s wealth in 2012: $2 Billion
Musk’s wealth in 2024: $447 Billion

Bezos’s wealth in 2012: $18 Billion
Bezos’s wealth in 2024: $249 Billion

Zuckerberg’s wealth in 2012: $44 Billion
Zuckerberg’s wealth in 2024: $224 Billion

Minimum wage in 2012: $7.25
Minimum wage in 2024: $7.25

screenshot of text on the page that is linked in the post, listing the 10 new graduate attributes that Utrecht University articulated in their new education model for the master level.

Utrecht University has formulated 10 Graduate Attributes which reflect what @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social believes is important in its students' development: from academic knowledge and skills to personal growth and societal responsibility. www.uu.nl/en/education...

The Myth of the AI First Draft I write daily, often for hours at a time. I’m an author of fiction and nonfiction, and even when I’m not writing something for publication I fill notebooks with ideas and frequently ill…

"The Myth of the AI First Draft"
leonfurze.com/2024/02/21/t...

I really liked the Google DeepMind paper on science for AI. There is a lot in there that was new to me. It is long, yes, but the encyclopaedic treatment -grounded in real examples- brings detail and colour to a discussion that suffers from under- and overhype.

"If you want a theory that accounts for 1,000 years of inequality, you’ll need an independent variable, an underlying causal driver. For a minute I thought that, in assigning this role to productivity, the authors were onto something weird enough to be interesting."
issues.org/power-progre...

Some interesting thoughts on thinking

www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Really interesting essay on the rise of populism and social contracts breaking down.
www.edelman.com/trust/edelma...