Fellowship Programme
About the Fellowship
The Netherlands eScience Center is looking for individuals who have the ambition to promote or improve the use of research software within their organization or discipline. We invite them to apply to become an eScience Center Fellow.
The eScience Fellowship Programme is aimed at members of the academic research community who are passionate to act as ambassadors for the use of research software. Research software can be any piece of code, script, package, tool, library, or programme written for the purpose of being used in research. The Fellowship Programme supports those who want to promote or improve the awareness and use of research software within their institute or academic community.
Each Fellow is expected to carry out activities to this end within the duration of their Fellowship (12 months). Any activities related to improving awareness or use of research software will be considered. Applicants are also welcome to use the Fellowship to boost existing initiatives or activities that fit the purpose of the programme. Examples of such initiatives and activities include (but are not limited to):
- Creating a tutorial around a research software package developed in-house.
- Creating a series of videos on good research software practices.
- Inviting speakers on the topic of sustainable research software for an interactive seminar.
- Running a hackathon where researchers can improve the reusability of their research software and exchange ideas.
- Setting up a discipline-specific community to exchange expertise about digital tools within the applicant’s field.
- Increasing the visibility and awareness of research software in the applicant’s field.
- Increasing the visibility, appreciation and wellbeing of researchers who write code in any way.
The eScience Center will support the Fellows to ensure the successful completion of their planned activities. A Fellow will:
- Have a point of contact at the eScience Center, who can give guidance on the Fellow’s planned activities and put the Fellow in touch with other (eScience Center) experts. eScience Center staff will spend a maximum of 40 hours in guidance and consultancy to the Fellow during the Fellowship year.
- Receive a personal budget of €2,000 towards expenses and consumables.
- Have access to special interest groups (SIGs) meetings at the eScience Center. The Center has a few different SIGs where employees meet to share and learn about different topics. There are SIGs on data analytics, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, software sustainability, pedagogy, soft skills and more.
- Have the opportunity to join relevant eScience Center meetings to stay updated about technological developments in specific academic disciplines.
- Be offered a professional workshop that will help them with their skills to create impact within their institute or research community.
- Have the opportunity to reach a wider audience through the eScience Center network. For example, there may be opportunities to publish relevant blog posts on the eScience Center website, or Fellows are invited for presentations at eScience Center events.
- Meet at least three times a year in an informal setting with other Fellows, to exchange experiences and expand their network.
- Be featured on the eScience Center website as an eScience Center Fellow.
A list of eligible organizations is listed in Appendix A of the full text for applications, under “Downloads” at the bottom of this page. A more detailed outline of the Fellowship Programme can be found there, too.
Applicants for the fellowship programme could be:
- A researcher who focuses on the application of research software as part of their research,
- or, a developer who writes tools for researchers,
- or, a research software engineer who supports the work of researchers with software,
- or, an advocate for best practice in software use for your research domain,
- or, an individual in a leadership role in projects or organisations that make heavy use of research software.
Not sure if you are eligible to apply? Join our information day on 22 February, 2023 to find out more, or reach out to the Fellowship coordinators at
The application should be written using the form that can be downloaded on this page (see “Downloads”). The application should include:
- A plan that describes how the Fellow will contribute to improving the state of research software within the Fellowship year. This must include
- A reflection on the awareness and/or use of research software in the academic community, discipline, or field of the applicant.
- A description of the applicant’s objectives related to improving research software.
- A justification of why the applicant is well situated to execute the planned activities, and act as an ambassador for research software.
- A description of the activities that will be undertaken to achieve the applicant’s objectives.
- A timeline for the proposed activity or activities, running for 12 months from the start of the Fellowship, starting June 2023 until end of May 2024.
- A budget plan, outlining how the personal budget of 40 hours of eScience Center expertise (“in-kind support”) + €2,000 will be used. For a list of topics in which the eScience Center has employees with expertise, see appendix B. The plan should also outline the expenses and consumables the budget will cover in the form of declared costs.
We expect to grant 20 applicants an eScience Center Fellowship.
For more details on further steps in the application procedure, see the full application text.
Fellows
