Are you a code enthusiast? Become an eScience Center Fellow!
7 Feb 2022 - 3 min
The Netherlands eScience Center is excited to announce that it has launched the call for applications for the first edition of the Netherlands eScience Center Fellowship Programme. This one-year programme invites all who are passionate about research software to apply. The programme will bring together a total of 20 Fellows, offering each Fellow a choice between a personal budget of up to €5000 or €3000 plus hours of expertise from the eScience Center.
“There are so many talented professionals at research organizations in the Netherlands who put hard work into improving the use of research software within their community. We want to open this collaboration to help them raise awareness of the significance of research software,” says Lieke de Boer, Community Manager and Fellowship Coordinator. “We want to support people who have a passion project related to programme’s topic, be it within their lab, university, or academic field.” Fellows will receive financial support for their project and become part of the eScience Center community.
As a part of their project, Fellows may want to invite international speakers, organize events that improve awareness of good coding practices, or develop tutorials on software they have developed. But really, the sky is the limit. “All creative proposals related to promoting or improving research software are very welcome,” says De Boer. “You certainly do not have to be an expert programmer to fit the bill.” Our definition of research software is broad, and includes any script, piece of code, package, tool, library or programme written for research.
The Programme is inspired by similar initiatives abroad, like Open Life Science and the Software Sustainability Institute Fellowship Programme. Fellows affiliated with these programmes say that the Programmes have boosted their careers not only because they were able to carry out their project, but also because of the knowledge they gained during the Fellowship, and the valuable connections they made.
“One thing that sets this Fellowship Programme apart from these other amazing initiatives is the opportunity to also call in the help from eScience Center Research Software Engineers and trainers,” says De Boer. “Potential Fellows may have a lot of the skills that are needed to develop, say, a tutorial series, but may need advice from an experienced training materials developer to really make it work. That’s where the eScience Center will try to make a difference for them.”
The deadline for applications for the Fellowship Programme is 11 April 2022. Interested applicants are also invited to join the free online information session on 22 February 2022, at 14.00 CET, or email with questions. The call for applications can be found here. For more information, visit esciencecenter.nl/fellowship-programme.