Mission and Embedding

The mission of the Informatics Institute is to perform curiosity-driven and use-inspired fundamental research and to train talent by high-quality academic education in diverse areas of informatics. Our research involves complex information systems focusing on collaborative, data driven, computational and intelligent systems in five research themes: Artificial Intelligence; Computational Science; Data Science; People, Society & Technology and Systems and Networking.

IvI is a learning organisation and will actively contribute to keep building a vibrant and resilient academic community in Informatics. To this end IvI actively cooperates with partners in and outside academia, local and further away. The informatics ecosystem in the Netherlands and abroad is served by a tight-knit network of flexible partnerships.

IvI is fully connected with - and open to society at large and actively seeks to create societal impact through its research and education. IvI will create lasting impact by delivering talent through education, by delivering knowledge through research, and by fostering innovation through public private partnerships and supporting the creation of spin-offs and start-ups.

Values

IvI staff are professionals who perform at their best to engage in world class scientific research, inspiring academic education, and recognised valorisation. We act according to the Dutch scientific code of conduct for research integrity. We fully embrace open science. Academic freedom and independence are our core values. Our research agendas are autonomic. Output of research will always be made available to all.

IvI strives to form an open community in which all members are seen, heard and feel at home. Peer support is provided and staff is coached and specifically attended to. Part of forming an open community is diversity. IvI is an equal opportunity employer, that will actively implement policies to improve diversity in all respects, attracting and supporting staff from underrepresented backgrounds, and groups. Part of this policy is directed at improving gender balance.
 

Portfolio Development

Education

IvI is involved in three bachelor programmes, four 2-year master programmes and three 1-year master programmes. These programmes are expected to continue to grow. IvI is assessing its educational portfolio to realign it with our current and midterm research portfolio and with existing and emerging needs from science and society. We will implement required changes. IvI will further develop its proposition in Lifelong Learning.

Research

IvI has a growing research portfolio with a significant and increasing contribution from public-private partnerships. IvI will continue to develop its research portfolio, further rolling out the ICAI lab model, also to other research themes, while also actively supporting personal grant proposals and formation of nation-wide or international consortia. IvI will also explore ways to relief pressure that is currently felt in proposal writing.

On a higher level, IvI has clustered its research in five recognisable themes, in which groups or individual researchers within groups position themselves, either in one theme but more often on the intersection of two or more themes. These themes are Artificial Intelligence; Computational Science; Data Science; People, Society & Technology and Systems and Networking.

Valorisation

IvI will further strengthen its valorisation and societal impact activities by developing stronger policies that support IvI in its ambitions. Some focus will be on developing further collaborations with highly innovative industry, and with governmental and non-governmental organizations, e.g., via joint appointments, and to foster an atmosphere that increases the number of spin-offs and start-ups.
 

Staff

Building on its strategic research vision, and in response to an increasing societal need for research, innovation, and talent development, IvI has been able to recruit some 20 tenure trackers and four full professors in recent years. The Institute will continue to strive for sustainable growth so as to realize its research, educational, and valorisation agenda. Our focus will be in further development of our existing research portfolio, educational offerings and societal impact ambitions, nurturing our new staff members, with lots of attention for (personal) excellence, high quality, and high impact in both research, education, and society.

Personal grants are important, and laureates of such grants will get all possibilities within IvI to excel and further develop their careers. Also, other forms of recognition and funding, such as being PI on 2^nd or 3^rd money stream projects, maybe of larger (inter)national consortia, are comparable tokens of recognition, scientific excellence, and seniority. In line with our values, we embrace and implement the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment.

Research-intensive education is the main pillar of our academic teaching. A significant part of working time is dedicated to academic teaching. Each career step within IvI must be underpinned by proven educational achievements and a well-articulated vision on academic teaching in the context of our educational landscape.
 

Organisation and Governance

Our scientific staff organises itself in groups of variable size. The group leader ideally is a full professor. Groups are formed around specialised content, so topics of research. They also form the basis for internal accounting and HR.

Key values in IvI governance are transparency, inclusiveness, service driven, and consensus-based decision making. The vision and strategy of IvI is very much determined by its senior scientific staff, and IvI governance will support its staff in reaching their ambitions, all in accordance with opportunities and constraints in our environment.

IvI is organised in fifteen research groups, one educational group, and one support office. IvI governance acts on behalf of all groups. As of 2021 IvI governance consists of a single Management Team (MT), made up by the director, the institute manager and four additional members (two members on the research portfolio, one for the Ba education portfolio, and one for the Ma education portfolio). The MT will inform on a regular basis all IvI full professors and group leaders, who will also advise the MT. Decisive power is with the MT. The MT is also advised by the staff council, the PhD council, and the Scientific Advisory Board.