Gunther Cornelissen: New UU figurehead Recognition and Rewards

As of July 1, 2024, Gunther Cornelissen is one of the new UU-wide experts for Recognition and Rewards. The professor of number theory and geometry already has extensive experience putting these principles into practice. For example, he chairs the Professor 1 Committee, which deals with the appointment of professors with leadership roles. Previously, he worked at implementing Recognition and Rewards for his own faculty.

What drives you to commit to Recognition and Rewards?

“It started with diversity. I studied mathematics in Ghent, and there just under half of my fellow students were women. When I came to Utrecht, there was only one woman working in my department of thirty-five people. That stood out. Diversity is of course much broader than the male-female ratio, but then you have to think about what you are doing, I thought. Then as a board we started experimenting with the hiring policy. That's where it started.”

Is that also where the key to recognition and rewards lies? With the hiring policy?

“I think so. The hiring and promotion committees are where real, practical recognition and rewards occur. After all, that's where you determine what kind of people come to work here and how engaged they are with the elements of TRIPLE such as leadership, impact and team spirit.”

Recognition and Rewards start with rewarding the things you don't see.

So, what is a recognition and rewards-based way of hiring people?

“Recognition and Rewards actually starts with acknowledging things that you don't see or that we previously thought we shouldn't look at. If you put people from diverse backgrounds all through the same wringer, you often don't see their qualities. For example: an applicant has written a popular book on mathematics for highschool students. How do you compare such a person to someone who hasn't? We used to say: that's not one of the criteria so we won't pay attention to that. Except that someone invested time and energy in this that wasn't available for other things.”

As a recognition and rewards expert, what will you do to make UU's hiring and promotion policies even more focused on recognition and rewards?

“My colleague Stans de Haas and I are starting to look at all kinds of promotion and appointment committees and pick up what they are up against. What exactly should a hiring or promotion committee do differently? It is quite difficult to translate a general idea into the specific practice of one discipline and at the same time make sure that it does not lead to more work pressure.”

Are you positive about how things are going with Recognition and Rewards at Utrecht University?

“Definitely. If I look at the last five years, the transition has been successful, but now it's about implementation—making sure it's effectively applied at the ground level. The hiring and promotion committees play a key role here. That's where the biggest task lies in the time ahead. Meanwhile, we have to be careful not to stop because of frustrations we encounter along the way.”