Ton de Jong flew to Luxembourg repeatedly in the past months to explain the application. The professor is on the Management Team of a Network of Excellence called Caleidoscope; a network of educational institutes and companies within the EU that should increase mutual co-operation between researchers of different nationalities. The EU has called on institutes - through 'calls' - to submit joint proposal.
One of the first calls concerned the field ICT and Education. Fifteen proposals arrived at the committee, the proposal co-written by the UT ended in the evaluation at number one. 'We expect that our proposal will be accepted, but that is not certain yet', De Jong says carefully. 'The negotiations are continuing.'
A considerable 714 researchers from 65 European institutes are connected to this proposal. The Network of Excellence intends, according to the proposal, to create a shared virtual lab, a virtual doctoral school, and advanced training activities. In addition there are a number of smaller co-operative ventures which have brough toghether scientist around a specific theme.
'The objective is that the researchers will make use of each other's expertise', De Jong says. 'That is also what the programme aims for: interaction. If our proposal is acceptied we will get nine million euro over four years. But this money is earmarked to finance the co-operation, as far as direct research funds go it is not much use.' A fund for airfares and hotel bills therefore? 'For the most part', De Jong accedes. 'The airlines will certainly be happy about it.'
Ultimately, the programme should lead to strong European research teams. De Jong is sceptical. 'I feel somewhat ambiguous about it. We have to participate because these networks will determine the research agenda of the future. But the practical details remain vague. I have no idea how it will turn out.'
De Jong was not only often in Luxembourg in the past months, he also visited New York in the summer, as his ZAP-project (Dutch acronym for very active psychology) is becoming all the rage. In co-operation with the Erasmus University Educational Science and Technology (TO) developed short interactive computer programmesin a number psychological fields, from perception and memory to problem solving and personality. De Jong: 'The universities of Amsterdam (VU and UvA) and Utrecht asked us whether they could use the programme. There's really no stopping it.'
The problem is that the 'Stichting SURF' is stopping the funding at the end of this year, which would be the end of the project. And therefore De Jong came up with another plan to generate money. 'I thought, I will call Norton.' Norton is the publisher of two of the most-used books in psychology. 'Norton was interested and they want to publish the ZAPs. The negotiations are in an advanced stage. This week they will come with a proposal.' If the proposal appeals to TO the money and royalties can be used to develop new ZAPs. Which in turn can be used by Twente, Amsterdam, or Australian students.
Jannie Benedictus Transl. Dineke van Aalst
