Citizen Science Hub (CSH), the centre for so-called citizen science, received an Open Science grant of 400,000 euros just last year. Nevertheless, as part of the reorganisation, the Executive Board decided that the centre was no longer needed, arguing that citizen participation was already ‘widely embedded across all faculties’.
‘But so far, they haven't provided any evidence to support that,’ says Saskia Baas-Oude Hilbert, project manager at the Citizen Science Hub. She is one of the employees facing an uncertain future as a result of the decision. ‘Formally, they have had to tell us that our positions are at risk of being abolished, but they still don't know where our projects will go or how they intend to take citizen science forward.’
Barend van der Meulen, professor of Institutional Aspects of Higher Education, is involved in the CSH through the BMS faculty. He, too, is surprised by the Executive Board's decision. ‘The Board says it wants to be a fourth-generation university, one that is deeply engaged with society and tackles real societal problems. The CSH was ideally placed to do just that, not least because it has been working on these issues for years and has built up considerable expertise.’
Drive for standardisation
According to Van der Meulen, the decision is an unforeseen consequence of the drive to standardise the university's organisation. ‘As far as I know, this university has a surplus of seventeen and a half million euros, so I don't think the decision was driven by financial necessity. They have set a plan in motion without properly considering all the consequences. It's like moving a china cabinet with the doors still open. The crockery is bound to fall out.’
The CSH plays a leading, advisory, and connecting role in citizen science at national level, within research networks such as the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA), and Citizen Science Netherlands (CS-NL), Baas explains. Her colleague Maya van den Berg even chairs a national working group within the latter organisation.
‘It would be a shame to throw away all that accumulated expertise. Citizen science would then depend on the whims of individual researchers, who don't always have the time, the network, or the necessary soft skills to manage it properly. It starts with something very practical: if you want to work with members of the public, you also need to be available in the evenings and at weekends.’
URRRRRban
Thanks in part to a strong citizen science component, UT researchers Mascha van der Voort and Cristina Zaga secured more than 3.1 million euros for the URRRRRban project at the end of 2025. Zaga: ‘We are working on healthy, safe, and attractive living environments in Enschede and elsewhere in the Netherlands. One of the key factors behind our success was precisely the close connection with DesignLab and its expertise in transdisciplinary collaboration and citizen science.’
That is why she, too, cannot understand the Executive Board's plans or its reasoning. ‘If there is one place at this university where that expertise can be found, it's here.’
Partners unhappy
Van der Meulen is concerned about the message this sends to partners such as Saxion University of Applied Sciences, the Province of Overijssel, and the Municipality of Enschede, all of which had become involved. ‘First, you encourage everyone to join in, and once everyone is on board, the organisation leading the initiative pulls out.’
According to Saskia Baas, the partners are unhappy with the decision. ‘The province and other regional partners made their commitments on the understanding that this would become a permanent initiative in the long term. Not something that would be abandoned after just three years.’
If the Executive Board presses ahead with its plans, Van der Meulen will have to enter into discussions with NWO. ‘Either we transfer it to Saxion, or we have to pay back the money.’
In December, the reorganisation plans to discontinue DesignLab's research activities, including the Citizen Science Hub, will be discussed by the University Council. Until then, employees face an uncertain future.
‘I hope the University Council wakes up and says it can only approve the plans if a proper solution is found,’ says Van der Meulen.
