Would you like to contribute to high scientific quality practices within APH?

There is a new (voluntary) vacancy for the role of Chair of the Scientific Quality Committee (SQC) at the Amsterdam Public Health (APH) research institute, to be fulfilled by a senior APH researcher.

Scientific Quality Committee

Promoting ongoing improvement in scientific quality is one of the primary goals of APH. APH develops policies to achieve this goal. The SQC’s mission is to support this goal by stimulating and maintaining a high level of scientific quality within APH and its research programs. The SQC consists of APH researchers appointed at the VU or Amsterdam UMC. The main responsibilities of the SQC is to advise the APH Board of Directors on the formation of scientific quality policy and supporting high scientific quality within APH. The SQC currently offers the following tools and services which are in line with its responsibilities:

  • Maintenance of the APH Research Quality Handbook, which is an online source of information for researchers about values, principles, norms and practices in research across the research life cycle.
  • Conducting Research Quality Visits, which brings together researcher peers to discuss research projects and provide a two-way steam of feedback at any point in the research life cycle which leads to insights and best practices to be shared wider in APH.

The committee consists of a chair (senior researcher), a secretary and other committee members. The committee is supported by the APH support staff to fulfill its responsibilities and tasks. The committee may consist of a good mix of junior, midcareer and senior APH researchers, with the APH research programs being represented as best as possible. Strong interest in scientific quality and commitment to achieving APH scientific quality goals remain the most important factors for participation.

The responsibilities and tasks of the committee are to:

  • Formulate strategies and activities for the committee to promote and support high scientific quality practices within APH
  • Advise the APH Board of Directors on APH’s scientific quality policy by internally monitoring, making inventory of and documenting aspects of scientific quality within the institute
  • Continuously improve processes and ways-of-working within the committee
  • Promote the use of SQC tools and services (e.g. the Research Quality Handbook, Research Quality Visits) within APH
  • Contribute to the maintenance of the APH Quality Handbook
  • Attend Research Quality Visits as a visitor (interviewer)

    The responsibilities and tasks of the Chair are to:

    • Take the lead in formulating the agenda for quarterly meetings
    • Chair the committee meetings
    • Steer the committee during and after meetings to ensure that defined activities of the committee are being executed

    Criteria

    • ·You are a senior APH researcher (starting from assistant professor)
    • ·You have affinity or expertise with topics relating to scientific quality and integrity (such as Open Science)
    • ·You have approval of your supervisor or department head for committing to this role
    • ·You are available for quarterly and sporadic ad-hoc meetings, and the preparation thereof
    • · You have a broad network, both within and outside Amsterdam UMC, VU and UvA

    Appointment and term

    Members are appointed for a minimum term of 2 years, and may serve a maximum of 1 consecutive term. Due to the longer-term goals that the committee has, it is possible to extend terms in consultation with the committee members. The position is unpaid, we recommend candidates to negotiate dedicated time with their department chair.

    Interested?

    Send your CV and short motivation no later than 31 October 2024 to: aph.sqc@amsterdamumc.nl. More information about the SQC can be found on the APH website or contact us via aph.sqc@amsterdamumc.nl.