The major societal issues, the gap between science and society and the challenges for academic institutions make collaboration more necessary than ever. A new Steering Committee will play an important role in further scaling up the collaboration between TU Delft, Erasmus MC and Erasmus University Rotterdam in Convergence.

In May, the Convergence Executive Board (CEB), composed of the chairs of the councils/boards of directors of the three institutions, established a new Steering Committee. The Steering Committee will be the connecting link between the board, the five Convergence programs and the institutions.

Strategic importance

After a good start in 2018 with various bottom-up initiatives, Convergence has now grown into five programs, each with their own character and approach. With partners from both within and outside the institutions, these programs are building a vibrant community where knowledge from complementary disciplines and insights from practice join forces to tackle complex societal challenges.

In order to further increase the success of Convergence, it is important to remove, where possible, any operational obstacles inherent to collaboration between knowledge institutions. Given the great strategic importance, the board wants to take the collaboration to the next level by installing the Steering Committee. By increasingly seeking common ground, the board also wants to stimulate the transdisciplinary way of thinking and collaborating with colleagues from other disciplines, institutions and partners from society. Such partnerships are crucial in order to address the major social challenges. The Steering Committee promotes this idea as an ambassador for Convergence in our institutions. In addition, the Steering Committee can actively help to increase the success of Convergence and remove as many obstacles as possible.

Connecting link

The Steering Committee will further shape the substantive vision on education, research and impact, together with the programs, (vice) deans/department heads. In addition, the Steering Committee will, in consultation with the operational line in the three institutions, provide frameworks and prioritize operational bottlenecks. The Steering Committee hopes with this approach to ensure an increase in the sense of commitment within the institutions to the initiated movement.

The delegated members have been appointed on a rotation basis, initially for a period of one year, and will each manage a portfolio. The members are:

•  Irene Haslinger, director Library TU Delft and Maaike Kleinsmann, leader Campus Rotterdam on behalf of TU Delft
• Diederik Gommers, head of department Intensive Care and Marieke Kruip, director Quality and Patient Care and hematologist on behalf of Erasmus MC
• Johan Willem van Dijk, director HR and Patrick Groenen, dean Erasmus School of Economics on behalf of EUR

In addition, the director Convergence Antoinette Oudshoorn will serve as technical chair.