Maastricht University elections: open science in the faculty council

Random "healthy healing" image
with CC0 license. Well, there is
awesome science to health effects
of food, but that's another
blog post.

So, yesterday I started blogging about the upcoming Maastricht University elections. I can vote for the University Council WP and the Faculty Council WP FHML. I assume that the "WP" is short for the Dutch scientific employees ("wetenschappelijk personeel"). FHML is the short for Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, where I have my contract (I do work at other faculties too). Interestingly, this also means I cannot vote for a group of smart students with really good ideas, that may beat the ideas and ideals of a WP party I can vote for. 

Gezond Genezen

Fot the FHML faculty council, I do not have a lot of choice, there is only one candidate list: Gezond Genezen. Earlier this week I asked them about Open Science and specifically the four questions I posted yesterday. The answer was short (and not really answering my questions):

"concerning Open Science, this is a topic for the university in general and not specific for FHML. FHML will follow the central strategy on this."

The answer surprised me, and I strongly disagree. It leaves me with a choice I cannot vote for. I hope they revisit their position before the election.

Why I disagree

If the WP representation in the faculty council is to represent the work of the scientific employees, then I find it hard to see how all the complexities around open science are not relevant, and can be left for the university at large. That sort of contradicts the idea of a faculty council, in my opinion. Indeed, if we blindly follow what the central university says, is this not basically saying we should abandon the faculties. Is that a position of Gezond Genezen?

A second aspect here is whether open science is faculty specific. I think it is. Research output in a hospital is just different from that in a Law faculty. Surely, there are aspects that apply to all faculties, but even copyright that applies to everyone sees differences from one domain to another. Because open science is strongly bound to recognition and rewarding, and this effectively guiding the career of the FHML employees, this answer is very unsatisfactory. I will not be properly represented in the faculty by Gezond Genezen.