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How to win the war for talent in the IT-City of Groningen

Groningen as the Dutch Silicon Valley? Too good to be true? Of all jobs in the city, about seven and a half percent are in the IT sector. According to het Financieel Dagblad (2018), IT giants as IBM and Google, but also smaller IT companies and start-ups attract recent graduates, which works wonderfully well in Groningen. However, although attrachting the IT talent has some ins and outs to consider, from a recent article by IT-stad Groningen, it appears that many of the IT companies and players in this vibrant industry have faced the challenges of retaining IT talent they got in. In order to do something about it, IT companies in Groningen need to brand themselves—not just for customers, but for retaining the best possible candidates. The solution? Employer branding!

Decoding, Recoding, Overcoming: Towards Authentic Techno-Magic

How does engaging in authentic research at undergraduate level contribute to student well-being?

In the context of rapidly growing numbers of university students reporting that they have experienced mental health problems, this paper argues that doing research as an undergraduate can contribute to student well-being. Although the benefits of undergraduate research are well documented, underlying reasons for its efficacy on positive student outcomes require investigation. This paper uses Self-Determination theory, which has empirically shown that fulfilling one’s need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness fosters well-being. Using authenticity as a conceptual lens to understand undergraduate research experiences, and a novel connection to Self-Determination theory, the theoretical proposition that authenticity within undergraduate research contributes to well-being is elaborated. The paper suggests that authenticity within undergraduate research experiences offers a way to stimulate well-being among our students, which hinges on effective curriculum design and mentoring. Two case studies, drawn from Medicine and Geography, explore the way in which curriculum design coupled with mentoring pedagogy can enhance authenticity in research, student motivation, and, therefore, well-being. The paper reveals how authentic research-based learning can form an entitlement for all students through an embedded curriculum-based approach. The paper advocates for research-based learning to begin early in the undergraduate curriculum, in order to establish a sense of belonging for students and healthy learner-centred pedagogy. In addition to the framework for authenticity adopted, this paper reveals the importance of attention to the quality of learning spaces (novelty, professionalism, inclusivity) and the practice-based elements of mentoring for effective relationships between learners and teachers to ensure the well-being of all involved.

Building a Better Ark: The Potential of Engaging Cultural Thought Leaders and Addressing Power Differential in Authentic, Community-Driven Resilience Planning

Climate change engagement is often conducted on a jurisdictional scale, and stakeholder engagement typically brings representatives from all constituencies around a common table. Yet, individual behavior is largely influenced by norms and leaders within their cultural groups, and the “Noah’s Ark” style of stakeholder engagement largely ignores historical differences of power among participants. Co-creating safe cultural spaces with leaders within cultural communities catalyzes authentic conversation tailored to the ways in which the community talks about its own issues and creates engagement strategies, which increase climate resilience, while elevating voices of trusted sources of information.Two projects in the San Francisco North Bay Region were built on prior research on the role of cultural identity, belonging, and engagement in building resilient regions. “Elevating Latino Voices” focused on the 25% of Sonoma County residents who self-identify as Latinx, a group over-impacted by natural disasters yet underrepresented in political and economic power. As a direct result of the investigation, targeted, culturally relevant communication strategies and programs were identified, including “Promotores Verde.” Drawing from a cultural tradition of recruiting and training cohorts of young adults from within communities on specific health issues, who, in turn, become resources on the issues to their communities, “Promotores Verde” is increasing authentic engagement of the Latinx community in climate change, building leadership capacity and empowering a new generation of climate leaders. “Rising Waters” engaged principles of biophilia to bridge understanding between experts on homelessness and water quality to build empathy and address issues at their nexus.

Authentic and self-directed learning in vocational education

This study analyses the dilemmas and practical problems in implementing competence-based vocational education through 11 case studies. Schools seem to meet various fundamental issues, but it remains difficult in what way the acquisition and use of a way of knowing and thinking that is based on vocational theory can be stimulated. Reflection, authenticity and coaching seem to missing. In order to explain these results, the article also reflects on factors that account for the distance between promising concepts and actual teaching practice.

Involving “authentic” cancer patients, their caregivers, and multidisciplinary professionals in a quality improvement trajectory in a hospital cancer pathway

Introduction: The implementation of oncology care pathways that standardize organizational procedures has improved cancer care in recent years. However, the involvement of “authentic” patients and caregivers in quality improvement of these predetermined pathways is in its infancy, especially the scholarly reflection on this process. We, therefore, aim to explore the multidisciplinary challenges both in practice, when cancer patients, their caregivers, and a multidisciplinary team of professionals work together on quality improvement, as well as in our research team, in which a social scientist, health care professionals, health care researchers, and experience experts design a research project together. Methods and design: Experience-based co-design will be used to involve cancer patients and their caregivers in a qualitative research design. In-depth open discovery interviews with 12 colorectal cancer patients, 12 breast cancer patients, and seven patients with cancer-associated thrombosis and their caregivers, and focus group discussions with professionals from various disciplines will be conducted. During the subsequent prioritization events and various co-design quality improvement meetings, observational field notes will be made on the multidisciplinary challenges these participants face in the process of co-design, and evaluation interviews will be done afterwards. Similar data will be collected during the monthly meetings of our multidisciplinary research team. The data will be analyzed according to the constant comparative method. Discussion: This study may facilitate quality improvement programs in oncologic care pathways, by increasing our real-world knowledge about the challenges of involving “experience experts” together with a team of multidisciplinary professionals in the implementation process of quality improvement. Such co-creation might be challenging due to the traditional paternalistic relationship, actual disease-/treatment-related constraints, and a lack of shared language and culture between patients, caregivers, and professionals and between professionals from various disciplines. These challenges have to be met in order to establish equality, respect, team spirit, and eventual meaningful participation.