In this episode of the Director’s Corner Podcast, Director Bartel Van de Walle speaks with Holly Tammik, new Communications Officer at UNU-MERIT.
In this conversation, Bartel shares among other things:
- his goals for the institute in 2023
- details about how the Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development themes will be relaunched with the help of Dr Rasmus Lema, Associate Professor
- a reflection on the best UNU-MERIT moments of the past 2.5 years
- what he thinks will be the themes and trends to look out for in UNU-MERIT’s fields of work in the coming year.
He also answers Holly’s more personal questions about his managerial style and how it feels to be the director.
Transcript
Holly Tammik Hello and welcome to the UNU–MERIT Director’s Corner Podcast for January 2023! My name’s Holly Tammik and I’m the new Communications Officer here at UNU-MERIT. I’m joined today, of course, by none other than by Bartel Van De Walle, Director of the institute. Welcome Bartel!
Bartel Van de Walle Welcome too!
Holly Tammik So I’m curious to hear what are your goals for UNU-MERIT in 2023?
Bartel Van de Walle So my goals for 2023, the year just started – of course, it’s an exciting time in the beginning of the year when you think what you want to achieve. And we all did some soul searching over the Christmas holidays, like the intentions that we have for the institute. I think there’s a lot going to happen again this year.
What I would like to achieve is a couple of things. We need to really consolidate part of the change that we have had in the past year. So we have gone through a long period of change after we launched the strategic plan in the summer of 2021. And I fully realise that this change has been felt by everyone in the institute. Maybe also caused some concern, or definitely caused some concern, some questions, maybe some unease at some point with all the change.
So a big ambition for me for this year is to really let that change sink in. So I would like to finish the construction of the basis, let me put it that way. So we developed a new basis for the institute, the research units, the graduate school, the Capacity Development Office, the integration of the PhD programmes – part and full time. Let’s consolidate that so people have space and time to really settle in. That’s goal number one.
At the same time, there’s no guarantee that the change will not continue, but we will expand and develop further a couple of things that we had started, that I want to see come to full fruition this year. And to give an example, the Comprehensive Innovation teams that we have at the institute, we launched that as well in the summer of 2021. They got started in 2021, but in 2022 we didn’t have a lot of activities and that’s fully understandable. There was so much going on that that you can’t do everything but I would like to relaunch the Comprehensive Innovation agenda of the institute because it is the agenda that can unify us within the institute.
So we have always, from the beginning, started with the idea that we have two fantastic research groups in the institute: the old MERIT Institute and the old School of Governance. Let’s find a way to work together. And that Comprehensive Innovation is that way in my view (and in the view of some others). But let’s add some content to it, let’s develop that further – so the relaunch of the Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development themes is a key goal of mine this year.
Holly Tammik How will you relaunch it? Do you have some steps in mind?
Bartel Van de Walle Absolutely. So what was missing, I think in part causing the reduced activity last year was we didn’t have anyone in the institute who was going to lead that initiative. So we did some searching and thinking over the past months and we found the person that is willing to take that on and to bring that agenda further and that is Rasmus Lema, who is an Associate Professor here, and he accepted, thankfully – thank you Rasmus! – to relaunch the initiative, to talk to the CI4SD team leads that we have, and it’s up to them to develop the agenda. And I’m very confident that they will manage to do that. So that will start soon and I hope that we can engage the whole institute in the discussion in the months to come.
Holly Tammik Great. Okay. And specifically for this coming quarter, these next few months. I don’t know whether you think about the year in terms of quarters..?
Bartel Van de Walle There are two big periods in every calendar year, you know, before summer and after the summer, and summer is a pretty big break for most of us. So before summer, then that’s sort of the horizon I’m working on: the relaunch of the Comprehensive Innovation agenda, and as another big event that we’re going to have before summer is the launch of the Computational Innovation Lab.
So we’ve announced that as well last year. We are recruiting people as we speak, and if everything goes according to plan, before summer we will have the people in place and can formally start with it. And that’s one of the things that I really think is important.
We are an academic environment, so we love to discuss and see the pros and cons and arguments and counterarguments. But at some point you have to say, we’ll do it. Yeah, take action and I hope we can get to that step of action where we then can develop from there. We will organise a computational innovation workshop where we hear everybody’s opinion and voice and ideas, I hope, especially ideas about what the Lab can do. We will then finish the recruitment to the extent possible so that’s up to the recruitment committee, to decide who we recruit. Then it will still take a while before these people are actually here. So say two months on and then in April-May, we can start with engaging.
The idea has always been – and it’s also described on the website – that as soon as these people are here, we start a really engaging interactive process with the staff. So then the dialogue will continue. With the institute, we will define the agenda of activities that these people will engage on, within the setting of what we want the lab to be. As you know, we focus on sustainable development. That’s what we do here as a UNU institute. We focus on the green transformation, it’s core and centre of what the lab should support, and we focus on shocks and crises because we can talk about a lot of transformations but when something unexpected happens, a transformation has to adapt. How do we do that? What does it mean? As an example, the energy crisis definitely interferes with the green agenda of the European Union because suddenly some things are shifting. So how do we do that? And I would like the lab to address these concerns through data and modelling methods. So I hope we can build up this agenda, of course, with the input of everybody who wants to contribute.
Holly Tammik And since you’re entering your third year of being a director here, looking back, what do you see as some of the institute’s best moments from the last two and a half years? Any achievements you’re particularly proud of?
Bartel Van de Walle It sort of shocks me to be already in my third year. Time flies when you’re having fun! So my best moment of the past two years was when we had the 15th anniversary of UNU-MERIT. That was to me the first time that I could see the activities of people here in person, engaged, motivated, happy. So to me that was the highlight.
And if I could change one thing that is in the past and you never can, but let’s, let’s just fantasise a bit. I would have loved to have done that when I started. You know, let’s, organise something together. Let’s show what we can and want to do. That wasn’t possible and we suffered from that situation for the first two years largely. But that May event, that was the highlight.
The other highlight that I thought was really remarkable was the summit we organised here in July, a couple of months later, where we had 200 people in the room, stakeholders from all over the place, local, regional, international, where we could show to the world that we care about climate change and the impact it has here. And that impact is not necessarily in the Global South, it’s also here. And that was sort of a really important message that we could send to the region where we belong here in Maastricht that we are concerned and we’re trying to do it to help and deal with it. But there are many other small highlights. People published great papers, we had several high-level meetings, ambassadors came to visit here (I think that was also a first) – so a lot of a lot of good things happening here.
Holly Tammik And what would you say is the most important lesson or some of the most important lessons you’ve learned during your time here?
Bartel Van de Walle The most important lesson, I think, is that this institute can actually do it. I mean, I’ve been to a lot of places before I started working here. A lot of universities in different countries, in different continents even. And this institute is resilient. That means COVID didn’t bring us down, we’re still standing and we managed to get along. We managed to give our education. We did our research. So I think that to me, this institute is alive and kicking. It is here.
So let’s now, and again coming back to the question of the next year, let’s stabilise it. Let’s provide a really stable foundation on which we can further develop. Overall, my big lesson is, you know, we can do this, guys.
Holly Tammik Yes, working together with everyone here and building on the legacy of this place. What do you think are the big trends and themes we should be looking out for in the fields of work that the institute’s in in 2023?
Bartel Van de Walle Well, to me, the biggest shift that has happened in 2022, actually, is that the uncertainty about what’s going on has increased tremendously in the world. Right. We have, of course, climate change. We know what is coming. We have evidence all over that is mounting that we will feel the impact of climate change increasingly also here and across the world.
We had the war in Ukraine start last year around this time. A huge shock to the European Union, to all of us, of course, in the first place, to the Ukrainian people. This led to the energy crisis that we experienced, we had inflation that was at unprecedented heights in the last year. So a lot of things are shifting geopolitically, environmentally, and let that now be the things that we have something to say about – because if there this impact of climate change, what does that mean for industry in certain regions in Europe, the rural area? You know, that’s not very close to any natural energy source. What does that mean for that? What does it mean in terms of policies for policymakers? And those poor policy makers, you know, they have to develop policies for the future, but that future is shifting under their feet.
So what does that mean for the way that they develop policies, implement them, monitor them, readjust them? And I think with this institute, we could help them with that. And so the big shift that I’m seeing is we’re not in a stable world at the moment. It’s very unstable with cracks, democratic shifts. You know, remember the last year, what happened at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where people stormed the Capitol? We’ve seen the same thing in Brazil this year. So democracies are under threat. Climate change is happening, a war is happening. All the ingredients that make this world very unpredictable. And I hope that we can be a voice that contributes to thinking about these problems and developing policies that are (again, maybe using that term) resilient against these shocks. So I hope we can contribute to that.
Holly Tammik Since we have a little bit of extra time…
Bartel Van de Walle Now come the hard questions!
Holly Tammik Yeah, I just have a couple of personal questions I’m curious to ask you. So what would you say as a as a person that your strengths and weaknesses are and also in terms of your managerial style, let’s say?
Bartel Van de Walle To begin with, it’s a privilege to be in a management position – that has always been my view on this. In academia, management positions are not often recognised for what they are. And sometimes, to be honest, we put people in positions who are excellent researchers, but, you know, not really good managers and we have realised that. So there is a lot of thinking going on today in the academic world. What does it take for a person to be in a management position? And that’s the whole rewards, the recognition system. But also we’ve come to understand that you have to have certain qualities to be a manager, even in academia.
Holly Tammik Yes, everywhere.
Bartel Van de Walle So in essence that’s a good thing. But my first and foremost thought is always it’s a privilege to be in that position because you are in a position to help others. I’m not here to help myself. I’ve reached a stage in my personal career that I am very happy looking back, and that’s why I took this position to serve, you know, to use my expertise and say: people, based on what I know and what I’ve experienced and I have learned, I think that’s where I can help.
And it takes, you know, that experience, I think, to do this job. It also requires you to constantly focus on the problems that are at hand while maintaining a vision on the future. You know, you can’t just manage daily fires. You know, I could spend probably also the whole day just putting on small fires here and there, but you have to have that view on why are these fires there and how can I help them out in the long term? And that’s not an easy exercise because sometimes you’re very tempted to address the next problem that’s on your desk.
And I think that that is part of being in that role. It did require that some sacrifices had to be made on my side. I don’t have time for research anymore. I do miss that. But it came for me with the consequences of choosing for this position. I knew that that was the consequence. I’m accepting it and I have no remorse in that sense, so I miss it, but I know that this is something that has to wait until, I don’t know, maybe my retirement.
But I also think that if you choose for this position, this has to be the consideration that you make, because you can be both. If you want to remain an excellent researcher, you can’t do the management of an institute like this. That’s my personal conviction. Maybe others potentially could do it or can do it, but I think that’s a choice for me to scale back my research time, to also not teach anymore. I miss that as well because I love to teach, but to focus on the role that has been given to me. And that role is to be the director, manager of this institute, of course, try to maintain the links. You know, I try to, and I need to do better on that. I want to engage more with researchers here, also senior researchers. I followed up on quite a bit of the younger staff here and what they’re doing, so that I need to do better. But still, that probably means that I will not become a proficient publisher of research articles in the next few years. But that’s fine. And that’s the choice I’ve made.
Holly Tammik Okay, great. And would you (bit of a strange question maybe) – would you call yourself an idealist?
Bartel Van de Walle Oh, definitely. No, I think you have to be an idealist to be in this position or any leadership position. I think what you can miss is, is a leader who doesn’t believe in some ideals that you want to achieve with the group that you’re leading. You have to be, of course, also, you know, to some considerable degree a realist and understand what you can do realistically. But in my view, you can only take on this position if you know what you would like to achieve and the ideals that you want to uphold.
And it doesn’t have to be, you know, the great ideals, like I want to change the world to make it paradise. But some ideals, like one of my ideals, is that young people have to feel that they are valued, that they have a prospect of a career, that they are appreciated for the things that they do, not only young people, but these are very vulnerable people in the academic system mostly. The ideal that, you know, within this institute we have collegial discussions. We don’t feel the need to put people down. We respect each other. We don’t yell at each other. You know, these are the things that I want to see in this institute and these are very practical ideals maybe, but they are ideals: that we have mutual trust, that if we have questions, that we talk to the person that we have questions about. You know, if you have concerns about things that are happening, that you’re open about it, that you share among each other. So let’s try to make it this place like that. And these are very down-to-earth ideals. But you have to have them. They are crucial ones even. So in that sense, I’m an idealist, I guess.
Holly Tammik Yes, sounds good. And just a last one, quickly. We were speaking about you being in a managerial position and some of the sacrifices you’ve made. And I’m curious how it feels to be in your position and how it feels to have a little bit of weight on your shoulders as the director. Is that difficult sometimes? Do you still have the feeling of teamwork within your work?
Bartel Van de Walle You know, I think you have to have that feeling. I mean, it’s fine that a lot of stuff is on my shoulders. I mean, that’s why I’m here. I can’t say I’m the director on the one hand and say, oh, I don’t want all this pressure and all this these things that I need to address. That comes with the job. And I fully accept that. And I embrace that in a way. So, no, that comes with the job. And if you have any problem with that, you shouldn’t take the job. It sometimes leads, you know, difficult decisions have to be made, and that’s why I’m here. So sometimes to make difficult decisions.
And I do that with the interests of the institute in mind. So you only make sometimes difficult calls because you think it’s the best for the institute. It’s important, of course, that you’re part of a bigger team that you can communicate with, exchange ideas with, listen to the concerns and questions. And that is there. We have a management team, there is a director’s office, and over the break, we also thought maybe we can do a little bit better but these people are there while, as you said, this burden, pressure and responsibility on my shoulders.
I think each of these people also have responsibility. You know, you’re not just in the management team to be there – it implies that you take certain responsibilities, that you’re accountable for some of the things that you do. And that sort of then, you know, escalates to me for the overall the overall picture of management. So it’s not just being in a team, but it’s also sharing the burden to some extent, I wouldn’t call it burden. I would try to say shared responsibility. And each of the people in these teams also have the same privilege to a large extent as I have. You are there because you’re needed, because you have responsibilities and because you’re in a position to help others out. And I think that’s the main message. You’re not in a management position to control, to be in charge, to have that title of manager or whatever. You’re there because you have the privilege of helping others.
Holly Tammik Yes. You’re there to serve, as you said earlier. Exactly. Great. I think that’s a very nice place to end. Thank you for your time today.
Bartel Van de Walle You’re very welcome.
Holly Tammik Look forward to working with you further.
Bartel Van de Walle It was a good first interview Holly! Thank you very much.