Excellence in Context by the Eindhoven Young Academy of Engineering
Excellence is a term that is often used in academia. While we all probably have some idea of what this term means, it tends to remain superficial and generic. We therefore contend that to really understand and appreciate people, excellence should always be viewed in context. Without this, you often don’t see the complete picture, which can hinder appropriate judgement of someone’s performance. As a result, talents may go unrecognized or underappreciated. Failures, for instance, are rarely discussed, although they can have a substantial effect on overall performance. Moreover, the contexts in which people operate can differ substantially, whether due to educational demands, caregiving responsibilities, or other factors. All the while, time is scarce, forcing us to make choices on where to focus our efforts and where not. This brings us to an important question: What does excellence mean for people in academia, and what does it take to foster and sustain this kind of excellence for the future? In this podcast series, we aim to discuss and reflect upon ‘Excellence’ in context. Guests discuss how differences in opportunities, demands, and constraints impact academic careers, offering insights from different perspectives. We hope that these discussions raise awareness, spark reflections, and inspire conversations on context-dependent opportunities and constraints to flourish in academia.
Episodes
In this episode, we share a special fire-side talk recorded live during the Wellbeing Event of the Eindhoven Young Academy. Together with two senior researchers, we explored what makes team science unique, why it matters, how collaboration shapes excellence in academia. They reflect on how excellence in academia is often tied to an impossible idea: expecting researchers to excel at everything. They notice the shift towards recogniz...
What does excellence in context mean for students, and for the people who teach them? In this episode, we sit down with a student psychologist and the university’s diversity and wellbeing officer to talk about what students struggle with, the support already in place, and what teachers can do without adding to their own workload. They emphasize that excellence is not a standalone goal, but something tied to everyday experiences: fi...
How to find your way in academics when every day you have to prepare for the unexpected? In this episode, two colleagues at TU/e openly discuss the often invisible context of their own academic career, in which they both have extensive caring duties for their children. They talk about how it has influenced and sometimes shaped their way of working and career, the relations with their colleagues, the benefits of the flexibility that...
Excellence is a term that is often used in academia. While we all probably have some idea of what this term means, it tends to remain superficial and generic. We therefore contend that to really understand and appreciate people, excellence should always be viewed in context. Without this, you often don’t see the complete picture, hampering appropriate judgement of someone's performance. Through this, talents can remain unrecognized...
How do we sustain excellence, both at a personal and university level? In this episode, two senior TU/e colleagues dive into these questions by reflecting on their career paths, how they view themselves within the context of excellence, and what they think is needed to sustain and foster it. We learn that success often depends on others as well as yourself, and that we need people who can recognize talent in others and take a backs...
Is someone who obtained a personal grant excellent? And someone who didn't destined for failure? In this episode, two close colleagues at TU/e, one of whom obtained a personal grant, while the other didn't, engage in an open conversation about the differences in their career paths and the effects a personal grant (or the absence of it) can have on it. We learn that while personal grants can indeed open doors, they close others, and...
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