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BMS Research Support

ON THIS PAGE, YOU WILL FIND INFORMATION ABOUT THE WAYS YOU CAN GET SUPPORT ON ISSUES RELATED TO DOING YOUR RESEARCH. THIS VARIES FROM SUPPORT IN GETTING FUNDING, ETHICAL REVIEW, DATA MANAGEMENT, AND MORE. 

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ABOUT US

This BMS Research Support page is dynamic. Help us shape it with useful info: use the 'feedback' button on the right. Or email to research-support-bms@utwente.nl

FUNDING AND GRANTS

Mandatory Knowledge Safety Check

Do you have plans to establish an international collaboration or to work with partner organisations in an international consortium?

Then it is compulsory to fill out one of the "Checklist Knowledge Security" well in advance of submission of the proposal. This also applies when you are submitting a grant within a consortium, e.g. for a Horizon-call, for an EDF call, for an NWO call, in which non-EU partners participate. Information provided by you via the "Knowledge Security Checklists" enable the Team to carry out an initial risk assessment. It only takes 5 minutes to start the procedure. The earlier you fill out the checklist, the better it is. The Knowledge Safety Team (KST) is ready to assist you throughout the entire process.

Knowledge Safety and Sanctioned collaborations

Please note that restrictions on collaborations and partnerships apply to certain countries. For more information, visit the page "Restrictions - Search by country".

Find the checklist and additional information here

Service Portal page with checklist, manuals and background information
(personal) GRANT SUPPORT

GRANTS SUPPORT

The grant & project advisor for BMS faculty is Sofia Mutlu-Numansen. She can support in linking your research ideas to grant opportunities, building a consortium, and editing your proposal drafts. She is your first contact person for anything research grant related. It is important to contact her from the moment you think of applying for a grant. This way she can have an overview of who is applying for what within BMS, and can link people to each other and support more pro-actively. Sofia works closely together with the Grants Office at central level (SBD-office) and other grant support officers all over the university. 

Note: for questions regarding educational grants (e.g., Comenius), go to the BMS Teaching Academy. For questions specifically regarding Erasmus+, go to Janke Rademakers (Coordinator Internationalisation in Research).

An overview of recent calls is available on the SBD news page. In addition, an overview of health related calls can be found on the TechMed intranet. SBD has organized and recorded many infosessions, these recordings can be found here. Furthermore, you can search for funding opportunities in a new system for finding funding: Research Connect yourself. 

PERSONAL GRANTS SUPPORT BMS

Personal grants are bottom-up and researcher-driven grants that enable researchers to strengthen their scientific career and conduct projects in their own line of research. Through such projects, researchers can explore new opportunities and directions within their field, which in turn can lead to new ambitious research projects.

Personal grants are often seen as prestigious seals to individual research careers, especially for early- or mid-career researchers. And, while several developments within the scientific community point to an increasing focus on Team Science, one can easily argue that enabling (young) talent to apply for personal grants can be considered a team effort as well. In fact, being successful in the highly competitive arena of personal grant programs, requires a lot of time, effort, and help from others. Therefore, the BMS faculty finds it important to additionally invest in supporting researchers with the acquisition of personal grants, next to the already existing support from the SBD-Grants Office.

Timeline for Personal Grants

Below you will find a short overview of personal grants aimed at different stages in researchers’ careers. Importantly, extension clauses apply to all grants for parents, and to most on grounds of training, care responsibilities, or sick leave, supporting efforts to increase diversity and inclusiveness through these programs. You can check your eligibilty for NWO and ERC yourself. 

 

EMBEDDING GUARANTEE VENI & VIDI

NWO will ask candidates for an 'embedding guarantee' in their application for Veni and Vidi funding. In other words, researchers can only submit applications for Veni and Vidi funding with the support of their Department & Section Chair and the BMS Faculty Board.  

EMBEDDING GUARANTEE VENi and vidi

Requests for a Veni embedding guarantee need to be submitted by the Department chair to the Faculty board before 31 May for VIDI the deadline is 8 September. The BMS procedure for requesting a VENI and VIDI embedding guarantee by the Faculty Board:

1.      Section chair and candidate: agree with the candidate’s project proposal, and taking into account the consequences of grant acquirement for the section (i.e. in terms of the employment contract and time/topic dedication), and how the proposal is aligned with the BMS Research focus. Subsequently, the Section chair aligns with the Department chair on candidate(s). 

2.      Department chair sends (BEFORE 31 May (VENI) or 8 September (VIDI)) an email (entitled 'Embedding guarantee [name candidate]' to 'BMS dean', cc to: Section chair, candidate, and, Sofia Mutlu-Numansen

The email explicitly states:
- section & department chair's consent with the candidate's project proposal, 
- a statement that they both take into account the consequences of grant acquirement for the department/section (i.e. in terms of employment contract and time/topic dedication. Please discuss employment consequences explicitly with the HR advisor of your section to avoid unpleasant surprises);
- a statement that the candidate will be allowed time to write the full proposal.
- a quarter A4 motivation how the VENI/VIDI proposal is aligned with the BMS Research focus (we need this input to draft the guarantee);
- please attach CV of the candidate and a short (about 300 words) summary of the proposal. Instead, a concept of the pre-proposal is also sufficient.

3.      After the Faculty Board meeting end June (VENI) or September (VIDI), a confirmation email will be sent including the positive/negative advice to chairs and candidate, and i.a. the embedding guarantee.

4.      Around the NWO submission pre-proposal date we ask the candidates to reply (to all) to the received confirmation email and attach his/her completed pre-proposal. This is to check correspondence with the earlier received documents on which the embedding guarantee was based, and for our archive. 

 

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR PERSONAL GRANTS

Instrument

Eligibility

Restrictions

Scheme

Deadlines

Rubicon

Apply within 1 year after obtaining PhD

All nationalities

Employed at NL institution for at least 3 of 5 years preceding application

Max 1 application to Rubicon

1-2 years Post-doc abroad

~65kEU/yr

Three deadlines per year.

VENI

Apply within 3 years after obtaining a PhD

Extensions may apply*

All nationalities

Research must be conducted in NL

Max 2 applications to VENI

3 years of research in NL

250kEU

January

VIDI

Apply within 8 years after obtaining a PhD

Extensions may apply*

All nationalities

Research must be conducted in NL

Max 2 applications to VIDI

5 years of research in NL + research staff

800kEU

October

VICI

Apply within 15 years after obtaining a PhD

Extensions may apply*

All nationalities

Research must be conducted in NL

Max 3 applications to VICI

5 years of research in NL

1.5MEU

March (Pre-proposal)

End of August (Full proposal)

ERC Starting Grant

2-10 years after obtaining a PhD, measured on 1 January

Extensions may apply

Resubmission restrictions apply

At least 50% time involvement of PI

5 years project, 1.5MEU

October

ERC Consolidator Grant

8-15 years after obtaining a PhD, measured on 1 January

Extensions may apply

Resubmission restrictions apply

At least 40% time involvement of PI

5 years project, 2.0MEU

February

ERC Advanced Grant

senior/ established PIs

Resubmission restrictions apply

At least 30% time involvement of PI

5 years project, 2.5MEU

August

MSCA IF

European Fellowship

PhD Degree or 4 years of research experience after MSc

Mobility to NL from any other country (less than 12 of past 36 months in NL)

 

1-2 years project

83kEU/yr

September

MSCA IF

Global Fellowship

PhD Degree or 4 years of research experience after MSc

Mobility to non-EU country (less than 12 of the past 36 months in that country)

Mandatory return phase

1-2 years abroad, 1 year in NL

83kEU/yr

September

* NOTE: possibility for extension to the time limit for Veni, Vidi, Vici applications on the grounds of care responsibilities, pregnancy, illness, and/or training in a clinical specialism. See FAQ NWO. Biological mothers who have given birth to one or more children are granted a standard extension of eighteen months per child. Other parents (fathers and non-biological mothers) are granted a standard extension of six months per child that is part of the applicant’s household

BUDGETING PROJECT APPLICATIONS (CALCULATION)

For support on costing and pricing in the application phase of your project contact Martin van Ooijen or Renate Masselink-Veldschoten (based on the department you work in). For more information see BMS financial affairs intranet and check who you need to get in contact with. 

ENGAGING IN A COOPERATION WITH FOREIGN PARTNERS? CHECK EU SANCTION LIST!

We make you aware of the existence of the ‘EU sanction list
Pay attention to this list and restrictions, before engaging in a cooperation agreement, contract or license agreement. The UT may not be allowed to collaborate with people/institutions in countries as mentioned on this list, depending on the specific restrictions. Ask our legal advisors for advice.
It is particularly of interest on relations with people/partners in countries that are on the sanction list and responsibilities for those who want to work with partners on what is classified as ‘Dual-Use research’ (goods, software, and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications). Dual-use research can also refer to knowledge transfer, workshops, training and training materials, software, materials, sensors, and other equipment. For cooperation with international partners on dual-use research, and export a permit is required. European guidelines for research misuse.

In case of doubts or questions, please contact the BMS coordinator internationalization; Inge van Haare  

HR EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH

 The European Commission recognizes with the 'HR Excellence in Research Award' the institutions which make progress in aligning their human resources policies to the 40 principles of the Charter & Code, based on a customized action plan/HR strategy. The implementation of the Charter & Code principles by research institutions render them more attractive to researchers looking for a new employer or for a host for their research project.
The UT is allowed to use the 'HR excellence in research' logo. We encourage you to indicate this when acquiring for (European)funding.  

THE BMS LAB

THE BMS LAB can support in project acquisition (technology, data), Hardware/software tools, Lab facilities, Data Management, Computing and Storage, Development, Surveys

Get in contact with the Managing Director: Dr. ir. Jan Willem van t'Klooster  or with THE BMS LAB

Strategic Research Fund

BMS STRATEGIC RESEARCH FUND 

The BMS Faculty Board has reserved an amount of €300k for the BMS Research Themes jointly to support researchers’ collaborative grant acquisition activities, especially where these involve research consortia. The Strategic Research Fund aims to support applications for collaborative grants and other strategic acquisition activities (e.g., contributions to the content of new calls, agenda setting in Brussels).

WHO CAN APPLY? 

The fund is open to all BMS researchers, juniors and seniors. 

WHAT CAN BE FUNDED, TO WHAT VALUE? 

The funding aims to provide support mainly for the following activities: 

  • Preparation of a grant application targeted at a specific call, which is in line with the BMS Research Strategy.
  • Consortium-building activities in readiness for anticipated calls.

In particular, the fund supports the following activities:

  • Professional external project management/proposal writing services on a consultancy basis
  • Event costs for hosting meetings with collaborators.
  • Workshop costs, e.g., to engage regional partners.
  • Graphic design and language editing
  • Individual proofreading of grant applications (only when not covered by the Grants Office).
  • Travel costs related to Horizon Europe brokerage events

This list is not exhaustive, applications may also request support for other activities related to grant acquisition. Please note that the purpose of the call is to support grant acquisition, not the financing of research as such.

The Theme Chairs coordinate the Fund. We have implemented a flexible and ‘rapid-response’ process to ensure that applicants can ask for various types of support while receiving a fast answer so they can respond rapidly to funding opportunities. In addition, we strive for fairness in distribution of the Fund across research themes, departments, and researchers. 

For applications of more than €20.000, or deemed ‘high-risk’ by the Theme Chairs, the Faculty Board will decide based on advice from the Theme Chairs. 

IMPORTANT NOTE

The SRF cannot be used for hiring student assistants or for travel costs. We have noticed some misunderstandings in this regard, so we want to clarify that these expenses are not eligible for funding.

While the SRF generally does not fund travel costs, an exception has been made for travel expenses related to Horizon Europe brokerage events. We believe that attending these events significantly enhances opportunities to form consortia for major Horizon grants.


1. Submission: Please submit your application. 
2. Initial Screening: Sofia Mutlu-Numansen (BMS Strategic Grants Advisor) conducts the first review to ensure the application aligns with the BMS Grant Strategy and includes all required information. 
3. Evaluation by Theme Chairs: Complete applications are evaluated by the Theme Chairs during their monthly meeting. 
4. Outcome: Following the evaluation, applicants will receive feedback on their application with one of the following outcomes: 

- Approved: The application is accepted for funding. 
- Rejected: The application is declined, with a clear explanation provided. 
- Revise and Submit: Additional information is needed, and the applicant is asked to provide further details. 
BMS Open Access Fund

BMS stimulates Open Science, as from 2019 the Faculty Board of BMS made OA funds available. The BMS Open Access fund 2026 is available. Noting, however, that funds could be depleted before the end of the year. As APCs still increase, and because of (unforeseen) BTW costs on top of the invoice, we decided to raise the reimbursement.
BMS will reimburse (partly) publication costs for (high-quality) open-access journal articles or books/book chapters accepted in the period January-December 2026. Reimbursement depends on the criteria (see above link) and needs to be requested and paid by the section first before the end of 2026.

BMS PhD Fund

# 2nd call 2026 open

Sometimes, opportunities arise in your PhD project that may benefit your professional development, but which are not accounted for beforehand. Often, sections cannot financially support these (unexpected) opportunity-driven activities out of the planned PhD-project budget. In case the activities not only result in the scientific-career growth of you as a PhD but also positively contribute to the knowledge/expertise of our faculty BMS, you can apply for (partial) funding from the BMS PhD Fund. We have around 2 submission dates during the year.

Ethics, DATA MANAGEMENT AND PRIVACY

BMS Ethics Committee domain HSS | UT Ethics review tool

Ethical Review of Research at BMS

The Faculty of BMS requires ethical assessment for all research involving human participants and/or sensitive data about individuals, groups, or organizations. This ensures ethically responsible research practice.

Information about the procedure, principles, and criteria is available on the Ethics Committee BMS / HSS domain website.
For questions, contact: ethicscommittee-hss@utwente.nl

UT-wide Ethics Review

The UT research ethics policy provides the framework for the ethical review of research conducted at or on behalf of the university. Research is reviewed by one of four domain ethics committees: Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS), Computer & Information Sciences (CIS), Natural Sciences & Engineering Sciences (NES), and Geo-Information Sciences (GEO). While most BMS research falls within HSS domain, some projects may be better suited to another committee, e.g. cyber research with CIS and technology-related health research to NES.

Health-Related Research Support

Research falling under the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act (WMO) must be reviewed by an accredited Medical Research Ethics Committee (MREC). The TechMed Centre supports university researchers with (non)WMO applicability, medical-ethical review preparations, MDR compliance, and health technology implementation. Get in contact.
Medical or health-related research that does not fall under the WMO may still require review by one of the UT domain ethics committees.

RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT (RDM) (e.g. storage, DMP, FAIR)

Each individual researcher or research leader is responsible to draw up a data management plan. He or she should do this at the start of the research project, hence a DMP is a living document and will be updated during the project. During the research, you should actively follow up on the agreements made in this plan.  

DMP-templates 

There are many templates available for writing a DMP. To write your own DMP, please use the University of Twente’s DMP Template UT. Note that NWO, ZonMw, EU approved the UT dmp-template, so you can upload our own completed template by these funders. 

Are you writing a data management plan (DMP) as required by your funder, or does the funder have questions regarding management of your research data? 
Make sure you check the UT support on Data Management (and the course for PhD students), BMS Datalab Research DataManagement, UT and BMS data policies and Guidelines on personal information.  

We have a multidisciplinary team with different specialties that can assist you in finalizing your DMP and support you on various aspects of research data management: datastewards-bms@utwente.nl (Datastewards BMS are Minsi, Deniece); all aspects of research data management: e.g. writing a data management section/plan for projects, data storage/sharing/archiving, repositories & data management course), Lyan Kamphuis-Blikman (privacy, personal data, informed consent procedures), THE BMS LAB (storage and data management details). 

Contact details BMS Data stewards

Get in contact with one of our BMS Datastewards (Minsi, Deniece) via the shared mailbox: datastewards-bms@utwente.nl
Working days: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday

RESEARCH DATA STORAGE / SHARING / ARCHIVING

BMS faculty covers the UniShare costs for BMS staff. Unishare facilitates secure data sharing and synchronization among partners from multiple institutions. UniShare allows team members to store, update, and share data securely, with all research data stored and backed up safely (ISO27001/NEN7510) in the datacenters of the University of Twente (UT). Access control can be managed by the project leader or Principal Investigator (PI). The steps on how to apply are on the intranet.

More information on BMS Datalab Data storage and Sharing/ArchivingAlso for students!
Also, check the micro-lectures designed for students on how to handle your research data.

For more details, including a help functionality for choosing the best storing and sharing solution for your research data, see the Research Data Management page (by LISA)

UT offers a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) for its employees (check video!!). If you are a UT researcher looking for flexible, efficient, and scalable computing infrastructure to perform simulations/calculations, the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) could be a good option for you. 

UT supports archiving research data at the end of a PhD or research project. Areda, the institutional data archive, ensures secure, certified storage for long-term preservation in line with the UT RDM policy. Areda enables individual researchers and research groups to sustainably store their research data for the long-term. Areda supports all types of static data and allows adding metadata and documentation via the UT research information system, Pure.

Datasets (zip or tar) are uploaded to your research group’s “bucket,” accessible to all group members. Access can only be restricted through encryption, which is required for personal or confidential data. Digital informed consent forms and pseudonymization keys must not be stored in Areda; These must be stored encrypted and separately from the anonymized (or pseudonymized) data. Store them encrypted in JOIN or on the p-drive instead. Although folders can be created, it is recommended to store project data as a single archive of zip-files with a structured dataset.

For instructions, please see the Archiving datasets in Areda: a guide. For assistance, contact the BMS data stewards or visit the Areda service portal.

PRESERVING AND PUBLISHING DATA (FAIR)

Research data is often regarded as the crown jewels of science. It forms the basis of the results of scientific work. Data preservation or archiving aims in the first place at preventing physical data loss or destruction and securing the authenticity of data. Besides, it contributes to the quality and impact of your scientific work by enabling verification and possible reuse, for instance for further analysis or follow-up, new research, or as a contribution to a data resource for the scientific community. Preservation of data is also needed in case of a data publication: a journal article about a specific data set.
Read more on preserving and publishing data FAIR, and the long-term archiving of research data at UT via Areda.

DATA REUSE

The aim of open science is that researchers reuse other parties' research data and services where possible and make their own data available as far as possible.
Think about reuse of existing datasets in your research. Check UT Research support for more data sources.

FUNDER REQUIREMENTS

Research funders NWO, ZonMw, and the EU have a data management policy that affects grant submission. They all ask you to write a data management plan within a certain amount of months after the start of your project. NWO and the EU also want you to answer specific questions as part of the submission process (data management section) about the way you are going to manage the research data.

For NWO, calls for proposals will include a data management section in which the researcher should answer a number of short questions. LISA has developed guidance with examples for answering these questions.

USE OF PERSONAL DATA IN RESEARCH | PRIVACY (GDPR)/

The UT Privacy website provides information about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (the European privacy law), including GDPR terminology and definitions, the registration of reseach involving the processing of personal data at the UT, guidance on the appropriate use of personal data in research, an overview of privacy-related agreements (Data Processing Agreements, Joint Controller Agreements or Data Sharing/Transfer Agreements), information on Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA's), a pre-DPIA form, and answers to FAQ. The website also explains how to report a data breach

In addition, researchers and students within the BMS Faculty frequently work with personal data. For this reason, the BMS DataLab website provides additional practical guidance tailored to BMS research that is not available elsewhere.

Get in contact with the Privacy Contact Person (PCP) BMS, BMS datastewards or UT DPO

BMS DATALAB website

BMS Datalab webpage sets out how to handle research data safely, legally & ethically correct, and methodically soundly.

(OPEN ACCESS) PUBLICATION, preregistration, and your Research Output (RIS-PURE)

LIBRARY RELATED SUPPORT
OPEN SCIENCE: publishing Open Access and Open Data

Goal 100% Open Access!

Our aim is to make 100% of our research publication output Open in some form. How can we all contribute to this goal?
14,000 journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) don’t charge APCs, and UT authors can publish Open Access at a full discount in more than 10,000 journals, thanks to discount agreements between the Universities of The Netherlands (UNL) and publishers. You can find which journals are part of the agreement through the UT Journal Browser.

But what if the publisher charges costs for Open Access?

As a BMS author, you have several options to cover the cost of open-access publishing:

1.      BMS authors can receive a reimbursement of up to €2,500 per article per year from the faculty’s Open Access Fund for publishing in a DOAJ-listed journal. Journals are only listed when they meet the DOAJ requirements

2.      Are you publishing about NWO-funded researchNWO covers APCs when these are included in the budget of the project proposal and for publishing in a DOAJ-listed journal. NWO also covers the cost of publishing a book (chapter) about NWO-funded research. NWO’s Open Access Book Publication Fund can cover the cost (up to €10.000). Here is more info.

OPEN DATA

Funders (e.g. ZonMW, NWO) also expect you to archive your research data belonging to a publication or a dataset belonging to the whole project and make it Open or FAIR

For questions related to Open Data, you can reach out to our Data Stewards.

Once you archived your research data make sure you put it in RIS-Pure as well

Reuse
The aim of open science is that researchers reuse other parties' research data and services where possible and make their own data available as far as possible. 
Think about reuse of existing datasets in your research. Check also UT Research support for more data sources.

PREREGISTRATION OF YOUR RESEARCH

PREREGISTRATION & REGISTERED REPORTS

Preregistration is the practice of submitting a research plan to a (public and trusted) registry, specifying the study's hypotheses and (analytical) methods, before the start of data collection or the analysis of a dataset. Registered reports are similar to preregistrations because they are also written plans including a study design and analytical plans. However, a registered report goes beyond that as it strives to become a published scientific article by itself, therefore including a peer-review step and decision to publish before data collection can begin.

Why should I preregister a study?

Preregistration commits researchers to the hypotheses and analytical approach of their study. In that way, it helps them avoid questionable practices and biases in research. For example, p-hacking or HARKing (Hypothesising After Results are Known). Above all, preregistration makes science more open, transparent, and potentially more effective.

The faculty of BMS is actively working (see interview above) to encourage and facilitate preregistration. By pre-registering, you become an example of open and good research for the faculty, the UT, and your peers and collaborators worldwide. Preregistration shows that you strive for quality in your research rather than quantity.

How can I preregister a study?

Two steps, (1) start by identifying a suitable registry for your study and then just (2) follow their submission guidelines. The faculty of BMS recommends the following options:

As seen above, some databases or registries focus on the preregistration of specific study designs. Importantly, keep in mind that preregistration does not necessarily need to be immediately public. The preregistration in a platform receives a timestamp and often a DOI (a permanent and citable link). Still, the preregistration can be embargoed and, for instance, made public around the same time than the results of a study. In any case, you should preregister before conducting any data collection (whether it is the first or an extra round), or before you begin with the analysis of an existing dataset.

What is the added value of Registered Reports?

While preregistration is often taking place on independent platforms, a ‘Registered Report’ is embedded in the typical processes of scientific journals. The methodological report is submitted to a journal and goes through the typical peer-review process. You are therefore adding another quality check to your research work, thus visualizing and recognizing the value of a study’s methodological design rather than just its (potential) results. The figure below visualizes this process.

Once a registered report is accepted by the journal, data collection can start, with the added benefit that the methodological plan has been peer-reviewed. This also makes it possible that, in principle, the results of that study are already known to be of interest for the journal, whether they align or not with the study’s hypotheses.

The table below shows the differences between preregistration and registered reports.

Credits: Markus Konkol, ‘Blog#3 – Open Science Kitchen on Preregistration and Registered Reports’.

Questions and support

For any questions or support with preregistration or registered reports within BMS please contact the information specialists (infospecs-bms@utwente.nl). If needed, the information specialist will put you in contact with other members of the support team (e.g. data stewards, research support coordinator).

Self-learning

Do you want to learn about preregistration and registered reports by yourself? We highly recommend you to read this page from the Center for Open Science and this blog from the OSCTwente. Below you can also find a reading list compiled by members of the ReproducibiliTea initiative.

UT RESEARCH INFORMATION SYSTEM (RIS-PURE)

PURE Research Information is the University of Twente's research information system. It enables researchers to showcase their research output (publication, datasets, software), profiles, and activities, prizes/awards, press/media contributions, and projects, increasing the visibility, accessibility, and impact of their work. This information is published on the public research portal.

For more information about the Research Information System (RIS) Pure, visit the UT RIS website (available via the UT Service Portal). There you will find, among other resources, the Quick Reference Cards (QRCs) and the FAQ within RIS Pure.

NEW UT-Researchers:  By default your profile is set to non-visible, please follow these instructions to activate.
We also have a help text available on how to add research output from previous/other employments.

METHODOLOGY AND FACILITIES

BMS LAB: use technology in your research

THE BMS LAB provides support on: Hardware/software tools, Lab facilities, Advice in using tools/facilities, Advice in how to implement technologies into education, Support for project acquisition (technology, data), Data Management, Computing, Data processing and Storage, Development, Surveys, Knowledgebase on algorithms/equipment use/data processing (e.g. Audio transcription)/procedures.

SONA test subject pool & Recruitment participants

The test subject pool system SONA can be used if you need student participants for your research sample. You can recruit participants for your research via SONA. To include your study in this system, you first need to submit your research project to the BMS Ethics Committee via the web application. As part of the web application, you will be asked if you wish to make use of the Sona test-subject system (Sona Systems) to recruit participants to carry out your research. For more information on the procedure and rules for the recruitment of participants read the SONA website.

The Sona test-subject system is coordinated by the research secretary’s office (Shaunie Schutten, Ravelijn room 3244, tel. (053) 489 1291, email: test-subjects-bms@utwente.nl). 

Recruitment of participants 

As of June'2023 UT has a website 'Meedoen met Onderzoek' (Dutch) for people outside the UT to check if there are research projects searching for participants, and if people like to be informed on the research in order to decide if they want to participate. You as a researcher/student can contact Renske van Wijk via meedoen@utwente.nl to inform if your research project can be shared on that page to help you recruit participants. 

METHODOLOGICAL/ANALYTICS SUPPORT

The Methodology Shop supports both students and staff with practical guidance on research methods and data analysis. Whether you are designing a study, working with a dataset, or looking for help with statistical analyses in R or SPSS, the website offers useful step-by-step information and resources. For more specific questions, online consultations are also available.

The methodology shop is an initiative by the BMS section of Cognition, Data, and Education (CODE)
Contact: methodologyshop@utwente.nl.

BDSI - Behavioural Data Science Incubator

The aim of Behavioural Data Science Incubator (BDSI) is to spark innovation and collaboration in data science that involves human behaviour: to accelerate and inspire data-driven research within BMS that uses statistical models, machine learning, or simulation techniques.
Check how BDSI can support your research.

PhD Portal and policy

External PhD Registration

BMS only admits external PhD candidates that have a fit with the BMS Research Strategy and where the supervisory team has the capacity to offer enough guidance to the new candidate. Additionally, BMS complies with UT-wide requirements on Knowledge Safety and the PhD charter, doctoral regulations and tuition fee policy. This is captured in the BMS External Phd registration policy (2026).

Therefore, the registration of any external PhD candidate at BMS, must be pre-approved by the Dean. The anticipated promotor can start this process by filling out the Form to Request Registration of External PhD Candidate and send it to ext-phd-bms@utwente.nl.

BMS PhD portal (intranet)

For more information for PhDs working at BMS and our BMS PhDs for PhDs initiative, see the BMS PhD Portal (Intranet).

And check the special News (and Events) page for BMS PhDs as well, for the announcement of discounts, grants, workshops and more.

IMPACT

Impact Pathways, Impact Cases, and Indicators

Impact at BMS

BMS has developed the Position Paper on Impact to give define to the concept of "impact" for our community and give vocabulary to reflect on one's impact. Some theory presented in this paper is also featured below.

Impact Pathway and sphere of control

Impact is less about what you do, and more about the effects of your work. Who or what gets better because of your work? The Impact Pathway is a useful model to elaborate on this. An impact pathway tries to bridge what you do (activities) to what a future state where something has changed (impact). You can see this illustrated in the image below, where the steps can be described as:

  • Inputs: What academics need (e.g., a grant).
  • Activities: What academics do (e.g., literature review, interviews, lab work, surveys).
  • Outputs: The products of research (knowledge and tangible “products”, like a publication or prototype)
  • Outcomes: People are aware of and are using the outputs (e.g., a healthcare provider using your proposed way of working, or your theory becoming used in a field)
  • Impact: effect on… (going beyond usage: what is actually changing? Is the “use” sustained? Who benefits?)

When using an impact pathway, you ideally start at the desired impact and then work your way back. Sometimes multiple paths contribute to the same impact. Think of an overarching envisioned impact and multiple work packages that contribute to this. Or how your education and research with make an impact but sometimes in different ways. As such, you could also “stack” pathways that all lead to a same impact.

Figure: a model impact pathway, adapted from the Erasmus+ Impacttool

But you can't control everything! Sometimes researchers feel that they are solely responsible for their impact, but this is not the case. The further you are in the impact pathway, the less control you have. This is visualised below (you may recognise this from the NWO "Working with an Impact Plan" module). For example, you are in control of the contents of your publication, intervention, or prototype, but who is citing/using this, is something you can influence but not control. When talking about future impact, you can describe how you set up your work so that the chance of future impact is high.

Figure: spheres of control, influence and interest

Impact Case

Impact is often captured in a narrative, which is underpinned by relevant indicators. One way to do this is to take the Impact Pathway as a framework and build your narrative around that. You can either look back at your past impact, or plan for future impact. To guide you in developing your own impact case, a template has been developed, see below.

Every project is different, so a generic set of indicators does not exist. Instead, one can opt for context-sensitive indicators that match well with the goal of that specific project (per the Impact by Design concept). The Impact Indicator Framework provides a wide set of generic indicators that can help you find indicators that fit your work and your narrative. 

Downloads

Support for you and your team in using these tools is available!

Impact Support and Workshops

Contact

At BMS, Tom Boogerd is the main contact point for any impact-related questions, workshop requests or when you have ideas you wish to share (feel welcome!).

Feel free to reach out to set up a custom workshop for your research group, there are many possibilities.

Internal Support Offer

The table below tries to match more specific support needs to internal UT support offer:

Support need

Where to go

I am a PhD candidate and want to know more about impact

Workshop Research Impact to write your own impact case

Workshop How to increase the visibility and impact of your research on how to increase the academic impact of your work, through Open Science and graphical abstracts

I want to know more about science communication and/or Citizen Science

Workshop Fundamentals of Science Communication and Citizen Science

I am interested in Citizen Science and want support in involving citizens in my work

Citizen Science Hub

I am interested in Open Science, and wish to connect to colleagues with the same passion

Open Science Community Twente

I want to work on my visibility and brand as a scientist

Workshops Personal Branding for Scientists or Workshop Effective Outreach

I want a sparring partner for a communication strategy, I want a sparring partner for general (internal) communication challenges

Contact a colleague from Marketing & Communication

I want someone to proofread my communication efforts (e.g., for outreach activities)

Writing centre of the UT Language Centre

I wish to transfer my work to relevant stakeholders (in a general sense: upscaling, licensing, or in a business sense: spin-off, copyrights, patents)

Knowledge Transfer Office of the UT, located at Novel-T

I want to make a nice video, make use of the do-it-yourself-studio, get a photographer, or make a podcast

All services can be found on the Service Portal

I want to compose a media plan or work on a press release 

All services can be found on the Service Portal

I want a social media plan, get social media analytics, or submit material to UT social media

All services can be found on the Service Portal