Our university has been nominated for the SER Diversiteit in Bedrijf Award 2025-2026. The nomination is for the programme Advancing Inclusive Academia. This programme - initiated by IDEA Center (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access Center) - aims to create a community of scholars and bridge structural disparities for colleagues from under-represented groups in (senior) academic positions.
The Sociaal-Economische Raad (SER) presents the Diversiteit in Bedrijf Award every two years. The award highlights an initiative that demonstrably contributes to an inclusive and respectful working environment. Four organisations have been shortlisted from the entries for the award. EUR is very proud to have been nominated alongside DAF Trucks, Randstad and PwC for the SER Diversiteit in Bedrijf Award 2025-2026.
The four nominated organisations will be assessed by a panel of experts and through a public vote. Criteria include innovation, effectiveness, sustainability and transferability of the initiative. On Tuesday 6 October, Diversity Day, the award will be presented to the winner during Euronext’s Ring the Bell Ceremony in Amsterdam.
The Advancing Inclusive Academia programme
The Advancing Inclusive Academia programme was established in response to barriers in academic promotion. This is evidenced in unequal distribution among academics, with greater diversity at junior levels than at senior levels. The programme aims to bridge structural disparities for colleagues from under-represented groups in (senior) academic positions and to create and foster a sense of community and support among the participants that extends beyond faculties. The programme includes workshops, mentoring (external or internal), co-mentoring (internal), peer review and peer feedback and intervision, along with constant dialogue among participants and with the coordinators.
The EUR programme takes an intersectional approach and is open to colleagues of all genders, colleagues with migration/ethnic minority background, colleagues with a functional impairment, LGBTQIA+ colleagues, and first generation academics.
Next to supporting participants in their further career development and opportunities, the programme also provides a space to share their challenges and exchange experiences. This enables participants to learn not only from the workshops but also from one another. The sense of community is a very valuable side effect of the programmes. The programme transcends faculties and brings communities together.
Innovative initiative
What makes these initiative innovative and unique is its focus on systemic barriers and, above all, an integral approach. In many organisations, mentoring, the establishment of a network and peer review take place as separate, independent elements. In the Advancing Inclusive Academia approach, it is all of the above. Its main aim is the construction of a community that takes knowledge from workshops and conference, but overall, benefits from the skills of the people of that community, where feedback, co-mentoring, intervision and dialogue are central to collective and individual growth.
By incentivizing the collective, the emphasis shifts from supporting or ‘fixing’ individuals to grow in their careers, towards a new culture of continuous support and collective reflection. By doing this, the programme also addresses and confronts issues at a systemic level which the organisation can combat. These include, for example, clarifying both written and unwritten criteria for promotion and making the promotion procedure more transparent.
A new round of the Advancing Inclusive Academia programme will take place in the coming academic year (2026-2027).
25/25 and Beyond 25/25 as precursors of Advancing Inclusive Academia
The precursors to EUR’s initiative were the 25/25 and Beyond 25/25 programmes. The 25/25 programme aimed to increase the number of female professors. The objective was to ensure that 25% of professors were women by 2025. This target was achieved; the new target at EUR is 40% female professors by 2030. The second cohort of the programme, named Beyond 25/25, was expanded to also include colleagues with a migration/ethnic minority background. With the latest programme, Advancing Inclusive Academia, the scope of the programme was expanded to include more under-represented groups.
Applicable to other organisations
The programme structure can be successfully applied in other organisations. The individual components - but above all the combination of mentoring, workshops, independent advice, network-building, peer review and peer feedback - can be utilised in any organisation. Furthermore, they can be applied to any under-represented group in senior positions. In this way, EUR also hopes to inspire other organisations in investing in inclusive organisational programmes.
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