Focus domain and time allocation

Staff members appointed on the basis of Career Paths in Science and Engineering spend most of their working time on the main domains of education and research. In addition, they are expected to invest time in achieving societal impact and to do a certain amount of academic community service (that is, organizational tasks within the university beyond their own group). How much time is allocated to each of these four domains of results depends on the staff member’s focus domain as well as on their career stage.

Focus domain

To say that a domain is the staff member’s focus domain means that their activities concentrate within this domain and that it is within this domain that they develop themselves most strongly. It also means that the staff member’s career path concentrates on this domain and that, in order to make career progress, results in this domain are particularly important. The choice for the focus domain is made when the position is created by the Faculty Board and is based on the needs of the organization. The focus domain is therefore clear from the beginning: it is specified in the vacancy text and the associated profile report (extended job description) when the position is advertised and it is incorporated in the employment contract of the staff member.

Time allocation of Assistant Professors (first five years)

When staff members have just started their career at FSE as Assistant Professor, they are expected to invest the majority of their time (60%) in activities related to their focus domain, which is either education or research. This includes professionalization activities, which are supposed to concentrate on skills and competences that are particularly relevant to one’s focus domain. By spending the majority of their time on education or research, Assistant Professors further specialize in one of these two main domains. The remaining time is spent for the most part (30%) on the other main domain, research or education, while 10% is reserved for activities related to impact and organizational tasks. This time allocation applies to the first five years of the appointment of the Assistant Professor.

Time allocation of other staff

The above time allocation evolves in the course of time. Assistant Professors who have been appointed for five years or longer, Associate Professors, and Full Professors still have a focus domain: they continue to concentrate on activities related to that domain, including domain-related organizational tasks, and keep developing themselves most strongly in this domain. These more senior staff members allocate their time according to the following principles:

Senior staff members spend at least 40% of their time on education, to cover the needs of the FSE degree programmes.
They devote at least 10% of their time to academic community service, which is essential to cover the organizational needs of our degree programmes, the research institute, the faculty, and the university. Note that, in practice, staff members typically spend somewhat more than 10% on academic community service and that it may temporarily be substantially more, for example when a staff member takes up a role as director.
They spend at least 20% of their time on research so that their research always forms a solid foundation underlying activities in the domains of education and impact.
Each senior staff member makes agreements with their supervisor and the institute’s scientific and education director about how to spend the remaining 30% of their time, with the criteria and associated activities of their focus domain serving as the natural starting point. These agreements are made and can be revisited in the context of the R&D cycle.

Change of focus domain

A staff member’s focus domain is connected to their position. A position’s focus domain is chosen on the basis of the needs of the organization and it plays a key role in the recruitment process: a staff member is selected in part because of the fit between their interests and talents and the focus domain. For these reasons, a change of focus domain is not to be taken lightly and cannot be made in the first five years of one’s appointment at the FSE. However, a staff member's interests may change during their career, as may the needs of the organization. In such cases, it may be possible to change one’s focus domain and switch to another career path. Staff members who have been appointed at FSE for longer than five years may request a change of their focus domain, under two further conditions:

The change of focus domain must be in the interest of the research institute and the organization more broadly.
The staff member must satisfy the criteria associated with their current position in their intended career path. For example, an Associate Professor with a research focus who wishes to change their focus to education must satisfy the criteria associated with that of Associate Professor in the career path with a focus on education.

A change of focus domain must be approved by the Faculty Board. See Focus change for the procedure.