What does the ETSN Qualification Committee do?

The Qualification Committee (QC) had been established with the framework of the ECHA at the ECHA Ljubljana Conference in Autumn 2014. Its main task was to consider how to convert the principles of the European Talent Support Network recorded in documents into calls for applications and how to evaluate the applications and repeat the call-and-assessment procedure from time to time. The first applications were evaluated in 2015, and the Committee has announced 5 calls for applications since then, and it had qualified 26 Talent Centres for work in the Network by now.

QC first had 5, then 7 members from all over Europe, and it was chaired by Lianne Hoogeveen from the start to October 2020. Committee members typically had been active in talent support/care for more than 10 years, in compliance with the relevant requirement, and most of them are also Talent Centre directors. For the list of the current members, see https://etsn.eu/the-qualification-committee/.Following registration in The Netherlands in 2019, the Committee had to be moved from the ECHA to the ETSN pursuant to the Dutch legislation. Consequently, as of Autumn 2019, we speak of the ETSN Qualification Committee. Now the members are elected by the members of the ETSN Network Council, not those of the ECHA.

The task of the QC member is not easy: the work and organisation of other colleagues, often coming from outside European culture, must be assessed based on a single application. It has happened several times that part of the answers received in an application could not be interpreted and further information had to be requested for clarification. Committee members usually agree in their assessment of most applications, but there are some disputed cases every year that have to be discussed and decided upon jointly.

The qualification team has become increasingly integrated during the years thanks primarily to its chairwoman Lianne Hoogeveen, whose open and helpful attitude and commitment to the cooperation of Talent Centres and Points and fair conduct in disputed issues guaranteed smooth work. Now that Lianne has been elected President of the ECHA, she resigned from the Committee, and we must thank her for her work which was a great asset to the emergence and development of the ETSN.

Dr. Lianne Hoogeveen