Inspiration. As a postdoctoral researcher in the United States, I encountered several guidebooks designed to assist postdocs and new principal investigators (PIs) in navigating their academic careers. Examples include “Making the right moves – A practical guide to scientific management and new faculty” by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and “At the Helm – Leading your laboratory” by Kathy Barker. These books provided valuable support and inspired the creation of a similar guide tailored for young researchers in Flanders. Around the time we started working on this project, the Young Academy in the Netherlands had just published “A beginner’s guide to Dutch academia,” aimed at professors unfamiliar with the Dutch academic system. This confirmed the need for a similar information source about the Flemish academic community.

Introducing Academic Compass. Recognizing the abundance of online information about the Flemish universities and research institutions, such as on platforms like Study in Flanders (English only), the VLIR website (Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad, Dutch only), the FRIS portal (Flanders Research Information Space – by the department of Economy, Science and Innovation of the Flemish Government), and the FWO website (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Research Foundation Flanders), we decided to present this material in a new format. Instead of a traditional book, we envisioned an accessible and expandable website.

Our goal was to develop a website that offers insights into the Flemish university landscape through interactive graphics focusing on key topics like research funding, internationalization, and gender (in)equality. Each core theme is presented with available data, highlights, background information, and useful links to more detailed information. We strive to do so objectively, without including the opinions of the Young Academy, which are reserved for blog posts. This multilingual website (Dutch and English) serves as a guide for all researchers (students, PhD researchers, postdocs, and professors) both locally and internationally. More broadly, we aim to provide a “compass” for anyone interested in the Flemish academic world, from PhD students to professors and from curious citizens to policymakers.

Simplifying data access. The importance of accessible data in academia cannot be overstated. As we live in an increasingly data-driven world, the ability to easily access and interpret academic data holds significant value. It allows for greater transparency and enables researchers, policymakers, and the general public to make informed decisions based on comprehensive insights. For those seeking a concrete understanding of the educational and research landscape in Flanders, institutions like VLIR, FWO-Flanders , and the Flemish government already provide valuable data.

Academic Compass aims to simplify access to these data by providing an intuitive platform that brings together key academic statistics and visualizes them in an easily interpretable manner. By doing so, we hope to bridge the gap between raw data and meaningful insights, enabling all stakeholders in the academic community to benefit from the wealth of information available.

While opening up data for public access has lots of benefits, one should also be cautious. It can lead to misinterpretation and misleading conclusions due to a lack of context or understanding of the data, and it can be misused or manipulated to support biased viewpoints. Therefore, we have tried to provide sufficient background information and elaborate additional information in the FAQ page. However, not all context can be provided. We thus recommend verifying the data and interpretations with VLIR,FWO, or the universities themselves.

A collaborative effort. The journey to create this website was lengthy and involved numerous interactions with VLIR and FWO. We extend our gratitude to Koen Verlaeckt (Secretary-General of the VLIR), Jan Danckaert (current chairman of the VLIR) and all other rectors (office of the rectors of the VLIR), Luc Timmers (chairman Personnel Statistics), and other policy staff involved, for providing part of their publicly available personnel statistics in an accessible format. We are also very grateful to Hans Willems (Secretary-General of the FWO), Danny Huysmans (Director Operational Management of the FWO), and the IT team led by Geert De Pauw for their enthusiasm and cooperation. Their considerable efforts in supplying extensive FWO funding data was invaluable. A special thanks to Lennert Loos (KU Leuven) for developing the software for the interactive graphs and our many discussions at all times of the day, and to our patient web developer, Bob Weichler (Weichie). Thanks also to all members and policy staff of the Young Academy who contributed to this project over the various years. Thank you also to all the members and policy staff of the Young Academy who have contributed to this project over the years, first within the “Handbook” working group and later in “Academic Compass.” Special thanks to Sophie de Buyl, who will continue to follow up the “Academic Compass” working group within the Young Academy now that I am longer a member.

Looking ahead. We are pleased to make this website publicly available and hope it proves useful to many. We will annually update the FWO, VLIR, and Dataloep data sets to ensure continued relevance. The modular structure of Academic Compass allows for future expansion to include other themes, such as time management, mental health, and publication and funding cultures; and other datasets. For example, we would be interested in visualizing more of the VLIR data or the elaborate Human Resources in Research Flanders (HRRF) database, which contains the full academic career paths of researchers at one of the five Flemish universities since the academic year 1990-1991. Previous collaborations with Noƫmi Debacker on this topic have already been very valuable, for which I express my sincere thanks. Future blog posts will cover various topics, and we welcome your feedback and contributions through the contact form or comment sections on each theme page.

Best wishes and enjoy using Academic Compass!
Lendert Gelens
Young Academy 2018-2024
Coordinator of Academic Compass
KU Leuven