Official launch COMPOSITE project
Funded by the EU with a 6.6 million € grant, the Comparative Police Studies in the EU (COMPOSITE) project will study similarities and differences in change management practices in police forces in 10 different countries all over Europe.
The project was formally launched on Thursday, October 14.
Kick off by George Yip
Kicking off a festive internal meeting at De Etage, Dean <link people george-yip _self>George Yip of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, expressed his satisfaction about this tremendous achievement of the COMPOSITE team, which has received the biggest EU grant the business school has ever obtained. Yip was also very pleased with the fact that Erasmus University will function as the coordinating partner in this research project, which engages a consortium of 15 European police academies, universities and business schools, and technological research institutes.
Project Coordinator: Gabriele Jacobs
After George Yip, it was time for COMPOSITE Project Coordinator <link people gabriele-jacobs-belschak _self>Gabriele Jacobs’ presentation on how the project came about, how the consortium was established and how it took its time to create a process of convergence before the proposal was accepted by the EU. She described the added value of the university in this project as “the capacity to combine scientific excellence by practical relevance”. She praised the trust and support of <link people george-yip _self>George Yip, <link people steef-van-de-velde _self>Steef van de Velde, <link people ale-smidts _self>Ale Smidts and especially Roel van den Berg, who greatly helped in understanding the complex EU call for proposals process and guiding the team throughout this complex process.
After explaining the project partners and the objectives of the project, she described the next steps and the timeline. The Dutch part of the project started back in March 2010; so far the team has already received excellent support from the police organisations of Rotterdam Rijnmond, Amsterdam-Amstelland and Gelderland Zuid. Jacobs pointed out that more police forces will be approached in the near future.
Last but not least, she presented the COMPOSITE team. Next to Jacobs herself, the academic staff consists of two newly appointed Post Doctoral researchers:<link people saskia-bayerl _self> Saskia Bayerl and <link people kate-horton _self>Kate Horton. This team will be seconded by <link people daan-van-knippenberg _self>Daan van Knippenberg and <link people johan-van-rekom _self>Johan van Rekom. The project office consists of Margie Pondaag and Bep Klop; project manager is Roel van den Berg.
Postdocs: Saskia Bayerl and Kate Horton
As a last part of the official launch, both new Postdocs presented themselves to the audience by giving their background and their respective roles in the COMPOSITE team. <link people saskia-bayerl _self>Saskia Bayerl recently received her PhD from Delft University of Technology (Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering). Her past research projects include shared leadership in a police agency in the United States and effects of technology change in the British offshore oil industry. <link people kate-horton _self>Kate Horton has moved to Rotterdam from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, where she conducted her PhD focusing on identification and behaviour within military teams. Bayerl and Horton will work full-time on the COMPOSITE project, investigating identification, leadership and technology as part of a number of work packages led by Erasmus University.
After that, it was time to raise the glass to the success of this impressive project.
