Research

Summary
This page describes the current policy on applied research. It deals successively with the characteristics of applied research, its substantive positioning and, finally, the integration of research and education at Fontys ICT.

Fontys RACI ICT
To learn more about how this page fits within RACI, see the RACI domains Research and Research support.

Universities of applied sciences have had a statutory duty to conduct applied research since 1986. In the Sector Agreement 2018, OCW and the Vereniging Hogescholen jointly state that the work of universities of applied sciences in the field of education, applied research and impact is of crucial importance for strengthening the Dutch knowledge society and tackling societal challenges. The research function of the universities of applied sciences is evolving and connecting to regional, national and European agendas [1].

Fontys ICT has chosen a far-reaching integration of research and education when implementing research. More information can be found on what applied research is, on the substantive positioning of research, on the integration of research-education and how this fits in with the transition to a knowledge institution.

“The University of Applied Sciences stands for the formation of value(s) full professionals, contributes to innovation in practice and, to this end, also constantly renews its own education and research processes in connection with society and, in particular, professional practice.”
(Starre, van der & Bieleman, 2018, p. 7).

This research has a number of specific features [2]:

Questions arise partly from practice. The process by which the questions are raised is called question articulation: elucidating - often latent - questions from professional practice. In doing so, our role is not passive: we often have a knowledge advantage in the field of ICT technology and can proactively allocate this knowledge to 'awaken' these latent questions.

Influenced by digitalisation, professions will change: digital skills will be incorporated, professions will disappear, and new professions will emerge (Figure 3). Partly through its connection to professional education, the research contributes to the transformation of professional profiles and the formation of the professional of the future.

The research is conducted methodically. Characteristics for applied research in ICT are thereby:

• Question articulation in and with practice and problem analysis are the basis for forming a research question;
• Scientific insights and good practices from practice are used to answer the question;
• The research is methodologically sound, transparent and reproducible;
• The various phases of the research are usually completed iteratively or cyclically;
• Research results are assessed for validity and reliability;
• New knowledge is recorded and preferably stacked over a series of projects.

Applied research produces concrete results. These usually involve one or more of the following types:

• An innovative system, prototype or application;
• An innovative method, method or process innovation;
• New practical knowledge about technology and its application;
• Knowledge about the impact of new technology in professional practice and its acceptance;
• Understanding the usability and limitations of existing theories;
• Useful datasets for further research;
• Publications and presentations.

Research carried out at Fontys ICT always links up with one or more research agendas. This is important, because partnerships are often formed under the flags of these agendas and because research funds are also allocated to them.

The main agendas¹⁾ are shown in Figure 1 and briefly explained. In general, the 'smaller' agendas fit well with the 'larger' ones.

Figure 1
Biggest research agendas for cooperation and acquisition of research resources .

Source: Fontys ICT, Mark de Graaf.

Fontys has chosen six research themes: creative economy, enabling technologies, healthy and inclusive society, smart mobility and future of learning. Centres of Expertise and Knowledge Centres have been set up under these themes. With these, Fontys aims to increase its impact on major social issues.â

More information can be found on the webpage of Fontys for Society.

With this agenda, the province of North Brabant brings focus to policy on research and innovation. The digital transition plays an important role in this.

The government has formulated 25 missions to tackle societal challenges. The missions focus on more healthy life years, sufficient clean water and safe food, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, affordable sustainable energy and a safe Netherlands to live and work in. Ambitious goals that challenge entrepreneurs and scientists to come up with ground-breaking solutions and contribute to the competitiveness of the Netherlands.â

More information on Missions for the Future.

Horizon Europe is the EU's main funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion. It tackles climate change, helps achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and boosts EU competitiveness and growth.

Learn more about Horizon Europe.

Fontys ICT has opted for far-reaching integration of education and research.

Within the Fontys vision on learning, a connection between education and research has long been in place “Learning is gaining knowledge and skills together, researching and experiencing” [3]. Within Fontys ICT, this is fleshed out with, among other things, meaningful project-driven education in which the student is central. During Fontys ICT's first ambition plan (2013-2016), special attention was paid to the further development of research skills of students and lecturers. Subsequently, in the subsequent Ambition plan 2018-2023 OPEN UP aimed at the further development into a knowledge institute, the Research & Development (R&D) ambition theme focused on connecting education and applied research. The R&D team then worked with varying compositions over the course of the ambition plan to define, vision and implementation principles for that integration. The most important ones are explained here.

In order to translate the national, regional and Fontys knowledge agenda, vision and mission, applied research at Fontys ICT was positioned on the basis of enabling technologies, using the Enable-Create-Position (ECP) model [4]. Six themes appropriate to the research groups were chosen, which are regularly updated on the basis of current developments and new insights or new policies.
Broad definitions were deliberately chosen so that shifts can take place within the themes without adding or changing themes. For the duration of the OPEN UP ambition plan, the themes are complete but in view of the growing number of research groups and a new ambition plan, it is obvious that they will be updated in the near future. The current research groups are linked to several themes simultaneously so that cooperation between research groups is anchored in the themes.

Fontys ICT research themes within the term of the ambition plan (2018-2023):

• AI
• Data and Software services
• Human Capital
• Applied Games
• Robotics
• Digital Communities

The practical implementation of research projects within Fontys ICT is facilitated by means of labs. These are working spaces set up for a specific research goal, technology or research method, which together form an InnovationHub. The InnovationHubs are located in Eindhoven (strijpTQ location) and Tilburg (MindLabs location).

For applied research within Fontys ICT, Andriessen's definition [5] forms: “the methodical answering of questions that leads to relevant knowledge in the making of professional products” (Andriessen, 2014, pp. 30-31) and the regulatory cycle of design-oriented research form the basis.
Within design-oriented research, the regulatory cycle is used to guide the process of research. The phases within the cycle are designated by a label that is domain-dependent. For the ICT domain, the labels (problem) analysis, design, realisation and evaluation, as shown in Figure 2, are commonly used.

Figure 2
The regulatory cycle with the labels (Problem) Analysis, Design, Realisation, Evaluation characteristic of the ICT domain..

Source: Fontys ICT, Tom Langhorst.

Analysis is characterised by the collection of relevant, available information and is initiated by a particular analysis: the analysis of the problem or opportunity. This is called the problem analysis. The problem or opportunity definition then acts as a filter to look at the available information. Filtered, relevant information is incorporated into a design. A design, if methodically created and thus sufficiently substantiated, has predictive value. In other words, the paradigm of design-oriented research rests on the importance of a design to effectively achieve a realisation or intervention. The realisation of the design is therefore the next phase after which the realisation is tested during evaluation. During an evaluation, the extent to which the design was realised and the extent to which the problem was solved with the help of the realisation are examined.

Despite the fact that the regulatory cycle is presented as a sequence of phases, it is certainly not the case that this sequence is always strictly chronological. The problem analysis usually already casts a glance ahead to arrive at a proper focus and scope of the problem or opportunity. Phases can also intermingle later during the practice-based research process. An iterative way of working usually means going through the regulatory cycle several times. However, in practice this does not necessarily mean that it includes all phases. In other words, the cycle can often be much more dynamic in concrete project implementation than the cycle suggests.

Macro figures from the European Commission (2005) ²⁾ show that the Netherlands scores relatively high when it comes to scientific publications but relatively low when it comes to turnover realised with the help of new products and the percentage of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) that innovate in-house [6]. This phenomenon is referred to as the 'Knowledge gap'. Applied research at HBO can help here as it focuses on innovations that bring a product closer to the market. This is expressed in Technology Readiness Levels (see Figure 3) where applied research focuses mainly on levels 4 to 8, bridging the gap between fundamental research and the market introduction of innovative products.

Figure 3
The 10 levels in Technology Readiness with, within them, the positioning of applied research which thus forms an important link to bridge the knowledge gap.

Source: Cloudwatch2 Project.

To achieve further operationalisation of design-oriented research and provide tools to describe, measure and organise yield and quality, tools have been developed or further developed:

The four dimensions model for the quality of applied research.
The Four dimensions model was developed to describe the quality of applied research in four characteristics. The model aligns with the regulatory cycle and provides a practical toolset for research and education for each dimension:

The DOT framework.
The DOT framework, developed by the HAN, was already adopted by Fontys ICT during the first ambition plan to enhance research skills. Thereafter, the framework continued to play a leading role when it comes to the soundness dimension of the four dimensions model. During the period of the OPEN UP ambition plan, several additions were made to the DOT framework such as the development of new method cards (sets) for Machine Learning and the description of the Research Design Patterns.

The principles of applied research have been translated into the teaching method Research Based Learning (RBL) used for education from the fourth semester onwards. In this way, students are not only introduced to the theoretical principles of applied research in the form of professional skills (investigative problem solving) but become part of the research-oriented environment and culture of the ICT innovation labs in Eindhoven and Tilburg. These innovation labs have been developed together with the InnoHubs ambition theme in which research projects of research groups and student projects can complement and inspire each other. This also created opportunities for collaboration with partners and co-creation in shared learning teams initiated by the Knowledge transfer ambition theme.

Within education, ongoing and long-term projects occupy a special place. These are projects that, when a semester changes, are either developed further within the new implementation of that same semester (deepening) or are passed on to another semester for further elaboration (broadening). For example, a project whose complexity is too great to implement within one semester may be deepened using iterations within the same semester in a new implementation. Broadening occurs when a project that starts as the development of a Machine Learning algorithm is then developed into a scalable application in a advanced software semester and then further developed towards Internet of Things (IoT) in a semester focused on I4.0. Continuous and long-term projects can therefore contribute to sustainable knowledge creation and therefore have a strong connection to the transferability and valorisation dimensions of the four dimensions model.

Furthermore, ongoing and long-term projects contribute to students' substantive professional development when it comes to developing skills to be able to develop Brownfield [7] in addition to Greenfield. In Greenfield development, a project is built from the ground up (from scratch) whereas in Brownfield development, a project builds on an existing version of that project. Brownfield development is a common situation within the work field of software development for which students are prepared with these projects. In other words, ongoing and long-term projects help create the complex context appropriate to levels 3 and 4 of the HBO-i domain description.

Although Brownfield development is the natural context within the work field, it requires the special didactic attention and setting provided in the Research Based Learning teaching method. An infrastructure that supports project management and experimentation for ongoing and long-term projects is also of great importance and something that is elaborated by the ambition theme Digital Excellence (DeX).
Finally, successful Brownfield development rests heavily on the sense of ownership by the student, lecturer-researcher(s) and research groups (research groups or consortia) involved. In this way, these projects contribute to the research culture.

A learning line has been established for the professional skill investigative problem solving which is a translation of the HBO-i domain description where the DOT framework and other tools from the four dimensions model are concretely plotted across the four levels of the study programme (Propaedeutic phase, Associate degree, Bachelor and Master).

Fontys ICT has a tradition when it comes to supporting its employees in their professional development in the field of applied research. From the transformation into a knowledge institute, this professionalisation process has been redesigned so that it becomes more meaningful for employees and better meets the needs of research stakeholders. This change is currently in the pilot phase.

The main difference from professionalisation so far, is the authentic context within which the employee builds his or her portfolio of applied research-related activities. The new set-up implies a more peer-oriented approach with guidance from colleagues who can coach the employee. In most cases, this results in a longer pathway to work on Mid-level Teaching Qualification (MKO) learning outcomes (see Table 1) but in a meaningful way that is integrated into daily work.

Table 1
MKO learning outcomes for employee professionalisation Note: LO= Learning Outcome.

Within Fontys ICT, the ambition to become a knowledge institute runs parallel to an increase in scale and a transition to a high degree of integration of applied research in education (RBL) aimed at valorisation and sustainable knowledge creation and therefore requires organisational adjustments.
These organisational adjustments are in full swing, with the possibilities of working with Communities of Practice, adapting the job house and defining and elaborating roles based on the Fontys roles [8] being explored. At the moment (academic year spring 2023), the role of Research Program Manager is the most visible organisational adjustment. This role supports the connection of lectureship projects with the Partners in Innovationand Partners in Education programme and student projects within the semesters and internal internships or final projects.

Information about Fontys O&O's research organisation can be found on this page (currently not available in English).

1. Cloosterman, E, Gielen, M, Toren, J. van den et al (2019). The state of Applied Research in the Netherlands: the emergence and positioning of applied research. Driebergen: Birch. In collaboration with National Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA, Ministry of Education Culture and Science, Vereniging Hogescholen. Accessed from https://www.vereniginghogescholen.nl/system/knowledge_base/attachments/files/000/001/078/original/Birch-Stand_van_zaken_PraktijkOndrzk-ppag.pdf?1572864227.
2. Starre, B. van der der & Bieleman, O. [Red.] (2018). Applied research agenda ICT 2018-2021. Driebergen: Birch. Commissioned by: National Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA. Retrieved from https://www.hbo-i.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/AgendaPraktijkgerichtICT-onderzoek.pdf.
3. We are Fontys, critical self-reflection - chapter 4.1 vision and policy. Retrieved from http://wijzijnfontys.nl/chapter/4-1-standaard-1-visie-en-beleid/.
4. Gardien, P., Rincker, M. and Deckers, E. (2015) . Innovating Innovation: Introducing Rapid Co-Creation Approach to Facilitate Breakthrough Innovation. Proceedings of the 11th European Academy of Design Conference. Paris (22-24 2015).
5. Protocol Expert Group (2014). Evaluating is people work: findings on the desirability and possibility of a joint protocol for assessing (core) papers. Commissioned by the Vereniging Hogescholen. Accessed 31 January 2018 from http://www.onderzoekscoach.nl/category/publicaties/.
6. Arnoldus, M. (2006). Research and Innovation, Discussion paper | knowledge economy monitor 2006. Published by the Foundation Nederland Kennisland, Amsterdam.
7. Brownfield vs. Greenfield Development: What's the Difference in Software? Retrieved from https://synoptek.com/insights/it-blogs/greenfield-vs-brownfield-software-development/.
8. Fontys (s.d.). I want to know more about the Fontys roles. Accessed 6 April 2023, from https://www-fontyshub.gxcloud.net/Ontwikkel-jezelf/Fontysrollen.htm.