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Simone Buitendijk

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Simone Buitendijk
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds
In office
September 2020 – December 2023
Preceded bySir Alan Langlands
Succeeded byHai-Sui Yu (interim)
Personal details
BornThe Hague, Netherlands
Alma mater
Known forWomen's health
Scientific career
Institutions
ThesisIvf pregnancy : outcome and follow-up (2000)

Simone Elisabeth Buitendijk is a Dutch academic and was the vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds.[1] In October 2023 it was announced that she would step down from the post on 31 December 2023. Her research considers women's health and innovations in education.

Early life and education

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Buitendijk was born in The Hague.[2] She studied medicine at Utrecht University.[3] She earned a Master of public health at Yale School of Medicine in 1990[3] where she evaluated the prevalence of medication in early pregnancy and how it related to maternal characteristics.[4] She found that women who use more over-the-counter and prescription drugs are more likely to be white, smoke more than 30 cigarettes a day and smoke marijuana.[4] She joined the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research where she worked as a Senior Researcher in perinatal epidemiology.[3] In 2000, she completed her doctorate in epidemiology at Leiden University.[2][3] Her work considered IVF pregnancies and their follow-up.[2]

Research and career

[edit]

Buitendijk was appointed Head of the Perinatal Epidemiology section at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research.[3] She worked on fetal and infant health, and the ability of the European Union to produce indicators to assess perinatal health.[5][6] She was appointed Professor of Preventive Healthcare for Children at the Leiden University Medical Center in 2011.[7][8] She was the first person to hold a Chair in Primary Care Obstetrics in the Netherlands. That year she was also made Vice Rector Magnificus and joined the Executive Board at Leiden University.[7] Buitendijk led several strategies to improve the educational experiences of students, encouraging innovative teaching practises.[9] She was responsible for the education, policy and diversity initiatives.[10] Under Buitendijk's leadership, Leiden University became one of the first universities in Europe to comprehensively develop massive open online courses and small private online courses.[11][12][13]

At Leiden University Buitendijk was made Professor of Women's and Family Health, and started to work on gendered research and innovation.[3][14] She studied home birth in the Netherlands, finding that home births were as safe as hospital births.[15][16][17] She has studied changes in the height and weight of children in the Netherlands and how perinatal factors impact the birth experience.[18][19][20] She called for an evaluation and introduction of minimum standards into midwifery in the Netherlands.[21]

Buitendijk called for academia to become more empathetic in an effort to embrace diversity.[22] She co-authored the League of European Research Universities' Women, research and universities: excellence without gender bias, a call-to-arms for universities looking to address the underrepresentation of women in academia.[23] In the report, Buitendijk suggests committed leadership from the top, as well as introducing concrete measures that are targeted to specific career stages, transparency, accountability and monitoring, as well as active promotion of a gender dimension in research.[24] Buitendijk called for The Lancet to require analysis of sex and gender when selecting papers for publication.[25]

In 2016, Buitendijk joined Imperial College London as a Vice Provost for Education.[11][26] There, she hosted the first Microsoft Campus Connections Summit to be held outside America.[27] Buitendijk partnered Imperial College with Coursera, creating a series of online courses around artificial intelligence.[28] She launched the College's new teaching and learning strategy.[29] Buitendijk described the Teaching Excellence Framework as a "godsend" for university education.[30]

Buitendijk has presented at the Gender Summit and Transform MedEd.[31][32][33][34] She is a member of the League of European Research Universities Gender Steering Group.[31] She has written for the Times Higher Education.[35]

On 14 February 2020 it was announced that Buitendijk would succeed Alan Langlands as Vice Chancellor of the University of Leeds on 1 September 2020.[36]

On 4 October 2023 it was announced that Buitendijk would step down as Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Leeds on 31 December 2023.[37] Her tenure was marked by controversy, including banning students from the Council Chamber of the Marjory & Arnold Ziff Building - which housed student services - in April 2023.[38][39][40] Citing this and other concerns, all three trade unions of staff at the University passed no confidence motions in Buitendijk as Vice Chancellor and President in the summer preceding her resignation.[40]

Accusations of transphobia

[edit]

In August 2020 staff and colleagues wrote an open letter challenging Buitendijk's support of transphobic tweets and accounts from her Twitter account.[41] In March 2021 the University was forced to withdraw a draft of a new Trans Equality Policy which was opposed by both staff and students.[42] Later the same year, staff wrote a further open letter to Buitendijk calling for an end to what was termed a "hostile environment" for staff and students, based on issues with an IT system that forced people to out themselves by revealing deadnames.[43][44] Buitendijk's tenure also saw her commission research entitled The Big Leeds Conversation, during the course of which both racist and transphobic views were shared in the anonymous survey; it was noted by staff and students that whilst racist views were removed by moderators transphobic ones were not.[45]

International collaborations and positions

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In 2022 Buitendijk co-founded the Knowledge Equity Network alongside the University of Pretoria, a major new initiative to open up access to higher education and thereby address global challenges.[46] The Network officially launched in November 2022 and asks leaders, policymakers, HEIs, funders and experts to sign up to a global declaration and establish unrestricted, open and equitable access to quality education and research.[47]

Buitendijk was elected to the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities in July 2023 and said: "It is an honour and a privilege to represent the ACU's UK members on its Council, working alongside colleagues from an exciting and diverse membership base. Together, we will forge relationships, further our reach and build a better world for everyone.”[48]

Response to Council Chamber occupation

[edit]

Buitendijk was the subject of controversy in May 2022 when students at the University of Leeds staged a five-day occupation of the Council Chamber of the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff building in protest over treatment of staff.[49][50][51] Their demands were:

  1. No pay deductions for staff taking part in the marking and assessment boycott
  2. The Vice-Chancellor commits to resolving the Leeds UCU and Unison disputes by supporting their demands.[52]

The Vice-Chancellor met with the occupying students on the first day and was secretly recorded in an edited video posted to Twitter asking "Why do you think it's so terrible?" and "Why are you striking?" in response to questions about what she would do about the working conditions of staff at the University.[53] This was allegedly despite not meeting with representatives from the UCU or Unison in over a year or responding to emails from them.[49][50]

Students highlighted the contrast in conditions of staff being threatened with 100% pay deductions for taking part in a marking boycott to demand fair pay, and of the Vice-Chancellor whose salary was £336,000 in 2020-21, a £42,000 rise from her predecessor.[54][55]

On the fourth day of the occupation, students put out a request on Twitter for staff members to send in their personal experiences at the University to a padlet and then played them over a speaker outside senior management's offices which included Buitendijk's.[56][57]

On the 10th June 2022, the Leeds UCU announced that members had accepted an offer negotiated with the University which led to no pay deductions for those who took part in the marking boycott.[58]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Harrison, Anna (1 September 2020). "Welcoming our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simone Buitendijk". www.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Leidse hoogleraren - Buitendijk, Simone Elisabeth". hoogleraren.universiteitleiden.nl. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Prof Simone Buitendijk (GS1EU) - Gender Summit". gender-summit.com. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  4. ^ a b Buitendijk, Simone; Bracken, Michael B. (July 1991). "Medication in early pregnancy: Prevalence of use and relationship to maternal characteristics". American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 165 (1): 33–40. doi:10.1016/0002-9378(91)90218-g. PMID 1853911.
  5. ^ Buuren, Stef van; HiraSing, Remy A.; Buitendijk, Simone E.; Bakker, Boudewijn; Dommelen, Paula van; Talma, Henk; Schönbeck, Yvonne (15 November 2011). "Increase in Prevalence of Overweight in Dutch Children and Adolescents: A Comparison of Nationwide Growth Studies in 1980, 1997 and 2009". PLOS ONE. 6 (11): e27608. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...627608S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027608. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3216980. PMID 22110687.
  6. ^ MacFarlane, Alison; Gissler, Mika; Buitendijk, Simone; Blondel, Béatrice; Barros, Henrique; Alexander, Sophie; Bréart, Gérard; Wildman, Katherine; Zeitlin, Jennifer (1 September 2003). "PERISTAT: Indicators for monitoring and evaluating perinatal health in Europe". European Journal of Public Health. 13 (suppl_3): 29–37. doi:10.1093/eurpub/13.suppl_3.29. ISSN 1101-1262. PMID 14533746.
  7. ^ a b "Simone Buitendijk appointed Vice-Rector Magnificus Leiden University". LERU. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  8. ^ "S.E. Buitendijk". Universiteit Leiden (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Professor Simone Buitendijk appointed Imperial's new Vice Provost for education | Imperial News | Imperial College London". Imperial News. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Simone Buitendijk to take up appointment at Imperial College London". LERU. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Simone Buitendijk to take up appointment at Imperial College London". Leiden University. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Inspirationlab #20 - Vice-Rector Simone Buitendijk: 'MOOCs are no hype'". Dutch Future Society. 23 March 2015. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  13. ^ "The Future of Open Education". Leiden University. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  14. ^ "Professor Simone Buitendijk - Oxford Talks". talks.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  15. ^ Buitendijk, Simone (1 June 2011). "Gender Issues in Determining the Service and Research Agenda for Pregnancy and Birth Care: The Case of Home Birth in the Netherlands". Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. 36 (2). Rochester, NY: 193–202. Bibcode:2011ISRv...36..193B. doi:10.1179/030801811X13013181961635. S2CID 72473086. SSRN 1895437.
  16. ^ Smith, Rebecca (15 April 2009). "Boost home births call as research shows they are safe". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  17. ^ de Jonge, A; van der Goes, BY; Ravelli, ACJ; Amelink-Verburg, MP; Mol, BW; Nijhuis, JG; Gravenhorst, J Bennebroek; Buitendijk, SE (August 2009). "Perinatal mortality and morbidity in a nationwide cohort of 529 688 low-risk planned home and hospital births". BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. 116 (9): 1177–1184. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02175.x. PMID 19624439. S2CID 6755839.
  18. ^ Buuren, Stef van; HiraSing, Remy A.; Buitendijk, Simone E.; Bakker, Boudewijn; Dommelen, Paula van; Talma, Henk; Schönbeck, Yvonne (15 November 2011). "Increase in Prevalence of Overweight in Dutch Children and Adolescents: A Comparison of Nationwide Growth Studies in 1980, 1997 and 2009". PLOS ONE. 6 (11): e27608. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...627608S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027608. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3216980. PMID 22110687.
  19. ^ Buuren, Stef van; HiraSing, Remy A.; Buitendijk, Simone E.; Bakker, Boudewijn; Dommelen, Paula van; Talma, Henk; Schönbeck, Yvonne (March 2013). "The world's tallest nation has stopped growing taller: the height of Dutch children from 1955 to 2009". Pediatric Research. 73 (3): 371–377. doi:10.1038/pr.2012.189. hdl:1887/117018. ISSN 1530-0447. PMID 23222908.
  20. ^ Elsinga, Joyce; de Jong-Potjer, Lieke C.; van der Pal-de Bruin, Karin M.; le Cessie, Saskia; Assendelft, Willem J.J.; Buitendijk, Simone E. (November 2008). "The Effect of Preconception Counselling on Lifestyle and Other Behaviour Before and During Pregnancy". Women's Health Issues. 18 (6): S117–S125. doi:10.1016/j.whi.2008.09.003. PMID 19059545.
  21. ^ Cronie, Doug; Rijnders, Marlies; Buitendijk, Simone (September 2012). "Diversity in the Scope and Practice of Hospital-Based Midwives in the Netherlands". Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health. 57 (5): 469–475. doi:10.1111/j.1542-2011.2012.00164.x. hdl:1887/116992. PMID 22954077.
  22. ^ "Simone Buitendijk". www.magazine-on-the-spot.nl. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  23. ^ Schmidt, Bettina (2014). "Women, Research and Universities: Excellence without Gender Bias: Without crisis no change and no change without crisis". Paths to Career and Success for Women in Science. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. pp. 93–116. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-04061-1_6. ISBN 978-3-658-04060-4. S2CID 150732706.
  24. ^ "LERU on gender equality: We know the facts, it's time to act!..." MyScienceWork. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  25. ^ Buitendijk, Simone; Corda, Daniela; Flodström, Anders; Holdcroft, Anita; Hunter, Jackie; Pollitzer, Elizabeth; Rees, Teresa; Rice, Curt; Schiebinger, Londa; Schraudner, Martina; Sjørup, Karen; Tarrach, Rolf (March 2011). "Women in science and medicine". The Lancet. 377 (9768): 811. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60305-X. PMID 21377568. S2CID 43274125.
  26. ^ "Vice-Provost (Education) | About | Imperial College London". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  27. ^ MacKay, Murray (19 April 2018). "Top digital and education talent gathers for Microsoft Summit at Imperial". Imperial College London. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  28. ^ "Imperial College London Joins Coursera to Teach Foundational Skills in Artificial Intelligence". Coursera Blog. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  29. ^ "Guest speakers of LIMSC 2019". LIMSC. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  30. ^ "Imperial vice-provost: TEF a 'godsend' for university teaching". Times Higher Education (THE). 1 July 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  31. ^ a b "Prof Simone Buitendijk (GS7EU) - Gender Summit". gender-summit.com. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  32. ^ Gender Summit 2 EU 1.2 Report on Gender Equality Action from LERU. Gender Summit. 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via YouTube.
  33. ^ Introducing Prof Simone Buitendijk - Transform MedEd 2018 Guest Speaker. LKCMedicine. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via YouTube.
  34. ^ "Simone Buitendijk PhD, MPH, MD, Vice-Provost (Education) Imperial College London - Gender Summit". gender-summit.com. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  35. ^ "Simone Buitendijk". Times Higher Education (THE). 17 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  36. ^ "Next Vice-Chancellor appointed to the University of Leeds". University News. University of Leeds. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  37. ^ Leeds, University of (4 October 2023). "Professor Simone Buitendijk to step down as Vice-Chancellor and President". www.leeds.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  38. ^ "University of Leeds slammed for 'outrageous' decision to restrict student access to Ziff Building after protests". 18 October 2023. Archived from the original on 18 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  39. ^ Raquib, Rori (31 March 2023). "Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Building update". Leeds University Union. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  40. ^ a b "Vice chancellor resigns after pressure from staff". University of Leeds UCU. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  41. ^ "Newly appointed University of Leeds VC liked anti-trans tweets". University of Leeds. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  42. ^ Smith, Alan (10 March 2021). "Senior management have agreed to withdraw new draft Trans Equality Policy". UCU University of Leeds Branch. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  43. ^ O'Riordan, Sinead (10 September 2021). "Leading LGBTQ+ body and UCU call for an end to "systemic transphobia" at University of Leeds". The Gryphon. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  44. ^ Gibbon, Alex (14 March 2022). "University IT systems fail trans community, claim staff and students". The Gryphon. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  45. ^ Smith, Alan (8 October 2021). "Trans issues update". UCU University of Leeds Branch. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  46. ^ "Inside Track Knowledge Equity Network". University of Leeds. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  47. ^ "The Declaration". University of Leeds. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  48. ^ "Honorary Degrees 2023". University News. University of Leeds. 18 July 2023.
  49. ^ a b McCormick, Sebastian (26 May 2022). "Leeds students storm uni building and refuse to leave room for 3 days". LeedsLive. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  50. ^ a b "University students vow to continue sit in protest until education bosses back down". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. 29 May 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  51. ^ Occupy Leeds Uni [@OccupyLeedsUni] (27 May 2022). "This evening, all occupiers have left University of Leeds campus. Whilst we would have loved to go on until our demands were met, logistically we could not stay that long. (1/7)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  52. ^ "Statement". Google Docs. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  53. ^ Occupy Leeds Uni [@OccupyLeedsUni] (24 May 2022). "Our VC couldn't give a Ziff about her staff and students. She is so disconnected from us: on a £336k salary while some Unison members work second jobs and rely on food banks to survive. It REALLY is that terrible. It's laughable that she can't understand that #takingtheziff https://t.co/mIpzpXsHT4" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  54. ^ Leeds University UCU [@leedsucu] (19 May 2022). "University of Leeds announces a 100% pay deduction for participation in the marking boycott. We believe this is punitive and will respond accordingly. Come to the EGM at 12 tomorrow (see email sent today for link) and read our guidance here: https://t.co/91oxaGvTxw" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  55. ^ Somerville, Ewan (7 May 2022). "Third of Russell Group vice-chancellors got lockdown pay rises despite online learning". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  56. ^ "Staff concerns at University of Leeds - PLEASE DO NOT POST WHILST LOGGED IN. WE WANT THIS TO BE ANONYMOUS AND IS AVAILABLE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN". Padlet. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  57. ^ Occupy Leeds Uni [@OccupyLeedsUni] (26 May 2022). "Some really powerful words being played to level 13. They asked "Is it really that terrible?" so we're making them listen to us saying, yes, #ItIsReallyThatTerrible https://t.co/3RkMHr6bN2" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  58. ^ Smith, Alan (10 June 2022). "Members vote to accept negotiated offer and suspend the marking and assessment boycott". UCU University of Leeds Branch. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
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