A Ted talk by Susan Cain on the power of introverts got me thinking about finding a balance between the power and pitfalls of introversion as a researcher. Cain argues passionately that valuable deep thought and truly creative and innovative ideas can only bubble to the surface if given enough quietness and solitude. Yet, she […]
Jenny (pseudoniem) heeft zich aangemeld voor een ultra korte speed-coaching sessie tijdens een groter loopbaan-event voor promovendi. Ze is bezig met haar promotie-onderzoek en hoewel ze inhoudelijk aansluit bij de wetenschappelijke mode binnen haar vakgebied, vindt ze het moeilijk om met de onzekerheid van het bestaan als wetenschapper om te gaan. Ze twijfelt of ze […]
Met de start van het nieuwe academische jaar beginnen ook weer alle activiteiten die onderzoekstijd zo onder druk kunnen zetten: onderwijs, vergaderingen, financieringsaanvragen… Menig academicus heeft het voornemen, of in ieder geval de wens, om de productieve rust van de zomerperiode zo lang mogelijk vast te houden, vaak tegen beter weten in. De ervaring leert […]
Als Marieke (niet haar echte naam) bij me komt, zit ze vast bij het schrijven van haar masterscriptie. Ze ervaart hoge tijdsdruk door de deadline en prestatiedruk omdat het een eindwerkstuk van haar opleiding is. Dat herkent ze van haar bachelorscriptie. Ze reageert net als toen door chaotisch bezig te zijn: ze springt van links […]
Some weeks ago my article “Create Your Future” appeared in Pandora, a magazine for the women network of Utrecht University. On their biennial network day I provided a workshop on how to balance professional and personal images while profiling yourself as a professional scientist using social media that require a more personal perspective. The main […]
Today, the Dutch government confirmed the current Dutch approach to the PhD, i.e. where PhD candidates are seen and rewarded as employees, not students. Dutch universities (VSNU) have been trying to create the option that PhD candidates get a student status, which would be much cheaper. They encounter much resistance, both from organizations of PhD […]
The workshop that I organized yesterday with Platform Hooft was a huge success. Over 30 PhD candidates in the humanities got a hands-on training in writing opinion articles from well known Dutch newspaper editors Chris Rutenfrans, Jaffe Vink, Derk Walters and Anouk van Kampen. They learned how to grab their readers’ fleeting attention and get their […]
A successful transition from education to the labour market affects careers later in life, but what role do personality characteristics play in making this transition? In the recruitment process of highly educated professionals personality features are an increasingly dominant factor, besides the more obvious requirements of specific competences, specialist knowledge, and cognitive abilities.
My previous post focussed on feelings about your PhD thesis topic while you’re in the midst of writing as compared to when you’ve had the time to step back and widen your perspective of your specialist subject. I gave a personal example of what two years distance can mean for the relationship with your thesis […]
In September 2010 I defended my thesis on Stoic philosophy and this summer the journal Mnemosyne published my summary announcement in their section Dissertationes Batavae. Needless to say I’m quite proud, but also it feels very strange to encounter work from the past again in this way: it partly seems to come from a different world. Two years ago, […]