As October starts, I am closing off my responsibilities as Chair of the UMCG postdoc council. I am very proud of the year we have had and look back fondly on my time getting to know the different goings on at the UMCG and the impact we were able to make.
We have:
- gotten a committee approved by the Dean to investigate opportunities to improve career perspectives within the UMCG
- been involved in the Strategic Research Plan as well as its implementation
- developed our own strategic plan, yearly event calendar and official guidance documents including a terms of reference, on-and-off boarding documents, task descriptions and meeting proceedings
- created a new information document that postdocs at the UMCG are able to reference for all of their frequently asked questions
- worked on our reach and are now more present than ever on linkedin, the internal sharepoint pages and are visible on the https://werkenbijumcg.nl/en/postdocs-in-het-umcg page, to introduce possible new postdoctoral researchers to the environment at the UMCG
- actively joined conversations with different policy makers in the UMCG to ensure postdoctoral researchers are taken into consideration when decisions are made
- were able to organize a successfull career event (approx. 100 attendees both PhD and postdocs) that focusses on career perspectives outside academia, with keynote speakers, workshops and a job market tailored to academics exploring the opportunities outside of academia, focussing to retain talent in the North of the Netherlands
But in general, I have been blessed to get to know my fellow committee members, thoroughly enjoyed the meetings we’ve had and am very proud of what everyone has achieved within this year, because naturally, it was the council members who have spearheaded the initiatives, the work and the organisation and we could not have achieved anything without their commitment. So thank you to all of you, Tristan, Martijn, Torben, Danielle, Samantha, Roos, Franscesca, Matt, Anna, Priya and Luis and ofcourse, the postdoc officer Elizabeth, without whom I’d have been lost, unfocussed and unguided, you’re a true gem within the UMCG, thank you all for your work.
I will continue as a member of the UMCG Postdoc Council as long as my workload will allow and to ensure proper transferring of tasks and responsibilities.
In case you’re a curious postdoc at the UMCG: we’re also recruiting! If you’re hoping to enrich your experience as a postdoc at the UMCG, expand your network, connect with peers and have impact on the future of postdocs in the North, please don’t hesitate to reach out, we’d love to have you. (email us at postdoccouncil (at) umcg (dot) nl )
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