Activities

Conference "Young Talent"

On 10 June 2009, the VSNU organised the conference “Young Talent”. The conference theme was the recruitment and coaching of PhD students and early-career researchers – of “young talent”. The Dutch research universities have developed a large variety of policies and initiatives to improve the career prospects of young talent. The conference, organised to enable universities to exchange experiences and learn from each other, consisted of a number of presentations on the conference theme and workshops dealing with recruitment practices, coaching for PhD students and postdocs, equal opportunities for women and immigrants and dual doctoral studies.
In October 2009, a Dutch-language brochure about the conference will be published. It will be downloadable from the Dutch VSNU website.

Dual Doctoral Studies Pilot

On 3 December 2007, the universities held a conference entitled ‘Doctoral Studies in Practice’. The conference focused on a pilot in ‘dual doctoral studies’, or pursuing a doctorate next to a (non-university) job. The conference was attended by a number of companies and social organisations. They emphasised that there is a great need for highly qualified employees with practical experience and orientation. Researchers, on the other hand, said that they chose for dual doctoral studies because research questions tend to be more practical than is otherwise the case in PhD studies. Universities and other knowledge institutes said that dual doctoral studies give a new twist to their training and research programmes. Joost Dekker, Professor of Paramedical Care, spoke about a pilot that had recently been launched with five dual doctoral programmes at VU University Amsterdam / VU University Medical Centre and INHOLLAND University of Applied Sciences. Within the context of that pilot, the research universities also collaborate with a large regional institution belonging to the Dutch Mental Healthcare Association. “This structure means that doctoral candidates split their time between academic activities and practical employment. Consequently, the research results will soon not only meet all of the academic standards, but will also be useful in the field of education and mental healthcare.” That was a view which was widely expressed during the conference. The benefits of dual doctoral studies are certain to emerge in the near future.

 

Peer-to-Peer Pilot

Under the auspices of the VSNU, a pilot project was launched in the summer of 2008 involving the intensive supervision of ten postdocs with the aim of helping them to forge a career outside of university. The 'peer-to-peer consultancy’ project is carried out by a company named ‘the Curious network’. Kees Izelaar is one of the initiators of that organisation: “Postdocs are generally highly intelligent people who have proved that they are able to raise funds for projects and carry them out. They often have less experience when it comes to things such as personal presentation, conducting business or advising. In this pilot project, we teach them these skills. The people taking part are from various faculties at the VU, the UvA, Utrecht University and the University of Twente. The peer-to-peer consultancy project offers postdocs the chance to take up a consultancy position with a company. They attend an initial meeting before starting work. We provide training, coaching and peer supervision at every step.”
The evaluation of the peer-to-peer pilot showed that the postdocs participating in the pilot project particularly valued the coaching and supervision meetings. They also appreciated the peer-to-peer review system.