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As you may (or may not) know, every graduate school has its own PhD council, to ensure that the voice of candidates for all three institutes is heard. In this series of three interviews, we will introduce each PhD council in turn. In this “episode”, we talk with the PhD chair of the RIMLS PhD council, Judith Schaart.
Hi Judith, could you give a little introduction about who you are, so everyone knows who we’re talking with?
Yes, I’m Judith, a 3rd year PhD candidate in biochemistry. My research is all about bone and how bone forms and mineralizes. Next to research, I like to be active and outside, biking and hiking. Since halfway my second year I joined the PhD council. Next to our chair Bert van der Reijden, we have a new PhD chair every year. The PhD chair position is alternated yearly because normally the PhDs in the end of their 3rd year leave the council, while they are the most experienced ones and normally chair the council that year.
How did you roll into the council?
I started in November 2019, and then it was still possible to have drinks. So, since my department is just one floor below from where the drinks were, I just joined at one point, and they more or less talked me into it.
Did you know what the council was before joining?
Yes, but this is mainly because my supervisor of a previous internship was active in the council. So, I knew it existed. And at the RIMLS introduction course (also known as 'In the Lead'), the PhD Council presented itself.
So, for the people who don’t know, what is the PhD council?
We’re a group of PhD candidates from all over the RIMLS. We try to represent all PhD candidates from all the different disciplines. This includes not only PhD candidates based in the research tower, but also candidates based elsewhere in Radboudumc and even people who work externally but are enrolled in the RIMLS graduate school. The PhD council acts as an advisory group for the RIMLS management, and we have regular meetings with their representatives. When we face problems or we see that things don’t go well, or we miss certain courses, we point this out to them and see how to solve it. And we organize a bunch of activities, like social activities (when we can) and “Meet the Expert” sessions, but also the RIMLS PhD retreat.
And how do you become aware of the problems and shortcomings?
It differs. Sometimes it is just something we heard in the hallways, which we bring up at the end of the meetings. There are also things the management wants to know from us, but sometimes it is also things other PhD candidates tell us about that are still unclear.
How often do you get input from other PhD students that are not in the council?
Unfortunatey, quite rarely. Everyone can reach us through the secretary of the RIMLS, but besides my direct colleagues I don’t get much input. Because we are with around 15 different PhD candidates, covering ten to twelve different departments, we do sense when our colleagues sense a problem and then we can discuss it. We also have some members who are affiliated with the RIMLS but work in the Huygens building. There are also medical doctors who are part of the RIMLS, but this is a rather small part of the council. We would really like to have some more MDs representing the RIMLS PhDs, to get their clinical perspective and input, instead of just having a mainly experimental research standpoint.
Do you have specific activities as the head of the council?
I am the representative, so basically the face of the council. So, I handed out the Supervisor of the Year award the New Year’s reception, for example. Furthermore, it is mainly making the agenda and guiding the meeting. There are two types of meetings, one is chaired by the PhDs and one by the advisory board. The strategy meeting is chaired by us and is more about the PhD problems. The organizational meeting is more about the management things and how to organize the council and which tasks are divided where.
We meet approximately once a month, and then we have subcommittees that meet at their own agenda. For example, the RIMLS retreat committee is meeting a lot at this moment because the retreat is coming soon.
When you enter the council you generally just watch in the first meeting to see if you like to join. In the organizational meeting we have a list of vacancies to see what jobs still need to be done, so we can see what you can do and where you can join and help at that moment.
So, you recently started as a chair of the council. Do you have any specific goals or things to look forward to?
Well, we discussed in an organization meeting that the vacancy would come up. By then I was not necessarily aiming to become chair. But after some meetings I was convinced that I would like to do it and we ended up with a chair and vice-chair position. I do like to organize and be involved in this way, but I did not specifically choose beforehand to become the chair.
Is there one thing you like to do most?
I’m in the retreat committee and in the peer-to-peer talks group, where we give information to PhD candidates who have just started. The peer-to-peer talks would be great to do live again, so that you really have the interaction, instead of just via a screen. And the PhD retreat is the biggest event of the year, so that always involves a large task list and jobs to do. There’s always a lot of secretary and organizational stuff that comes into play, but it should become a great event.
Why is the PhD council important for other PhD candidates?
We try to ensure that all PhD candidates can conduct their PhDs in a well-organized way without big problems. We try to tell the management if things go wrong in time, in this process. For example, during the switch from Hora Est to Hora Finita, we could see the system before it was launched, so if there were problems, we could try to take them out. And for the management team it is also important to get feedback of the people who are in the target group. We’re really the voice of the PhD candidates.
What should other PhD candidates know, which they probably don’t know?
What’s important to know is the way that we communicate. We don’t send you emails directly from the council, but always update everyone through this newsletter! So, if you want to keep up to date, you should keep an eye on the newsletter. We also print flyers and hang them in the elevator of the RIMLS tower. But there’s also candidates who don’t go into the tower because they for example work in the hospital, so they don’t see it. And we don’t send emails because then there will be so many mails that you don’t read any anymore. So, our main way of communicating is via the newsletter; this is where you can find everything. The “Graduate school” section always includes the council news. So, it’s nice that you now know a bit more about us, and the council feels a bit more personal. There are actual PhD candidates behind all the info!
And we also don’t only do serious stuff. We do give input to the management team, but we also focus on the fun part, like having social activities, which hopefully will start again once we can. So, you can meet us in person there.
Anything you want to highlight in the upcoming months?
We are planning to start a “Making a scientist: been there, done that” lecture series, where we will invite researchers or people from companies who have a background in biomedical sciences or life sciences. Not to necessarily talk about their science, but to talk about their career. We hope to start this in September, and once we have this going, you will find the announcements in the Events section of the newsletter!
On the intranet website you can find an overview of the council members with email addresses.: LINK HERE
