Graduate School

In the lead Introductory course

The RIMLS Graduate School course “In the Lead” will provide new PhD candidates with insights, tips and tricks to be at the forefront of your research and training objectives. In short, you and your needs for a successful PhD are the focus of the program – i.e. you are in the lead.

Working in small groups, you will explore what drives you in your research and what you acquire to achieve your goals. What does a supervisor expect from you? A PhD project has highs and lows, but how will you recognize and deal with the challenges that lie ahead? Using ‘Strengthsfinder’ you will discover your talents and how to use them to your advantage. Finally, you will interact and network with your peers.

Here are some experiences other PhD Candidates had with this Graduate Course: 

• "It was really nice to meet all new PhD students and that you see you are in the same phase, have the same passion, worries and questions about doing your PhD. You get to know each other really well in just two days."
• "It’s much more useful than I expected. It really leads to new insights about yourself, and also gives you the encouraging feeling that you are not the only one experiencing worries and struggles in the start of you PhD."

Supervisor of the year Matthijs Kox

16 January 2019

For the second time the RIMLS PhD council organized the Supervisor election with many nominees. This year's winner is Matthijs Kox, theme Infectious diseases and global health. A great tradition, because excellence is shown in many ways, and excellent supervision is something we should all strive for!

The PhD council invited PhD candidates to submit a motivation why their supervisors deserve to be elected as superhero of the RIMLS. From this pool, the three best-ranked supervisors were selected: Matthijs Kox, Michiel Vermeulen and Richarda de Voer. Subsequently, a call was launched to vote for the favorite supervisor. Impressively, more than 400 unique votes were received.

Matthijs received an award and a hoody.

A few motivations why Matthijs became the Supervisor of the year:

• Matthijs is always hungry for new data, with his absolute and contagious enthousiasm and passion for science and his sharp insight, he pushes his phD and master students to their best, but in a unconstrained manner.
• This Big Friendly Giant is the most caring supervisor you will find, as a PhD is also under his supervisoring wings when he is on vacation with his wife. He cannot resist to call you to ask you how the poster presentation or oral went, what happened with the latest lab tests and if the statistical analysis succeeded. Not because he is a control freak, just because he is immensely eager to know more. A true philosopher.
• Supervision by Matthijs is of exceptional good quality. He responds to our questions immediately (even outside regular working hours) and very thoroughly reviews the work of all his PhD candidates and gives feedback in a very comprehensive manner (e.g. not only regarding the content but also on scientific writing, presenting skills, etc.). To date, I have not encountered (or heard of another) supervisor who is doing this on the same level. Again, this is exceptional

RIMLS PhD retreat

17 April 2018

In April 2018, the 24th edition of the RIMLS PhD retreat was held at the Conference Centre Koningshof at Veldhoven. This event organized by and for PhD candidates of the RIMLS institute was a great success, exemplified by the enthusiasm of all attendees and the professional organization by the responsible PhD committee.

200 participants, including 5 PhD candidates from our collegial Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Barcelona presented their results, debated about sustainability and circular economy, and spent some time on social activities such as a back to the 90s party.    

All last year PhD candidates presented their results in an oral presentation, while all other participants shared their results or research plans during a poster presentation. A jury consisting of six researchers evaluated all presentations. Their anonymous opinion was that the overall quality of all presentations and especially the oral presentations was remarkably high. All presenters can be genuinely proud of their achievements.  

The keynote speaker of this year was Louise Vet. She gave an inspiring lecture entitled: What a ‘waste’! Let’s learn from nature!

The RIMLS management team would like to thank the participants, the jury members, workshop leader, keynote speaker, and the debaters. Above all, we would like to thank the organizing committee: Jasper van Beek, Estel Collado Camps, Paola de Haas, Daan Panneman, Bas van der Schoot, Caroline Sieverink and Xander Staal.

Winners of the best oral presentation:

• Jorrieke Weiden, theme Cancer development and immune defence. Title: Biomaterial-based scaffolds improve delivery of therapeutic nanoparticle cancer vaccines to dendritic cells 
• Marti Boss, theme Rare cancers. Title: 68Ga-NODAGA-exendin-4 PET/CT for the localization of insulinomas: preliminary data from a prospective multicenter imaging study.

Winner of the best poster presentation:

• Felix Fenneman, theme Nanomedicine.

 

Midsummer Night Event

Annually, the three Graduate Schools organize the Midsummer Night Event. This free event is organized for Radboudumc PhD candidates and postdocs and consists of interesting guest speakers, a themed contest and a barbecue.

He introduced special guest, sience comedian Vince Ebert, with his stand-up show 'Randomly succesful'.

The contest 'Selfie of Success' was won by Vincent Aengevaeren, theme Vascular damage (RIHS). Vincent was awarded with an iPad mini.

The winning selfie: