ERIBA Career Day event

On Wednesday March 14 2018 a very successful first edition of the ERIBA Career Day took place, introducing PhD students and Postdocs to career opportunities outside of academia.

A variety of enthusiastic guest speakers shed light on their motives to leave a traditional academic career behind, letting personal talents and interests (or in some cases: sheer luck)  lead them to Contract Research Organisations (such as Elena Herrero Gomez, Business Developer at Syncom in Groningen; Sylvia Boj, Scientific Director at Hubrecht Organoid Technology in Utrecht; and Fabrizia Fusetti, Director Biologics Mass Spectrometry at QPS in Groningen ), pharmaceutical companies (Karin Klauke, Medical Affairs at Novartis in the Netherlands), or funding organisations (Tim Vos, Programme Manager at NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research).

The speakers showed how individual talents and personal interests can lead to alternative careers, such as a passion for writing (Louise Stone, Senior Editor of Nature Research in London and Huup Dassen, Freelance Science Journalist in the Netherlands), or a mind for developing educational programmes (Marianna Bevova, Graduate School Director at University of Liége, Belgium); thus encouraging young scientists to think out of the box and reminding them that an academic background provides you with a set of skills that can be used in so many different fields, both in- and outside academia.

Finally, the Career Day concluded with a Meet the Speaker Mixer, giving the PhDs and Postdocs  a chance to network and engage in informal discussions with the speakers over light refreshments.

The ERIBA Career Day was organized by Alejandra Hernández Segura, Britt Sterken, Nina Kool, Helena Rico and Judith Paridaen.