Active roles in the graduate school

A lab is part of a wider community, and that community only works if people are willing to do the unglamorous organizational work. Two of us have taken on such roles within Utrecht’s Infection & Immunity graduate school.

Luc joins the PhD platform

Luc has joined the PhD Platform, which represents the interests of PhD students within the graduate school. It is where PhD candidates connect with peers across groups, share experience and advice, and hear about events and opportunities that otherwise stay inside individual labs.

Doing a PhD can be an isolating business if your entire world is one corridor, so having people who organize across groups matters more than it appears on an organogram.

Vacancy Alert: The PhD Platform is open to all PhD students, and there’s room for more representation! If you’re interested in playing an active role in organizing fun and interesting activities for your fellow students, reach out to iiplatformuu@gmail.com to learn more.

Balthasar joins the graduate school board

Balthasar has joined the board of the Infection & Immunity Graduate School. The board decides policy and plans for the programme and provides oversight to the staff who run it, which in practice means arguments about curriculum, admissions and how PhD candidates are supervised.

These are the decisions that determine what a Master or PhD in this field in Utrecht actually looks like, and it seems reasonable that people who are currently teaching and supervising should be in the room for them.