What is it like to work for non-profit organisations? This a relatively unknown career path, while interesting positions for PhDs can be found at this branch. Find out at our career workshop in Utrecht on 29 January 2010. What does a function like policy officer or staff member actually imply? Why did they choose to work for a non-profit organisation? How do they use their background in Life Sciences in their current position? Would this be a career path to consider for your future? Find out on Friday 29 January 2010 at PCDI’s career workshop in Utrecht where four PhDs give an insight into their career at non-profit organisations. And who knows they may also give you insider's information on how to increase your chances to obtain funding for research...

This workshop is interactive, you will have many opportunities to ask your questions. For inquiries, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The registration is now closed but...

• the discussion can be followed live via Twitter (@PostdocNews) using #pcdi
  Tweet us your questions and we aim to get you an answer.

• a report about this workshop can be found here.

Speakers:

Nanna Claij

Research officer at the Netherlands Heart Foundation

Nanna Claij obtained her PhD for the research she performed at de Netherlands Cancer Institute. From DNA mismatch repair in hereditary colon cancer she moved to research on vessel wall stability in hereditary kidney disease at the department of human genetics of the Leiden University Medical Center. This work was financially supported by a grant from the Netherlands Heart Foundation.

For Nanna combining research and family life was becoming too demanding. Therefore, she decided to change career and applied for a position as research manager at the Netherlands Heart Foundation. The Heart Foundation invests 12-15 million euros per year in grants that are available to the scientific community.

As a research manager, Nanna is responsible for the selection procedures of several grant types and the follow up of the research projects once they have started.

Freya Senf

Programme officer at Technology Foundation STW

During her PhD in molecular microbiology, Freya Senf realised that being in the lab day in day out was not really her cup of tea. She therefore orientated herself on a career outside science and signed up for a career development course. This was very helpful and made her realise what she sought in a job. After obtaining her PhD, she found a job at Hezelburcht BioTop BV as a grant consultant for Life Science research. She assisted both academic scientists and companies in obtaining grants, and managed support offices for grant management. After nearly a year she realised that she preferred a job that was less focused on making profit but more on applied science and technology transfer. In 2009, she accepted a job as a programme officer at Technology Foundation STW. Her original tasks were the selection and follow-up on granted projects. This involved knowledge transfer, contract negotiations and the organisation of workshops and conferences and also administrative tasks. Currently she is also the minority policy officer and responsible for policy development on and coordination of the complete Innovational Research Incentives Scheme within STW, which is one of the largest financing schemes of NWO.

Marjon Troost-Roos

Regulatory affairs officer at Sanquin

Marjon Troost-Roos was born on November 6th 1975 in Oosterbeek, the Netherlands. Undergraduate education was received at the Christelijk Lyceum Arnhem and the Thomas a Kempis college in Arnhem in 1996. She studied biology (specialisation: pathology and physiology) at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. During her study she participated in two research projects. One concerned the tracking of CD4- and CD8-cell proliferation and apoptosis after stimulation using CFSE-labelling and flow cytometry. This research was performed at the department of transplantation biology of the University Hospital in Groningen. The second research project was performed at the department of Physiology from the Universita' degli Studi di Parma in Italy. This project studied the effect of sleep deprivation on the stress response. From November 2001 until May 2006, she was a Ph.D student under supervision of prof.dr. Geert Jan Tangelder and prof.dr. Piet ter Wee at the Laboratory for Physiology of the VU University Medical Center. During this period she conducted the studies presented in this thesis. Her main interest was the renal microcirculation and diabetes mellitus type 1. Since December 2006 she holds a position as a regulatory affairs officer at Sanquin Plasma Products.