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The annual PCDI postdoc retreat is our flagship event, a three-day, intensive skills training and career development conference. On top of the retreat we regularly organise other one-day activities, such as company visits, laboratory tours, and hands-on career development and networking activities for life sciences professionals.
PCDI activities prepare you for a career in the life sciences, whether in academia, in industry, or somewhere else. Our retreats and activities are open exclusively to postdocs and final year PhD students in the life sciences, health and technology. Plenary sessions, meet-'n-greets with potential employers, workshops and discussions on shaping a career in the life sciences are all part of our programmes. Our retreats have been attended by over 300 early-career scientists. Our activities attract professionals from the life sciences in the Netherlands and we regularly host visitors from abroad.
See also our calendar for upcoming career development activities across the Netherlands.
Past activities
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Spin-off company visit 01 June 2010 |
‘Research at a spin-off company is not that different from academic research!’
Ever thought about a career at a spin-off company? On 1 June 2010 PCDI and Amsterdam Biomed Cluster co-organised a visit of two spin-off companies, AIMM Therapeutics and Arthrogen, to explore this career path. How do spin-off companies relate to academia? What are the similarities and differences between spin-off and academia? What challenges can a scientist expect? And what about job security?
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Postdoc Retreat 2010 - Put your career in perspective 21 April 2010 |
There is a lot you can do as a PhD to increase your chances of a successful career
88 early career researchers, 12 parallel workshops, 9 keynote lectures, 3 days away from the lab and one excellent Postdoc Committee... these were the main ingredients for PCDI's Postdoc Retreat 2010 which took place from 21 - 23 April in Kapellerput, Heeze, where postdocs and final year PhD students come together to reflect their current position and their career perspectives. What challenges are out there and more importantly: what do I want?
What did the participants learn?
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PCDI Photo contest 15 March 2010 |
Online contest on your interpretation of 'Success!'
What does success mean to you? Winning the Nobel-prize, finishing the ultimate experiment, winning the karaoke-contest at the Postdoc Retreat or something totally different? Something already accomplished or something you aspire for the future?
Budding photographers unleashed their creativity and submitted up to 3 photos of their interpretation of the theme ‘Success!’. Find out who won an inspirational set of books and everlasting fame...
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Workshop 'Careers at non-profit organisations' 29 January 2010 |
Insights into careers at four non-profit organisations - Utrecht, 29 January 2010
 What is it like to work for a non-profit organisation as a PhD? The non-profit organisation is a fairly unknown career path, while interesting positions for PhDs can be found at this branch. PCDI invited four PhDs from four different non-profit organisations over to speak about their career and the choices they made, their daily work and future perspectives.
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Workshop 'Careers at a biotech company' 30 October 2009 |
Insights into a biotech company for young academics - Utrecht, 30 October 2009
‘A career in scientific research outside academia, it is possible!’
This was probably the most important message the 40 early career researchers took home from the Genmab company visit on 30 October 2009, organized by the Postdoc Career Development Initiative. PCDI offered postdocs and final year PhD students the opportunity to spend half a day at the company, to learn about the core business, to personally meet the scientists and fire all their questions about career options.
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Workshop 'Careers in the pharmaceutical industry' 25 September 2009 |
Insights into the pharmaceutical industry for young academics - Haarlem, 25 September 2009
‘Only few of the big pharmaceutical companies do Research & Development in the Netherlands!’
‘If you cling to doing research, the big pharma’s in the Netherlands may seem uninteresting to you but if you open up and look beyond R&D, you may discover a variety of most interesting careers.’
‘When recruiting for new employers, pharmaceutical companies select people rather for their personality traits than for their qualifications.’
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PCDI Postdoc Retreat 2009 - Crossing boundaries to open new doors 24 June 2009 |
Postdocs in Life Sciences take off for the future!
Three days away from your pipettes, no tissue culture and not even one scientific talk. On 24 - 26 June 2009, eighty postdocs and final year PhD students in Life Sciences gathered to reflect their career. Surrounded by key players from academia, policymakers and entrepreneurs from industry, burning questions could finally be asked: ‘What are my career perspectives?’, ‘What are my options if I were to leave academia?’, ‘What are my chances and how can I improve them?’,’ Is the outlook really as grim as some of us may think?’. Find out what early career researchers learned at the PCDI Postdoc retreat and what happened in Heeze-Kapellerput making them so determined to take charge of their future.
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PCDI Postdoc Retreat 2008 - Take charge of your career 01 November 2008 |
It's time to take career matters into your own hands
During this 3-day meeting Life Science postdocs explored their career possibilities. Plenary lectures by motivational speakers inspired them to discover what is important in order to pursue a successful career and how to achieve their goals. They were taught how you to use and improve their skills. In addition this retreat offered the excellent opportunity to look over the academic border by exposing them to former postdocs, now working in industry and in other non-academic organisations.
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