Last year I was one of the lucky PhD-students who visited the PCDI retreat in wonderful surroundings of Heeze…trying to broaden my scope as a scientist and plan my future career, I left my hometown Groningen for a few days 'abroad'.
It seems strange, but changing my surroundings already cleared my mind and forced me to think about other things than my lab work. I was determined: these three days in Heeze were dedicated to me and my future only! Many workshops, presentations, discussions and meet-and-greets confirmed my thoughts: my future lies within the academia.
During this period I initiated the next step within my career: applying for a postdoctoral position in the USA. My blog deals with many things PhD-students and postdocs deal with; working in the academic world, career planning and issues, job interviews, working abroad, and many other subjects.
From April 2010 I will live in Philadelphia where I will work as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. In my blog I will continue to write about this new adventure and experience of working abroad as a postdoctoral fellow.
March 8, 2010...Time for change: More Women in Science
08 March 2010
posted by Sabina
It does not ring a bell for most women in the Netherlands; however, today is March 8 – International Women's Day (IWD).
Many social, political and economic aspects have been approved for women since the first IWD around 1900. There is still space for improvement, however. In science, the number of female professors is still far below the number of their male colleagues. Although the number of female scientists worldwide increases, Dutch numbers are far below those of other European countries. But let’s look at it from the positive side: slowly, the percentage of female professors in the Netherlands increases during the last decade and many programs are being initiated in order to stimulate and motivate female scientists to remain within the academia.
It has been a while since my last post and again: so many things have happened! The most important news is that my dissertation, or as I like to call it “The Book”, is being printed as we speak! I can’t wait to see the final result (and admire the fact that even after looking at it over million times and after having it revised by three other people, I will still be able to track some nasty typo’s…and errors). During my deep thinking the other day, I picked up my block calendar and thorn out the page, which stated: “The only thing you’ll have in your mind for the rest of the day is the song The Final Countdown!”….I realized quickly: this is it! Almost at the end of my thesis and at the end of my preparations to move to the USA! This actually means that I should at least have started to prepare for my leave in order to start the countdown…PANICK! O.K., I took a deep breath and started with my list…
Approaching the age of thirty and starting my first post doc job soon, I am thinking about my future plans. Although I realize it might be too soon for me now to know exactly where I will be in five years from now, I think it’s never early enough to at least try to do some time and planning management. There are some important factors within me as a person and a scientist motivating me to stay in the academic world; I really enjoy doing the experiments, as well as writing papers and exchanging my knowledge with colleagues. However, this might not be enough to succeed as a scientist within the academic world.
It does not ring a bell for most women in the Netherlands; however, today is March 8 – International Women's Day (IWD).