Growing up in Science Series: Femke Maij

Please join us for the first Growing Up in Science event of the academic year! We are delighted to have Femke Maij in the interview chair to discuss his interesting scientific and personal journey, past and present. Here are the specs:

Who: Dr. Femke Maij
When: Thursday March 23, 2023, 16:00-17.00h (drinks afterwards)
Where: Red Room, Trigon building

As a teaser trailer, here’s the “official” story of Femke’s career: After an undergraduate degree in biophysics in Nijmegen and a PhD at the VU, Femke received an NWO Rubicon grant for a postdoc position in Birmingham. Having been awarded a Veni grant, she returned to Nijmegen in 2012. The birth of her first daughter and the end of het Veni rapidly approaching made Femke reflect on work and life, and she explored various (and very different!) options outside of the classic ‘academic researcher’ track. For a while she split her time between working as a math teacher in a secondary school and as the Donders Graduate school coordinator, with another postdoc position lined up as a backup. She realized she really enjoyed working to improve the system from the inside and make a change in struggling PhD students’ lives. In February 2017, she made her decision to leave academic research, but not  academia. She said goodbye to the school and the postdoc position, and started as the GS coordinator full time. Ready for a new challenge, she applied for the newly created Managment Director position at the Donders Institute, where she has been as of January 2020.

What is it like to be a scientist on the management side? How was the transition from a research to a management academic career? How valuable was her time abroad? Whether she prefers off-piste or moguls? What excites her most about her work?

Please join us so you can find out for yourself! As always, you are very welcome (and encouraged!) to ask questions during the event.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Alan & Hanneke