Dr. Julia van Heck
Postdoc at the Department of Internal Medicine, Radboudumc
Who is Julia?
What is your career/research path?
Julia: I have been a postdoc for more than a year in the Department of Internal Medicine at Radboud UMC, where I also did my PhD and my master internship. Before that, I did my bachelor and master Nutrition and health at Wageningen University. My PhD is about the role of inflammation in people with diabetes. For my postdoc, I'm still researching inflammation in diabetes, while doing a project on chronic fatigue syndrome and post-acute infection syndromes.
How do you experience the postdoc?
Julia: So far, I like it, although it can also be quite stressful with writing grants. I’m grateful that I got the opportunity to stay at the department. It's also really nice that my promoter team gave me the opportunity to supervise some PhD students, because it doesn't always happen. Because I have been at this department for a while, I get to help new people with their questions, which is something I enjoy. It's also nice to be creative and think about new research ideas, as I now have a bit more experience with doing research. I also like that people take you a bit more serious, in comparison with during my PhD.
Julia’s Portrait of Postdocs
What does postdoc mean to you?
Julia: In my experience, it should be a steady layer of people who have the time and the skills to supervise PhD and other students. Specifically in the medical area, it's also an important group of people, who do a lot of research and help with the writing of grants.
I chose to do a postdoc because I like doing science. I am still curious, and I still have energy to be creative and want to continue. I also want to have some experience in doing research on my own.
What would (not) fall under postdocs’ responsibility?
Julia: I think I'm responsible for two things. One is mainly supervision and being a person who knows how things work and to whom PhD students can go for easy, direct questions. And the other thing is doing your own research and trying to start your own research line. I write a lot of grants, both by myself or co-write with the PI, already starting from my PhD.
In addition, maybe you also get some more responsibility for some techniques in the lab, a sort of machine or so. And if you stay a bit longer, maybe you do more, but at least this is not in your first one or two years.
Postdocs’ roles in teaching and mentoring?
Julia: Some people also teach courses. I would be open to doing it, but it's not that common in our department. The supervision of a master internship or so, that's more common.
Postdocs’ roles in management and collaboration?
Julia: I don't do a lot at this moment besides collaborating with the people that are part of the project that I'm assigned on, so just standard collaboration. I'm not really seeking out new collaborations, but I think that would be a good thing to do.
Postdocs’ roles in connection with industry or marketing research?
Julia: I think connection with industry doesn't really fit my research area. For marketing, I think maybe it would be nice if you are supposed to also do some more science communication, for example, being more active on social media or something with sharing your research with the broad audience. I think it works quite well, but it also costs a lot of time.
Support in career development
Do you feel that you are well supported in your career development?
Julia: I think my day-to-day supervisors are really supportive. They think along when I want to write a grant, or if I'm doubting to proceed with this career. But they also cannot hire me for longer than three years as a postdoc.
At the Radboud UMC, I think they really discourage you from continuing in science. They basically tell you that you can try to stay, but then the chances that you will get a permanent contract is 1%. I understand that, if you want to stay in science, you should have been in multiple places or in multiple countries. But on the other hand, I also think it's a bit strange. For example, if you work in a company and you've been trained, they would try to keep you, whereas here, they also trained you because you did your PhD here, but then they want you to go away.
Also for example, the grant support office also tell you, “well, I don't think you will get this grant because you are still here after your PhD”, recommending you to go somewhere else, abroad or another Institute. I mean, if you lay out a good argument like why going there is adding to your expertise, that would make sense. But if automatically, they advise based on that you don't have experience at other places...it's also a bit strange.
Is there support from your organization for career development?
Julia: I think, in the Radboud UMC, there are some workshops. There're also career days where you have information for pursuing a career outside of science. I went to the one career event, where they invited people who work in companies. I found it more like an information session.
There is also the ‘loopbaan’ career coach. That's actually really nice. You can just talk with somebody that is outside of the department and the organization. You can do some tests about your personality. I found that quite useful, because it’s tailored to you. And the coach also thinks more outside of the box for other options.
Is the postdoc position attractive to early career researchers?
Julia: If you like doing science, then yes. If you still have to finish your PhD or paper, and your department can employ you for six months as a postdoc, then it's also nice because it gives you some time to finish your PhD. But if you finish your PhD and you're doubting, you should go to your career coach. It should be an active choice, but not like an easy job!
I think, objectively, the big downside of the postdoc is that it's quite an uncertain job. And I find writing grants and being rejected really not nice. To me, in the beginning, maybe I think I can be the person that clicks ‘delete’ of those rejections, but in practice, I'm the person that cries for maybe a day and feels demotivated to continue. It's also not like PhD, if you have three articles published then you hit the bar. For a postdoc, the perspective is vague, which is also not attractive.
But if you like the freedom and creativity and you don't mind being rejected a lot, then it's a fun job. What’s nice about the postdoc is also that you still get to do “the work” yourself.