Dr. Noortje Janssen
Assistant Professor at the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI): Learning, Education and Development, Radboud University
Assistant professor representative of the Assistant Professor and Postdoc Platform, BSI
Who is Noortje?
What is your career path?
Noortje: I started my PhD at Twente University, also did a postdoc there. The postdoc was three years, and I started it when I was still finishing up my PhD.
When I was doing my postdoc, my project leader moved to Radboud University. Then I also moved there and finished my postdoc at Radboud University as a guest researcher. After my postdoc, I was offered the possibility to teach, while I also taught courses at the Pabo at the HAN university of applied sciences. Then I was offered to have additional research time, at the time when there was a lot of money at the department. I became some kind of not-yet assistant professor, which was later made official. I was very lucky.
What topics are you working on?
Noortje: I keep changing my profile actually. I started with my PhD on how to support teachers in integrating ICT when they're teaching, mainly in lesson plans that they made. During my postdoc, I created a model to guide teachers in doing research in their own practice. When I became assistant professor, there was not really a direction, and I had the opportunity to just choose myself what I was interested in. Then I switched from teachers to students, and I'm now doing research mainly into metacognition, applying it to different contexts like creativity and computational thinking.
What is your experience with postdocs?
Noortje: Currently I work directly with one postdoc. She works on an open competition XS project of mine. I'm also involved, to a lesser extent, with two other postdocs, who work on projects about computational thinking that a colleague and I set up together.
Noortje’s Portrait of Postdocs
What does postdoc mean to you?
Noortje: Well, a lot. Postdocs get the time to do the research that I actually want to do myself but don't have the time for. And they do it really well, because they have the experience. I think it’s really nice to work with postdocs who are, feels like, on the same level, who you can trust completely. I think you have that more with a postdoc than with a PhD, who needs more guidance.
What would (not) fall under postdocs’ responsibility?
Noortje: I think for postdocs, it should be mainly about doing the research. So, independently performing and conducting the research. It gives them the opportunity to really delve deep into the research after their PhD.
It's less a combination of research and teaching. Of course, you can do that in some circumstances. But in my cases it’s mainly conducting research. At Radboud University when you’re teaching you’re part of a different institute than when doing research. So, for postdocs these are separate contracts.
Postdocs’ roles in other aspects?
Noortje: Postdocs are usually only assigned time for performing the research, of a specific project. This makes it difficult to expect from them to do other tasks.
Sometimes you do have time to apply for funding, which is important and nice for your future. I mean, that's what universities look at: Whether you are able to gain funding for projects, etc. But in my experience, that's more or less something that you do in your free time, so I'm also a bit hesitant, because I think it's important to also stay healthy as a person. If the department would give time for that, then that's okay. I do think it asks a lot, and it really depends on the contracts.
For mentoring or student supervision, I also think it really depends on the contract, whether you have time for that. For example, if you have a 0.3 fte contract, it's so little time that you need to focus on research or on the project. If you have more time, I think it's a real nice opportunity to get some teaching experience, because you will need it if you would like to become an assistant professor.
I think the expectations on postdocs are too high sometimes, and I'm not sure if they are in reality that high or that we make them high. You need to have teaching experience, research experience, and you need to show that you can obtain funding… In the end I think it's mostly opportunity, because I didn't obtain funding before becoming an assistant professor. I also first did a postdoc for a few years and afterwards became a university teacher without doing research.
People keep saying, you need to have all these aspects, but in the actual word, it’s not always necessary, or there are other routes you can take to become experienced in these aspects. I became an assistant professor when there was a lot of money universities could spend and thus I had more opportunities than postdocs have right now. So, it also depends on timing, and being lucky.
Postdocs’ roles in career development?
Noortje: I don't think I have discussed my career development with my postdoc supervisor, although I got the teaching appointment here at Radboud University because of the postdoc. But that’s because people knew me already, so that helped. It's a lot about networking, having the right connections, and being at the right place at the right time. I think it helps when people know you and have an idea about how you work. It's maybe even more important than, although that’s also important, if you can show that you obtained funding. People don't say it though. You don’t have to go to all these network meetings, but attend a few conferences or visit other universities you’re interested in, meet people and share your work.
Support in career development
Do you feel that postdocs are well supported in their career development?
Noortje: I always hated that at a certain point, a postdoc contract simply stops. And you don't really have something to offer as a supervisor. So, no, not really for the career development, I think. It's not really discussed.
I think maybe now they pay more attention to it during the annual evaluation, the jaargesprekken. I'm not sure actually, but I do think it should be somewhere on the agenda during those meetings.
My postdoc just started, so we also have not yet discussed this. But it does get me thinking like, “okay, I don't even know what is possible really.” Almost for all postdocs, they need to be attached to a project at out department and a certain point that project ends.
Is there support from your organization for career development?
Noortje: I don't know. We do have the general career services from HR at the university, but I don't know whether they do something for postdocs. I think PhDs do get some support at the graduate school. If the department could offer something, that would be really nice, because I wouldn't know what best to do, for example.
Is the postdoc position attractive to early career researchers?
Noortje: Well, it's attractive if you really like to do only research. I did like to do another research project than just my PhD, because it broadens your research horizon, especially when you do something different from your PhD.
But, it doesn't perfectly prepare you to become an assistant professor, so that's the other side.It does help to become an assistant professor if you have done a postdoc, but it's still only covering part of the assistant professor’s job. The ideal situation for postdocs would be to also have the opportunity to teach, to try to obtain a grant, etc. But there, timing is a problem. Earlier we did have the possibility for postdocs to have both a research and a teaching contract. But now, due to the budget cuts, we don't have any new teaching contracts anymore.
What can be done to improve?
Noortje: I think it would be nice for postdocs to at least also have teaching opportunities, because that helps a lot with your future prospects.
And, because postdocs are funded by projects, maybe career development should become part of the projects. At the NRO, for example, they ask when you apply for funding what the development opportunities for starting researchers are… It would be nice to also include this in the funding for postdocs. For example, by giving them time for the development of their future career, or providing them with activities that help them with their career within or beyond the academic context. Having something like that in postdocs' contracts would also be really helpful.