On this session another panel of young alumni will tell you about their paths, choices they had to make and how they succeeded in the research and academic world.
They are all more than happy to share their experiences with you. So come and listen and talk with them.
Name: Ronak Shah
Study: Master's in Biomedical Sciences, Track Oncology
Current Position:
Life science consultantcurrently working with a BigPharma client in process development to help advance cell therapy for cancer patients.
Advice:
There is no golden standard to a trajectory in research, especially a PhD. So never compare yourself to others on the same journey. It might be good to draw up a 10 year plan to identify whether a PhD is required or not. Pharma, biotech and life science industries are changing and the gap between academia and industry keeps widening. So have some foresight before making a decision and be brave to pivot if needed.
Name: Aditi Bhangale
Study: MSc Child Development and Education (Research), BSc Psychology
Current Position:
Research assistant in the methods and statistics group at the UvA and a PhD position in the methods and statistics group at Leiden
Advice:
Make sure to network! I’ve found that, in academia, colleagues are highly invested in one another’s career growth. Knowing the right people can help you be the first to know about great opportunities, but also help you make yourself known to future collaborators, mentors, and colleagues.
Name: Blazej Manczak
Study: Master Artificial Intelligence
Current Position: Research Engineer at an American scale-up called DynamoFL. My work is research focused, with lots of paper reading, ideation, coding, and evaluation of the ideas by running experiments.
Advice:
Get a taste of different research areas and types of work. It taught me what things I do not want to do in the future and helped me set a career course. Another, also a piece of advice would be to try to get to know the people you would potentially work with. The environment in which one works is almost as important in terms of satisfaction as the work itself.
Name: Ariadna Romans
Study: Master International Development Studies, Bachelor Political Science (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) , Bachelor Philosophy (Universitat de Barcelona).
Current Position:
Freelance working on several projects related to research and consultancy. I also write about climate change and opinion pieces in two Spanish magazines.
Advice:
It is never too early to start developing a network and getting involved in programmes or projects. During your master's try to spend some hours a week either working on a small project, doing an internship or volunteering.
Name: Lucy Gaynor
Study: Master Holocaust and Genocide Studies (History)
Current Position:
PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam’s Research school for Heritage, Memory, and Material Culture. I am conducting my own research project. And member of the PhD council at UvA organising events at my research school and attending meetings with management.
Advice:
Collect as much information as possible, so that you know what opportunities are out there and what networks you can be a part of. Attending events like this one was important to me when I was a masters student, because it makes the possibility of a career here seem more realistic, and made me better able to plan my next steps.
