Uncovering the Human Side of Research

What are we actually talking about when trying to make Academia a more inclusive place? What is it like to be part of an academic culture for first generation students, expats or as a woman? Today, you’ll listen in on a conversation I had with professors Eliana Vassena and Barbara Müller from Radboud University about Diversity and Inclusivity in Academia. Barbara and Eliana are both passionate abo...

At Wageningen University and Research (WUR), the whole Tenure Track system has been renewed. In today’s episode, we dive into the role of Wageningen's new Academic Career Framework in bringing about long-overdue changes in the academic system. What does the Framework offer, and what does it leave out? Who’s behind its development, and what did the process look like? We’ll also address the common r...

Is the recognition of lecturers in academia long overdue? In this episode, we discuss the new Academic Framework at Wageningen University and Research as a culture change that values teaching expertise and opens flexible career paths for academics. How much does your career depend on your chairholder—and how much research can you do as a lecturer? We also introduce the Lecturer Development Program...

In this episode, I talked to two professors of Wageningen University, Rumyana Karlova and Maria Barbosa. Starting out with questions around leadership, we took a deep and broad dive into academic live at Wageningen (and other places in the world), covering diverse questions like: what's the basis of trust, what are important skills for tenure trackers to develop, how to approach your assessment co...

Today we talk about psychological safety, diversity, and inclusivitiy with professor Giovanni Bertotti, Professor in Applied Geology at the TU Delft and also Diversity and Inclusion officer of his Faculty. We hear about his role as Diversity and Inclusion officer in the complex environment that is a University. We talk about the difficulties of addressing micro aggressions, about the challenge to...

In today's episode, Lauren's and I talked to Calvin Rans who describes himself as a teacher, storyteller and engineer being also an associate professor at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the TU Delft. We originally approached him with questions around workload, satisfaction and balance. As you will hear, Calvin connects these topics to personal skills, culture, and the academic system as a...

Laurens and I talked to Fulvio Scarano, professor of aerodynamics, at the TU Delft. We dive into topics like: the influence of fragmentation of one's time and attention on work and health, the balance between choosing your own path and checking the necessary boxes, the role of supervisors in achieving work life balance, what to do when we experience that our work life balance is threatened, and mo...

This episode is all about research visions. On Octobre 12th this year, I spoke to social psychology professor Johan Karremans, about his view on research visions. The questions I asked him were inspired by questions we received from Tenure Trackers of Wageningen University and Research. Amongst many other things, we talk about Johan's experiences with not having a vision, how a vision is a work in...

This first episode is a live, uncut recording of a conversation that took place at Wageningen University and Research, on april 20th this year. The conversation was the kick off event of our Tenure Track Development Program at Wageningen. A one-year Program that supports assistant and associate professors in their personal development.  The guests you hear are the rector Magnificus prof.dr.ir. Art...