Press release: New PNN board appointed

During the General Members' Meeting on September 23, Anneke Kastelein was elected as the new chair of the PhD Network Netherlands (PNN), the national advocacy group for and by PhD candidates. Kastelein is pursuing her doctorate at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) with a thesis on cancer-related fatigue and succeeds Meaghan Polack, who is leaving the PNN board after two years.

The PNN has appointed four new board members for the upcoming term. Kastelein: "We have a strong and highly motivated board, with diverse perspectives and experiences." Marije Sluiskes (LUMC) will join the board as secretary and vice-chair. Marcella Ibarra (VU University Amsterdam) will promote international PhD candidates, Junfeng Zhu (Utrecht University) will focus on collaboration and support for PNN members, and Roël Vrooman (Radboud University Medical Center) will become a board member for hospital employment conditions. Charlotte de Blecourt (Donders Institute Nijmegen), previously a career board member, will take on the university employment conditions portfolio. Lisa Oskam (Utrecht University) will remain as a board member for Recognition and Rewards and succeed Kastelein as treasurer.  

In the coming period, PNN will focus on various topics. For example, the board will work to make information regarding the rights and obligations of PhD candidates more transparent and accessible. Kastelein: "It's important that PhD candidates know what's expected of them and what steps they can take if collaboration with their supervisory team or the institute isn't ideal. Information about the requirements for the PhD defense and defense is often not fully public, complete, and/or searchable." Furthermore, the board will work hard to gain more insight into and attention for the issues faced by international, grant-funded, and external PhD candidates. Kastelein: "These groups have remained under the radar for too long, and there's insufficient insight into the structural problems they face." The board will also focus on the further rollout of the new Recognition and Rewards program and the National Open Science Program, collective labor agreement negotiations, a healthy work environment, and the completion of the PhD scholarship experiment. By collaborating with national bodies such as the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the UNL, the NFU and the trade unions, Kastelein hopes to strengthen the position of PhD candidates in the Netherlands.