Photo Shutterstock New elections for a PhD representative to the WUR Council are to be held at the beginning of June. At that time, the current two PhD representatives in the WUR council, Robin Barten and Frances Widjaja will resign after a year of service. Who will replace them?
PhD candidates who are interested will be informed on the work of the WUR Council through an online information session with Widjaja and Barten. Another information session is to follow on 15 April at 14.00 hrs.
Contract extension
A seat on the WUR Council requires an investment of approximately 1 to 2 days a week during the academic year. Barten: ‘It is worth noting that the invested time is compensated through an extension of the PhD contract.’ The WUR Council’s duties consist of reading documents and minutes, meetings with the council and meetings with the executive board. You learn the skill of strategic negotiations. The PhD candidates may bring forward issues that concern them. Barten, for example, endeavoured to get free Dutch lessons put on the agenda.
There is currently a strong focus on WUR’s corona exit strategy. Will office space for PhD students remain as tight as it was before the corona crisis? And, how many days a week will PhD students be able to spend at the office? Barten also thinks that delays in PhD research as a result of the pandemic is a critical issue. In many cases, the extensions of contracts are insufficient to cushion the effects, he says.
PhD students can make their candidacy known until 23 April. For additional information, please reach out to Secretariaat COR-GV (secretariaat.cor-gv@wur.nl) or robin.barten@wur.nl. More information is available on the intranet.