Laura Dijkhuizen

PhD candidate at Utrecht University. Working on plant biology & metagenomics of Azolla ferns and their symbiosis with cyanobacteria

UU Graduate School of Life Sciences PhD council

After two years of regular membership, I was promoted to be chair of the Life Sciences PhD council of Utrecht University (GS-LS). I represented 1800 PhDs in this position; PhDs employed at three different faculties and multiple external institutions. Simultaneously, I was acting chair of the PhD council of Environmental Biology, a PhD programme part of the GSLS. As GS-LS council chair, I further developed my leadership and communication skills. I became part of the graduate school board, kept in contact with representatives of the faculties, and delegated tasks within the PhD council. Our biggest accomplishment, in which I had a major role, was to negotiate new and fair guidelines for graduating PhDs in all faculties. These guidelines are now public and in the process of being implemented.

PhD representative in the Utrecht University Open Science programme

The Utrecht Open Science Programme aims to speed up the transition to open science at Utrecht University. The programme chair, previously the dean of the medical faculty, asked for me specifically to join as a PhD representative, remembering me from a course on a similar subject. They approached me for my constructive and critical attitude and recognised my network and the experience I had gained as a PhD council chair.

Additionally, I take part in the Science Faculty Open Science implementation Team (FOST). This team is well connected to both the “work floor” as well as the most recent developments in Open Science and advises the faculty board in policy decisions.

List of networks and management positions

  • PhD council environmental biology (2017-2021)
  • PhD council Graduate School of Life Sciences (2017-2021)
  • Curriculum Committee Master’s programme Bioinformatics & Biocomplexity (2019 - 2022)
  • Utrecht University Open Science platform (2020 - 2022)
  • Science faculty Open Science implementation team (2020 - 2022)
  • Research Assessment Committee for TU Delft departments Chemical Engineering and BioTechnology link (2021)