The Postdoc Community or PDC is an inclusive community by and for all postdoctoral researchers at UGent. Four UGent postdocs explain what the organisation is all’about and what it means to them.
Nel Grillaert
For many years Nel Grillaert worked at UGent as a postdoctoral researc her. Since 2020 she is responsible for postdoc talent management in the DPO (Department of Personnel and Organisation). In her role she is the linking factor between HR and the Postdoc Community.
"The Postdoc Community is part of our support programme for postdocs. The goal is to create an inclusive community by and for postdocs. It consists of a steering group, ideally with one representative per faculty. I am also part of the steering group but in my case from my function as postdoc talent manager in the DPO.
Our support programme guides postdocs in their next career move. That is necessary because, by definition, they have a fixed-term contract and that can create a fair amount of uncertainty. For a long time that was my statute as well so I know from first-hand experience how it feels. I use the programme to offer them training and individual career coaching.
The Postdoc Community organises activities that can be both thematic or social. Our focus is career-oriented, both during and after the postdoc. Our sessions deal with academic non-academic career paths. For instance, last year we organised a very successful event on spin-offs and entrepreneurship. Very interesting. Because many postdocs have a strong focus on an academic career, even though there are other options: recent studies indicate that while fewer than one in four postdocs become professors, their rate of employment is still 92%. That means there are a host of interesting career opportunities outside the academic world. Take me, for example: I’m not pursuing an academic career but I have a challenging and fascinating job that I love.
Our main objective is to help postdocs realise their full potential because they often have no idea of their limitless potential in developing the next phase in their career."
Robin Devroe
Robin Devroe is a postdoc in the Department of Political Sciences. She has represented her faculty in the steering group of the PDC since 2019 and since last summer she is joint-chairwoman with Tereza Vavrdova.
"For me, the community mainly acts to broaden its members’ perspectives. And my commitment has enabled me to develop skills you wouldn’t necessarily encounter otherwise. Organising events, leadership, strategic and problem-solving thinking, etc. All extremely relevant.
The community puts me into contact with people who identify with my story and as a postdoc that is not always easy. In a certain way you feel like you’re in a kind of no-man’s-land. You’re no longer a doctoral candidate because you’re a bit older and you’ve moved on to the next life phase. In addition, you’re not really part of the group of professors.
The short term you have to work with, the specific group you belong to: our activities focus on the main challenges postdocs face. We also organise courses. As a postdoc you’re actually in a growth phase. You’re expected to carry out a series of new tasks, such as teaching or coaching doctoral students. It’s all very fascinating, but in many cases you haven’t yet acquired the necessary expertise. That is why our training sessions are so useful."
Lieve Van Hoof
In 2013 professor Lieve Van Hoof came to UGent as a postdoctoral researcher. Almost a year later she joined the Postdoc Community, first as communications officer, subsequently as its chairwoman.
"When I arrived in Ghent I felt pretty lonely. I knew no one outside the members of my department. Not at university, not in the city. So at first I focused my energy on getting to know more people. And thanks to the Postdoc Community I experienced first-hand that the participatory governance model of UGent makes it very easy to get to know people as long as you are prepared to commit.
When I joined the steering group in 2014, the community was already up and running. What was missing was a clear vision: what do we want to stand for, what are our goals? Together with HR, the postdocs developed a policy - both bottom-up and top-down. For that collaboration I won the Hermes Prize together with Jasmien Van Daele, Nel Grillaert’s predecessor. (Award at UGent for social and scientific services, [EN]) It’s an achievement I’m rather proud of.
During that period I met a lot of interesting people I started learning the ropes of leadership. A fantastic opportunity. For me joining the Postdoc Community has been a real game changer: amongst others it gave me the self-confidence to become co-president of the Young Academy, an inter-university forum consisting of 50 interdisciplinary top researchers."
Lara Macheriotou
Lara Macheriotou grew up in Cyprus, studied in Oregon, Faro, Northern Spain and Ghent. Now she is starting her second term as postdoctoral researcher in the research group Marine Biology. She joined the steering group last summer.
"I became a member because I wanted to venture outside my comfort zone. I can be introverted at times and while I like to be in the company of others, I also enjoy being alone. Nevertheless, it’s good for me to talk to other postdocs. They act like a sounding board because we’re all struggling with the same things.
Personally I’ve already accepted that my academic career will probably come to an end when my contract is out. My only chance as an academic is to receive funding, for instance from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). Some of us will become professors, and some won’t. But no one is panicking. There are so many options and our events help make them visible. For me the most important condition is that the next step in my career must be challenging.
I’m organising an event with one of my peers, as it happens it’s about the transition from postdoc to professor. But this type of event teaches me a lot about the ins and outs of the university. It’s fun to gain that experience and learn more about things that have nothing to do with my research."