Testimonials KNAW employees

Post-doctoral researcher, Royal Netherland Institute of Southeast-Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV)

Yvonne Kunz

Can you tell us a bit more about your day-to-day work?

My job involves the establishment of a transdisciplinary project network, spanning from the Netherlands to Indonesia and the Caribbean, where we investigate Marine Protected Areas and their response-ability to consequences caused by climate change. This transnational perspective can be challenging when organizing meetings in which all regions are present. Even though online meetings make it possible, the huge time difference allow us a time window of maximum two hours. Besides the coordination of the network, I am also actively researching the topic. This involves literature studies, consultation of network members as well as experiencing the sites, the Marine Protected Areas,  during field visits. 

For the last 5 months we had the opportunity to be at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), a sister institute of KITLV and also under the umbrella of KNAW. The stay at NIAS brought me, trained in human geography, together with one project member from the Caribbean, a linguist,  and one project member form Indonesia, an economist. In these five months we had extensive time to discuss and think deeply about  the rather understudied topic of climate change governance in marine protection. 

What's the most enjoyable aspect of your work?

It is a pleasure to be able to work on a real world problem, involving social as well as ecological aspects. How to make ocean governance fit for the challenges we already face and for new challenges to be expected in the near future is a fulfilling task. We are working on this so-called social-ecological wicked problem from various perspectives, involving different  disciplines from the social and the natural sciences and stakeholders from outside academia. This is demanding and awarding at the same time, as we are convinced that the only way to grasp complex problems is in a broad team representing different backgrounds.

What’s special about working for the Academy?

The Academy offers a unique research environment. The support infrastructure is fantastic and ranges from triggering exchange between institutes, to (grant) writing workshops with very skilled coaches to inspiring public debate events hosted by the academy. I perceive the Academy as a very stimulating working environment. 

Project manager/secretary at the Academy Bureau

Jeff Muskiet

What does your job involve? 

At the Academy Science Funds department, I work with members of the Academy, The Young Academy and the Society of Arts to award prizes and grant financial contributions from funds to scientists from all fields, at different stages of their careers and with diverse backgrounds.

Can you tell us a bit more about your day-to-day work?

My daily work is varied and intertwined. From drafting regulations and board notes to collaborating in preparing policy or procedural guidelines. But also supporting juries and committees and their meetings, and organising award ceremonies or other gatherings together with my colleagues from the Communications and Academy Events departments.

What's the most enjoyable aspect of your work? 

One of the things I enjoy most is writing and editing all types of texts.

What’s special about working for the Academy?

What is special about working at the Academy is the unique opportunity to hear first-hand from inspiring and creative scientists and artists about what they are engaged in and also to collaborate with them. And being in my familiar Trippenhuis Building, the Academy's offices in the centre of Amsterdam, a couple of times a week is also enjoyable!

PhD Researcher, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI -KNAW)

Lin Rouvroye

What does your job involve?

In my role as a researcher at NIDI I conduct interdisciplinary social science research. My research is on the societal position of young adults (aged 18-35) in relation to recent labour market developments. In my PhD project I look at the Dutch country context and focus on the use of flexible – or precarious - employment contracts. Besides research, I also work as Dissemination & Communication Officer for the Generations and Gender Programme and I am an editorial board member of ‘Demos’, a bulletin about demographic research. 

What do you cherish?

One of the aspects that I cherish about my role as a researcher at NIDI is the high level of autonomy that is granted to me. I have agency in how to execute my tasks and can plan which bits of work I want to do when during the week. This way I can maintain a high degree of variety in my daily work, which I value. Academic writing is a big part of doing scientific research, as well as gathering data, crunching numbers and analysing texts. Those activities require a substantial degree of solitude and focus. However, exchanging ideas, gathering feedback and communicating research findings are also crucial parts of the job. So I spend quite some time carefully listening to academic colleagues, giving talks or commentary and investing in my network of policymakers, media professionals and other external partners. 
 

What's the most enjoyable aspect of your work?

I really love writing. Putting your own thoughts into words in a way that engages readers is challenging. Anyone who argues otherwise is lying. Yet, when you manage to do so, it feels incredibly rewarding. 

In order to write well, I believe it is important to regularly put yourself out into the real world. Academic conferences provide great opportunity for that. In addition to catching up on the latest findings in your field, you often get to experience a different country: it’s culture, food, speed of life. Those impressions feed into my creativity as a researcher. 

What’s special about working for the Academy? 

NIDI-KNAW is a special place to work. Why? Because of NIDI’s organisational culture. NIDI fosters a kind, creative and collaborative work environment. In my experience it attracts highly motivated, bright minds and provides them with the right level of care, shelter and stimulation to help them flourish. It is also a queer-friendly workplace. That is important to me. 

Policy officer for medical, biomedical and health sciences, Academy bureau

Eva van Meeteren-Naninck

What does your job involve?

I work in the Forum, Advisory and Research Department, which is the policy and strategy department of the Academy. My daily works involves supporting the Council for Medical Sciences and advisory committees. I am also the point of contact in our department for policy issues relating to medical sciences. It is very varied work in which my biomedical background regularly comes in handy.

Can you tell us a bit more about your day-to-day work?

Every day is different. For example, one day I am busy with literature research and preparing drafts for an advisory report, while on other days I work with colleagues on discussion papers for the board or the programme of an expert meeting.

What's the most enjoyable aspect of your work?

As secretary of advisory committees, I work on challenging issues in close cooperation with the chairman and members. This is enormously fun and educational to do.

What’s special about working for the Academy?

Not only the members of the Learned Society but also the colleagues at the Trippenhuis Building, the Academy's office in Amsterdam, are enthusiastic people with whom it is enjoyable to work. This makes the Trippenhuis Building a very special workplace with a pleasant working atmosphere.

Postdoctoral researcher, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI -KNAW)

Rolando Gonzales Martinez

What does your job involve?

I calculate mortality related to high Body Mass Index (BMI) and obesity as part of a project examining future socio-economic inequalities in longevity caused by lifestyle epidemics such as smoking, obesity, and excessive alcohol consumption. This work is of utmost importance for health and well-being, as a recent study in The Lancet found that smoking, alcohol use, and elevated BMI levels are the greatest contributors to cancer deaths worldwide.

Can you tell us a bit more about your day-to-day work?

My day-to-day work involves data science. I use packages like MatLab, R, Stata, and Python to process data, calculate multi-country statistics, and create visualizations. In my role at NIDI, I calculate multi-group inequality metrics and make forecasts using Bayesian vector auto-regressions.

What's the most enjoyable aspect of your work?

I am an avid coding enthusiast and I find that listening to music while coding helps me stay focused and motivated. Additionally, I have a deep passion for learning new mathematical methods and statistical techniques from diverse scientific disciplines; as a result, I enjoy exploring new data analysis methods, reading scientific journals and books, and attending seminars and workshops to stay current on the latest developments in the field.

What’s special about working for the Academy?

The academy offers a wide range of fantastic benefits. For foreign scientists, there is the enjoyment of living and working in the Netherlands, one of the most innovative and artistic countries in the world. Additionally, high-quality foreign professionals receive tax benefits in the Netherlands, making their salaries competitive and attracting unique knowledge and skills from abroad. The academy has a long-standing tradition of multidisciplinary scientific collaboration and offers a vibrant and intellectually stimulating academic environment. At NIDI, where I work, the well-being of employees is always a priority, and continuous support is provided to ensure their comfort and happiness. This includes providing healthy lunch options, flexible working hours, and exceptional support from the human resources department, who are always proactive in offering solutions and recommendations to make life enjoyable both inside and outside the academy institute.

PhD candidate at Netherlands Iinterdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI-KNAW)

Katharina Runge

What does your job involve?

A PhD project involves a variety of different tasks. On a weekly basis, I am busy with reading new scientific literature within my field, writing sections for the articles that will build my dissertation, running data analyses and discussing my current work with my supervisors. Regularly, there are interesting research meetings to join to exchange ideas and current work with other colleagues. Over the last years, I had the opportunity to take a variety of university courses ranging from learning new statistical methods, tips on how to broaden your scientific impact to basic knowledge in medicine. Further, every year, there are (inter)national conferences where I can present my findings to a broader audience (this involves travelling and exploring new cities and countries with my colleagues which is a lot of fun!). To connect my scientific findings to a more general audience, I am also writing shorter articles for smaller scale Dutch journals.

Can you tell us a bit more about your day-to-day work?

On a typical work day, I am either catching a train to travel to my office at NIDI in The Hague or work from the public library in Utrecht. With a coffee next to me, I start checking my mails and see which tasks have most priority for the day. At the moment, I am for example working on implementing my supervisors’ feedback on the introduction section of my fourth article as well as running data analyses in the background which will later also be part of the article. In The Hague, I will enjoy a nice lunch break together with other PhD candidates and have a walk if the Dutch weather allows it. In the afternoon, I might attend a meeting and then continue with my tasks for the day until it is time to go home!

What's the most enjoyable aspect of your work?

I really enjoy the flexibility and autonomy I have over my work tasks as well as the personal development opportunities you get during a PhD project, e.g. by meeting other researchers from all over the world.

What’s special about working for the Academy? 

I really like the international work environment here at NIDI – I am originally from Germany and share my room at the office with other PhD candidates from Mexico, Spain and Ireland, so there is always something new to learn from other cultures.