Over the last few years, a great level of continuity has developed in the organization of P-NUT. An effort was made to ‘sit at the table’ where policies are made that affect PhD candidates. We have had a good number of board members, and their combined efforts have resulted in us being recognized as the official representatives of PhD candidates. In 2011, these developments towards having a more professional organization culminated in registering as an official association, and setting up a formal member structure. This way, it is much more clear who we represent. I believe that as a result of this, official bodies (like the rector magnificus, the human resources department, and the graduate school) in the university are even more willing to receive our input and to hear our opinion on an increasing number of issues.

To be part of all that, is quite the honour. I hope I can consolidate the good work P-NUT has been doing, and to finalize this professionalization process. We are doing a lot, but it would be good to have the same results with a little less effort. Now that the most important changes already are in place, I think this should be possible. In addition, we have been asked to take up a new representative role with the Twente Graduate School during 2012, which should give us very exciting new opportunities. Finally, I think we should try to increase our visibility outside the PhD community, but some interesting plans for that are in place. If we can do all that, I will be a happy president!

For those of you who do not know P-NUT: it is the official goal of P-NUT to represent, inform, and connect the PhD candidates at the University of Twente. From our website:

Representing the PhD community

• in meetings with important parties inside the UT (meetings with the Rector, Twente Graduate School, Human Resources Department)
• to PNN — the National PhD association

Informing the PhDs

• regular lunch meetings, covering various topics, such as Taxes, Housing in the Netherlands, Grant proposals, UT Optional model, thesis printing market, etc.
• information about the government decisions that might affect the PhDs

Connect the PhDs

• we organize many social activites, such as P-NUT BBQ, Cocktail Workshop, Museum Visiting, Indoor rock climbing, etc.

I’ve just started on my sociology today ‘project’ and already I’m running late. At least one week of daily posts should be do-able, wouldn’t you think?

Well, today for the blogs. I often read some blogs on planeetgroenlinks.nl, so today a selection of what I read on June 11.

Today’s Source: Planeet Groenlinks”

Rationalization: How do we educate?

How do we prepare our children for our increasingly complex society? We send them to school. And when society changes, we change our educational system. That this has not always went very well, is widely known and part of public debate in the Netherlands. That the change is often pushed through too fast, is once again illustrated by Gerben Kappert.

Inequality: Double lucky?

Inequality is often thought of as an unequal distribution of opportunities. And, of course, many things can be interpreted from that perspective. But today I read the blog of Han van Schendel: she writes on winning prizes two times in a row (congratulations!!), once for herself, once for her mother. She described how her mother checked whether her price was accessible for people in a wheelchair. It was, so Han could come along.

This made absolutely clear to me, that people with a disadvantage on some account have to be double lucky to arrive at the same level that people all to often arrive at after being lucky just once. In other words, we often need resources to be able to enjoy the opportunities we perceive.

Cohesion: Who helps whom?

Within the groenlinks political party is discussion is going on between people who generally focus on their own individuality, and people who focus on solidarity. Often, these are seen as clear and mutual exclusive opposites of each other. That this is not necessarily so, is made clear by a post written by Simon Otjes. Solidarity can mean to focus on the individuality people are able to express.