Doctoral school

Around 70 PhD candidates found their way to the SAD, at location VUmc 7 March last. It was a very pleasant day with interesting lectures and interactive workshops. And, not unimportant, many prizes were awarded.

Our well-known Prof. Yvo Roos, UvA dean, opened the event and showed interesting figures on amounts of Amsterdam UMC publications and our position worldwide, encouraging PhD candidates, being our future scientists, to expose their research. The presentations of the keynote speakers were very interesting: Prof. Wouter Hehenkamp made clear the necessity and possibilities to make (specifically) healthcare more sustainable. Prof. Meike Bartels studied twins, separated and not-seperated from birth, explained that the feeling of happiness is different for everyone and did research about the factors and predictability of happiness. Considering the participation in the interactive workshops, the topics matched the interests of the PhD candidates: Sustainability (by Eva Cohen and Aram de Haas), Career opportunities after the PhD (by Simone Cremers), Innovation in science and industry insights (by prof. Arjan Griffioen), Keep the energy flowing (by Guido Heunen). During lunch, researchers across disciplines, had inspiring and thought-provoking discussions, based on the about thirty displayed posters.

Throughout the day prizes were awarded for the best Publications of 2024, the best Thesis of 2024, the best Thesis Designs of 2024, and the best Posters of 2025. Finally, the winners of the Young Talent Fund (travel) grants and the Scholarship winners of 2025 were put in the spotlight. Singer-songwriter Sjoerd (Sured) provided a musical intermezzo. And of course, we ended this very sunny Friday with some drinks and bitterballen!

See below pictures and names of those who won the different awards.

This event not only showcases the talent and dedication of our young researchers but also emphasizes the importance of fostering a supportive and collaborative environment for scientific advancement. We look forward to next year's event and the exciting discoveries of our PhD candidates yet to come!

Many thanks to PhD candidates Eleni, Georgia, Krista and Pascal, for their contribution to the organization and implementation of the SAD!

The organizing team for the SAD2025 consisted of PhD candidates Pascal Kroon, Eleni Tzortzopoulou, Georgia Malliou and Krista van Rest

Are you interested to organize the SAD2026? Send an email to doctoralschool@amsterdamumc.nl

You will get ECTS points for organizing the program and hosting the day

Workshop (morning): sustainability - Eva Cohen and Aram de Haas

Are you a PhD researcher looking to make your research more responsible and sustainable? Join our interactive mini workshop, where we take a practical approach to integrating sustainability into research.We’ll introduce key concepts from sustainability in our research and explore practical ways to reduce impact in (bio)medical research. Using the R-ladder, we’ll identify sustainability challenges and opportunities, from reducing unnecessary travel to optimizing clinical trials.

Through group discussions and hands-on exercises, you’ll:

• Assess the impact of your own research
• Identify realistic interventions to improve sustainability
• Share insights and solutions with peers

Let’s rethink research and take small but impactful steps toward a more sustainable future!

Workshop (morning and afternoon): Unlock your future – Career opportunities after your PhD - Simone Cremers

Did you ever consider life beyond your PhD or postdoc in terms of career perspective? If not, do you know that about 70% of all PhD’s and 80% of all postdocs explore career possibilities outside of academia? But where do you start your search? And even if you find organizations or sectors that offer research positions, how can you tell if you fit in or meet the criteria? And if you do meet the criteria, how do you get in touch with these organizations or sectors? To answer these questions AcademicTransfer developed different tools for young researchers who want or need to explore their next career step. During this workshop we will show you how AcademicTransfer’s toolbox can support you on your career journey in research in the Netherlands. All tools can be found here.

Workshop (morning and afternoon): Innovation in science and industry insights - Arjan Griffioen

Today's workshop will communicate the development of an innovative strategy for the treatment of cancer. This strategy involves a vaccine-based approach that addresses the major challenges in cancer research, such as drug resistance, cancer metastasis and cancer prevention. It promises to be a solution for a wide range of tumor types. Next to presenting this new approach, the workshop will also address the opportunities for valorization of the research ideas towards a successful biotech spin-off company.

Workshop (afternoon): How to keep your energy flowing - Guido Heunen

Don’t just survive your PhD… thrive!

You have more influence over your life than you think. A PhD is demanding, but how you handle the pressure is up to you. Personal leadership means taking responsibility for yourself, your resilience, and your well-being.In this interactive workshop, Guido Heunen shares powerful lessons from nature. Through engaging exercises and practical tools, you’ll learn how to take charge of your energy, focus, and overall well-being.

You will learn:🌿 What nature can teach you about acceptance, resilience, and recovery🌿 How to make choices that support both your performance and well-being🌿 Simple, effective strategies to integrate into your daily life.

The workshop takes place indoors, but the lessons from nature stay with you everywhere you go.

Ready to take control?

Thinking back to Friday, 8 March, we are happy to conclude that the Amsterdam UMC PhD Science & Awards Day was a successful edition

View the abstractbook and the program 2024:

Morning program: opening by prof.dr. Saskia Peerdeman, keynote speaker prof.dr. Mariska Leeflang, workshops, posters

About 30 researchers presented their posters, leading to lively discussions during the breaks in the program

Dean prof. Saskia Peerdeman formally kicked off the event. In her talk she praised the quality of research at Amsterdam UMC. Many publications are published in high impact journals and many subsidies are raised. Amsterdam UMC gives currently about 3.500 PhD candidates the opportunity to do a PhD trajectory! The number is still growing, and prof. Peerdeman is very proud that in 2023, more than 450 PhD students have successfully defended their thesis

As a keynote speaker, prof. Mariska Leeflang gave a presentation entitled 'True or false in medical test evaluations'. This was followed by workshops in two sessions on a variety of topics: the Struggling Scientists, Suzanne van Wouw and Jayron Habibe, on Artificial Intelligence, the Doctoral School PhD advisors Mandy Hu and Jordi Cabanas Danés on Personal boundaries and balance, and Audry Peters on Career Opportunities After the PhD by Academic Transfer. After lunch, keynote speaker prof. Guus van Dongen closed the Science part with a lecture entitled 'The history and future of 89Zr-immuno-PET imaging in drug development'

Afternoon program: keynote speaker prof.dr. Guus van Dongen, awarding prizes: 'best PhD Poster', 'best PhD Publication', 'best PhD Thesis', 'best PhD Thesis Design'

During the Awards part in the afternoon, in addition to five 2024 PhD Scholarships, also prizes were awarded for 'best PhD Poster', 'best PhD Publication', 'best PhD Thesis', 'best PhD Thesis Design'. And to relax a bit, there was a short break with a silent disco

After awarding the prizes the day ended with drinks & ‘bitterballen’

Many thanks to all colleagues and PhD candidates that have made this day possible. Special thanks for the organizing team of the Science Part, Aynur Azizova, Bing Wang, Claire van Vliet & Paola Tello Valverde, all being PhD candidates as well

Awards Winners 2024:

• Best PhD Poster: Annet Heijerman, Henrique Nogueira Pinte, Lotte Jansen; incentive prizes were awarded to Eva Cohen, Merel Koster, Jeanet Karchout, Parisa Mapar, Rada Veeneman, Sherif Bayoumi, Siyu Zhou
• Best PhD Publication: Yasaman Vali, Alex Lipov and Lianne Mulder
• Best PhD Thesis: Tjitske Zaat, Eric Ettema & Marije Wijnberge
• Best PhD Thesis Design: Marije Wijnberge, Bo Bet & Leah Wilk
• PhD Scholarships: Bastiaan van Tol, Dachel Seeratan, Jard Mattens, Myrthe Simon, Rianne van der Burgt

After a forced break of two years, we were happy to organize the first renewed edition of the Science & Awards Day, in October 2022, on location VUmc. In this event we combined the separate events of the AMC Awards session and the VUmc Science Exchange Day, as over the past years also the groups and departments of VUmc and AMC have merged into Amsterdam UMC

Prizes of the First edition SAD 2022:

In the afternoon, these prizes were awarded, to:

• Best PhD Thesis: Annemijn Jonkman, Max Senders & Laura Kim Mae Han
• Best PhD Thesis Design: Laura Han
• Best PhD Research Project: Leah Wilk, Lianne Mulder, Paola Tello Valverde
• PhD Scholarships: Sean Joseph Jurgens, Annemiek ter Wee, Lois van der Minnen, Steven Eleonora, Eva Cohen, Anne van den Hunk
• Young Talent Fund: Ulrika Boulund, Chantal Hulshof, Margot Morssinkhof, Nick Nurmohamed, Martijn van der Ree, Leon Rinkel, Jenny Schnyder, Noreen Siddiqui, Henk van Voorst, Leonoor Wijdeveld