ACS PhD retreat 2025: ‘Leadership & Teamwork: Becoming a Scientist Who Inspires’

It was once again time for the annual ACS PhD retreat, where PhD students gathered in Soesterberg for a two-day program filled with of science-related activities.

Leadership & Teamwork

The theme of the retreat this year was Leadership & Teamwork and the retreat featured various workshops on this including a session on self-leadership as a PhD student and a creative workshop where participants expressed their research journeys by painting their own PhD theses.

Keynote lectures

The first keynote lecture of the retreat on Thursday was given by Peter Hordijk, who spoke on the topics of Leadership and Teamwork. He also shared insights from his own career journey and discussed the role of the ACS Talent Committee. Keynote speaker Louise Olde Nordkamp took participants on an inspiring journey as well, discussing the PREATORIAN trial, which ultimately led to publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. On Friday, Jolanda van der Velden spoke about her career path, which led her to become the head of two departments at Amsterdam UMC, among other notable roles. She also offered participants valuable advice for advancing their own professional journeys.

Showcasing own work

In addition to the keynotes, there were various opportunities for participants to showcase their own work. During the poster sessions, plenary talks, pitches, and short presentations, they were able to share the latest updates on their research projects.

Award ceremony

During the closing session ACS director Ronak Delewi presented awards during the award ceremony. Congratulations to all the awardees!

Best plenary talk

Sabrine Chaara – Extracellular vesicles: promising biomarkers for dialysis-induced organ injury

Best short presentation

Fabries Huiskes – Gene expression profiling in atrial fibrillation patients

Best Poster Pitch

Carolina Bras

Best Poster

Maartje Hof

ACS PhD retreat 2026: looking for new committee members

We would like to thank all speakers and participants for their contributions. Also, we would like to give a special thanks to this year’s PhD retreat committee.