Students complete research traineeship: 'This is a good start for a career as researcher'

Published on 09 September 2022

After seven months of hard work, the participants in the Research Traineeship Programme concluded their research on Friday 2 September with a pitch and a poster presentation.

During the Research Traineeship Programme, students are given the opportunity to carry out paid research. They take part in a research project devised by two scientists and can thus discover before they graduate whether a career in science appeals to them.

The research projects presented came from all corners of the humanities. The topics ranged from online disinformation to the application of Archival Turn theory to antiquity, on which the students gave a pitch and presented a detailed and well-presented poster.

Learn more

History students Nicole Hoebert, Sjors Stuurman and Ida Vos studied national security in the Netherlands between 1830 and 1848, a time of considerable social unrest.

Very little is known about this period,' says Nicole. We just had to find what sources there were and where to start. Because of corona, I had never visited an archive before, so I learned a lot of useful things.'

‘Then you had to dig through eighty boxes again to see whether or not there was anything,' Sjors adds, laughing. Nevertheless, he looks back on the past few months with satisfaction. ‘This research traineeship offers you the chance to produce something that might be published, and you also get paid for it. That’s a good start for your career as a researcher.’

Future researchers

After the past few months, it is clear to all three of them that they would like to continue in research. Sjors is considering doing research outside the university, but Ida and Nicole see a future as PhD students. ‘I would rather work on a more modern period, preferably after the invention of the typewriter,' Ida laughs. For this project, we had to decipher a lot of handwritten letters. That’s quite inefficient, especially if you are not used to deciphering handwriting yet. In a more modern period, you go through your documents just a little faster, so you can do more in the same time.'

Registration for the next round of the Research Traineeship Programme is now open. Scientists can register a project up to and including 14 October: for more information, please refer to this announcement. Students can apply for a position from November.