Jasper’s Day – Six bike rides and a safari
On Monday 27 October, Jasper goes on safari in the Van Steenis building. And will he manage to stay dry more often than he gets soaked cycling between meetings? You’ll find out – along with the rest of Jasper’s day – in this column.
Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.
‘I’m awake early – not because of the switch to wintertime, but because of the stormy wind and heavy rain lashing against the wooden back wall, making it groan and creak. I’m home alone this morning, so no need to make any packed lunches. After a quiet breakfast, I get ready while keeping an eye on the rain radar. I’ll be cycling six times today, and I’m curious how many of those I’ll manage to stay dry. Yesterday, I somehow managed to dodge every downpour.
Once again, luck’s on my side – I arrive at the station dry. On the train, I dive into some meeting documents, and in Leiden, I’m rewarded with a good soaking on my short ride to the Van Steenis building. The week starts off with a fun activity: the faculty board is visiting CML today. This semester, we’re making a tour of all institutes – not for administrative meetings, but to get to know staff and activities more broadly. These visits are genuinely inspiring. We should really do them every year, but full agendas make that tricky.
On safari in the building
We start by talking with the institute’s management team about the upcoming research review. Then we go on safari, as the institute calls it, a tour through the building, stopping by several staff and PhD students who tell us about their research. Every single one of them speaks with passion and joy. The safari once again shows how broad and multidisciplinary CML is, and how quickly it has grown recently. It also highlights how socially relevant the research is that’s being done here. We hear about everything from material volumes in construction, to soil quality studies, and from the footprint of battery production to eDNA – environmental DNA, a technique for measuring the presence of organisms in, say, ditches and lakes. By eleven o’clock we unfortunately have to stop. It’s been a great visit!
The ride to the Gorlaeus Building isn’t long, yet I arrive with wet jeans again. That makes it 1–2 (dry–wet) so far today. I have meetings with Erik Danen (Dean of the Graduate School) and Victor van der Horst, who starts today as programme manager for our contribution to the national ‘Beethoven’ programme, aimed at training talent for the Dutch semiconductor industry. After that, there’s a meeting with the knowledge security project team, where we discuss what we can still finish this calendar year and what will carry over into the new programme.
Appreciation from the staff section
The final meeting in the Gorlaeus is with the staff section of the faculty council. An important preparatory meeting ahead of next week’s formal session, where the board will request advice on the proposed new career policy for academic staff (Academia in Motion). We have a good discussion, with several helpful suggestions for improvement or clarification, but above all appreciation from the council for the proposed policy. Very useful and really encouraging. Tomorrow, I’ll present the proposed policy to the Rector and fellow Deans for peer review. The council’s positive feedback is a nice boost.
My fourth bike ride, to the Rapenburg, stays dry. I join an online meeting with the board of the LDE Centre for Sustainability. We discuss annual plans and budgets and, happily, can take positive decisions.
At four o’clock I hurry to the inaugural lecture of Meindert Lamers, professor at the LUMC and for years (co-)director of our national centre for cryo-electron microscopy (NeCEN).
His lecture is wonderful – full of energy, accessible to a wide audience, and with several great takeaways, like how he looks forward to Monday mornings because it means getting back to his amazing equipment, which reveals new protein structures for researchers around the world. A feeling many scientists will recognise, I think.
The little things count
After the reception, I head home. Amazingly, both bike rides fall neatly between showers, bringing today’s final score to 4–2. It’s the little things that count! I grab a quick dinner and start preparing for tomorrow. Tuesdays are always tough with little rest, tomorrow I have meetings from 9.00 till 19.30. The peer review of our career policy is one of the key subjects, and I spend quite some time preparing for it.
Once all the meetings are reviewed, I write this column and relax for a bit in front of the TV. It’s election week, so it’s obvious what I’m watching. I wonder where we’ll stand as universities a year from now. Will it be stormy and wet – like today’s weather – or are sunnier times ahead? It certainly won’t happen by itself, but Wednesday will be an important day. Outside, things have calmed down, the façade has stopped creaking, and I’m counting on a good night’s sleep.’