Each morning there is a competition between my alarm clock and my 4-year-old; who can wake me earlier? Usually, my boy wins and the morning starts by making him (and his baby sister) breakfast followed by 20 minutes of negotiation at the highest level to get him to put his shoes on and leave the house for school (“please, 1 more minute with the lego’s daddy”). Biking through Nijmegen centre to drop my kids off is a nice way to start the day, as I get physical activity and can experience the calm beauty of early morning Nijmegen.
Back at the home office I grab a strong coffee and start the day with some emails and prepare my meetings for the day. Working as project coordinator for public-private research projects provides an enjoyable amount of variation. One meeting concerns a research collaboration with a large pharma company, another is about spacial planning for renewable energy projects. In order to assist our research at Radboud University optimally, we are currently running an investigation of research & valorisation opportunities within the different Radboud institutes like Donders and HFML.
I try to take as many lunch walks as possible, but unfortunately I usually end up having a quick lunch and running back upstairs. I can’t wait to be (back) in the office and enjoy the beautiful university campus again. Speaking of the campus, after my lunch it is time to discuss potential collaborations with a foreign research group that are interested in relocating their research facilities to our university. Trying to make this happen takes a lot of work and involves organising many meetings, both internally and with external parties like the province, municipality and collaboration partners.
When my working day is drawing to a close, I always try to make some time to focus on follow ups and writing before picking up the kids and finally winding down by cooking a great family meal. After putting the kids to bed there is some room for relaxing or, if needed, some last-minute emailing ;-). I am always available for creative business ideas and to support research innovation on the Radboud campus.
