Our previous PhD Profiles have shared the journey of current PhD students, so this time I’m excited to be joined by Dr Floor Ruiter!
Floor graduated from her PhD in 2018 and has since continued working in academia in the Netherlands. In addition to being our first PhD graduate, Floor is also the first of our contributors to have completed her PhD as part of a CDT (Centre for Doctoral Training / Doctoral Training Centre)!
You can find Floor online at LinkedIn and ResearchGate.
As always, if you’re a PhD student (or graduate) and would be interested in sharing your PhD experience, please get in touch! If you are a prospective PhD student and there are other questions you’d like answered in future editions, please also let me know in the comments section below.
Please introduce yourself and summarise your PhD
Hello! My name is Floor and currently I am working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine in the Netherlands. Here I am doing research in supramolecular hydrogels for organoid maturation.
Prior to this I conducted my PhD in the ESPRC doctoral training centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Regenerative Medicine (now Regenerative Medicine CDT) at the University of Nottingham (2013-2017) in the UK. I studied at Loughborough University for the first year and subsequently attended 8 week-long projects at the universities of Nottingham, Keele and Loughborough.
After the first year of training, I started my PhD project of ‘Thermo-responsive electrospun scaffolds for enzymatic-free passage and mammalian cell phenotype support’. The PhD project involved working on thermo-responsive polymers and incorporating them in fibrous materials for the culture of sensitive cell lines. The thermo-responsive polymer makes cell recovery possible by only changing the temperature instead of the addition of enzymes.
PhD Applications
What was your background prior to applying for the PhD?
I am originally Dutch and did my Bachelor of Science in ‘Organic Chemistry Research and Development’ at the HU of Applied Science in Utrecht, the Netherlands. After successfully obtaining a studying abroad scholarship (VSB funds), I went on to do my Master of Science in ‘Advanced Chemical Engineering with IT and Management’ at Loughborough University in the UK.
Why did you choose to do a PhD?
I had industry experience with internships during my bachelor’s degree (Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam and PFW Aroma Chemicals) and decided that I wanted more independent research possibilities and therefore became interested in a future in academia.
During my Masters project, I worked for a PhD student in the CDT and this was my first experience with research in academia. I decided to go forwards and apply for a PhD.
Why did you decide to apply to a doctoral training centre (CDT)?
I decided to apply for the doctoral training centre as the program gave the opportunity for additional training in the regenerative medicine field before starting your own PhD project.
As my background was very chemistry and engineering focussed it gave me the knowledge and skills of cell culture and different research field in this specific area of research.
What do you think made your application stand out?
I think I stood out because of my social personality. This was a specific criteria in the application. They wanted people who are social and therefore work well in discussing research to different communities both inside and outside of academia.
What advice do you have for people applying for a PhD?
Find a PhD topic which is interesting to you and will give you the ability to grow your knowledge and skills in the lab. Being enthusiastic about your PhD research project will help you a lot in getting through the PhD.
“To be honest, I don’t really look ahead when it comes to my career choices. I always believed that if you choose what you like at that moment, things will work out. Go with the flow!”
Life as a PhD Student
How was your PhD experience?
I really enjoyed my PhD life. As I was part of a doctoral training centre we had a lot of team building. This helped with building a network of friends in academia, which are a very important support when my PhD was more stressful.
What were the highlights of your PhD?
The highlight for me was the time I spend abroad at the University of Delaware. This visiting scholarship of 4 months was not part of the PhD program. I approached my supervisor with a research project with the idea of going abroad to the specific lab at the University of Delaware and organised the stay from there myself. It was good to work in a different lab for a while to gain a different perspective to my project.
What do you wish you’d known when you started your PhD?
A PhD is very time consuming, you will have times you work in evening and weekends. Especially, when your PhD thesis deadline is nearing. Luckily, I really liked my PhD project and this enthusiasm helped me when I worked those late hours.
Was the PhD stressful? If so how did you handle the stress?
At times it can be very stressful. However, having the support of friends in academia helped a lot to handle the stress. It is sometimes difficult for people outside of academia to understand the stresses we deal with when conducting a PhD. It is therefore very important to have close friends within the academic community who understand your struggles.
Normally, we would go out to the pub nearby for a pint of Guinness, lots of chats, pub quizzes or a card game of exploding kittens in the beer garden when it was good weather.
What was your experience as an international student in the UK?
The universities in the UK are very international, which makes it easy to make friends with other international students. I always felt welcomed in the UK, the locals are so friendly.
I did have to get used to the ‘how are you?’ question all the time without having to answer completely honestly. The same question in the Netherlands would lead to a substantially longer chat. While in the UK it’s more rhetorical or a way of greeting. As you can imagine, my responses resulted in some awkward and funny moments.
Do you have any advice or tips you’d like to share with current PhD students?
I would advise you to:
- If you know you want to continue in academia start applying for small grants and join competitions. This will greatly help your further career.
- Build your skills. Your PhD is not only there for the research, but also to build your knowledge and technical skillset. Most universities offer career development courses you can follow. They do not have to be research specific, for example, I have done a course in Mandarin during my PhD studies.
- Use your initiative! Do you have an interesting research idea or a lab in the world you would like to get experience from or collaborate with? Approach your supervisor and see the possibilities there are.
- Maintain a good work/life balance. Do not let you PhD research take over your life. Plan time away from your research and outings to wind down. For example, I had board game days and peak district hikes planned in the weekends.
What were some of the key skills you learned during your PhD?
You learn a lot of skills, such as: analysis and problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, project management, time-management, working under-pressure, comprehend new material quickly, self-sufficiency, knowledge translation and networking skills.
PhD Completion and Beyond
What have you been up to since finishing your PhD? Do you have a career path in mind?
I am currently nearing my third year as a Postdoc at MERLN institute. I have always enjoyed teaching and therefore I am currently getting my teaching qualifications to be able to lecture at universities in the Netherlands. My ideal position at the moment would be a teaching/research position in academia. However, I am exploring the opportunities possible in an industry setting as well.
How was the transition from being a PhD student to your current role?
I decided to take some time after handing in my PhD thesis. I needed this time to wind down before I started applying for new roles.
A postdoc position is very different with many more responsibilities on top of normal research. These include: PhD student support, grant writing, and teaching (depending on which country/university you will have teaching responsibilities during your PhD as well).
In hindsight would you choose to do a PhD again?
I would definitely choose to do a PhD again. Although, it can be very tough it’s an amazing experience and makes me who I am today.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about Floor’s PhD journey. You can reach Floor via LinkedIn and ResearchGate. Has reading this inspired you to do a PhD? Or given a useful piece of advice you can implement? Let us know! It’s always lovely to hear how these stories help people.
If you’d like to share your own journey with us all please do get in touch. I want to make these as diverse as possible. As always you can subscribe to get alerted to new weekly content:
