Training
Wageningen Graduate Schools have set up a postdoc training and coaching programme focusing on strengthening skills and competences that are important for a future senior scientist position. Only a minority of the postdocs will succeed in obtaining a university tenured staff position at Wageningen University. The number of positions available in a certain research field and the quality of the candidates in that field determine if one will be successful. Therefore, personal development programmes also prepare for a future career outside the university.
The training and coaching programme for postdocs consists of a starting module (self-awareness) and other modules. The academic modules focus on obtaining personal fellowships within the European Research Council (ERC) or the Innovation Research Incentives Scheme (Veni-Vidi-Vici) which was jointly set up in 2000 by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and the universities, and which aims at promoting innovation in academic research. The other modules preparing for a future career outside the university, vary from general skills courses to improve specific competences to entrepreneurship.