Testimonial Robbin Kramer

During the last four months of this academic year, I have been working on my BSc thesis at the Laboratory of Nematology. Before I started, I was quite excited to finally get into the lab again after COVID, but I was also a bit hesitant about whether I would enjoy the atmosphere at a chair group. I had heard a lot of stories about the competitive nature of research. Luckily, this prejudice was quickly wiped away when I started at Nematology. The support I received from my supervisors Marijke van Wijk and Mark Sterken was great, and I really felt like they wanted me to succeed. Apart from them, there were many more people at the chair group that offered their advice and help.

I also enjoyed how structured my thesis time was. Most of the time I knew exactly what was expected of me and what the guidelines where for what I was doing. Even when I didn’t know exactly, that was always quickly resolved. An example of this would be the thesis rings. By reviewing and discussing other people’s work, I believe my own writing became a lot better.

I also enjoyed the social ambience at Nematology. I study Molecular Life Sciences, which is not a typical BSc programme for Nematology. Because of this, I was a bit scared that I would not connect with anyone and that my thesis time would be quite lonely. Luckily for me, the people at Nematology are some of the most welcoming and social people I’ve met in Wageningen. It didn’t take me very long before I felt completely at ease during coffee breaks or during lunch time.

Overall, I probably couldn’t have asked for a better BSc thesis; I learned a whole lot; felt supported the whole way through; and met many great people along the way!