Social Connections : WIAS Chair Group's Socializing and Team-Building Initiatives

Within WIAS we all collaborate to advance animal research and education. Despite our diverse expertise all the WIAS chair groups share a common passion for animal welfare and teamwork. To sustain this passion, we occasionally need to set aside our work and come together to relax and bond with one another. We were curious to know what the WIAS chair groups and staff do to socialise outside (or during) their daily work schedules. Thanks to your own contributions, in this article we take a closer look at how the WIAS chair groups socialise and engage in team-building activities. Please enjoy these written and photographic contributions to uncover the bonds that drive our unity and camaraderie.

All Fun Intended

At AFI we regularly have social activities, maybe it’s because AFI is a large chair group and there's always somebody in for something fun, or because everyone here is fun. There is something that connects us all, which is science and more specifically fish or some other aquatic animal. When we went to Emma’s Comedy Night the other day and became the centre of attention, we ended up being called the “Sponge Bob People.” Hurray.

We do not have a dedicated committee that organises activities, but we do have a strong core of people who like to initiate social events. For one there is the Friday night pool at Infinity every now and then. It’s fun and sometimes people from other chair groups join us as well. Last December we decorated the Christmas tree with AFI-themed handicraft which grew into a group activity during lunch breaks. We are also quite sportive and often play sports together. Squash has been a favourite, where we exhaust ourselves and then afterwards have a drink and some deep conversations at the sports bar.

Each year we participate in the Battle for WUR on WeDay. Last year we finished in seventh place on our side of the field, and this year we had similar ambitions… We started off well before the break, with a strong performance on the Strong Man Run. Then followed a nerve wrecking game of Giant Jenga where the tower simply didn’t collapse so it ended in a tie. Lastly, some football extravaganza! Bouncing around into opponents and team-mates alike was more fun than running after the ball. Fortunately, the ball rolled into their goal and gave us the win. After the break we struggled with the bouncing sausage and something that looked like a continuous track. There was a lot of jumping but not moving forward. The next game relied on hand-eye coordination, which was quite hard after the intensity of the previous game, but to be honest it was rather impossible to win anyway, I think. We did make good some of the lost points by winning the water slide game, which felt natural to us AFI people.

The next activity on our agenda is the AFI BBQ in July.

Animal Breeding and Genomics

Animal Breeding and Genomics (ABG) is a pretty big group, and although it’s lots of fun (as they say, ‘the more the merrier’, right?), it means that we need to make an effort to make sure that we stay united as a group. Consequently, we pay a lot of attention to teambuilding.

This ranges from small things, for example the daily coffee breaks (not official or compulsory, but always a nice opportunity to socialize with colleagues and enjoy home-baked treats brought to the office by a colleague), to large organized events, for example the annual staff outing known as the ‘Big Day Out’. Last year, we played games outside and visited an organic farm, which was a lot of fun, and this year we’ll get a tour of a beautiful historical garden.

We also have the PartyCom to organize additional activities, for example a quiz night, and lots of people also organize get-togethers outside of office hours; some people go running together on the weekend, others might have drinks or visit a concert.

Teambuilding is also something that is included in meetings; there’s always room on the agenda to share experiences. It’s important because it enables people to learn from each other and develop new skills, but it’s also important because we’re all human beings who need social and emotional connections.

Animal Production Systems

The Animal Production Systems group socialises in many different ways. We have a social committee, but anyone can organise an event if they have something to celebrate or want to do a group activity. So far this year we have visited a strip-cropping project behind campus and the food forest at Droevendaal farm. We have also gone out for drinks after work and watched a food system transition related movie together. A larger social event happened in November last year, when we got together for a shared meal in the city centre, after which we split into smaller groups to experience live performances of theatre, stand-up comedy, and music at different locations across Wageningen.

As for the Battle of WUR, APS joined as the Amazing Penguin Squad with our amazing t-shirts designed by our very own Anne-Jo van Riel. The team name came from winning last year’s Accie pub quiz, and we didn’t want to change a winning formula. We competed against other teams on obstacle courses, giant jenga and water slides. Unfortunately we are better at pub quizzes then the battle of the WUR, but it was a fun day!! You can find pictures of the day on the door of our PhD room (E2236).

Teambuilding at ADP

At ADP we have already for a very long time a party committee that organizes different activities throughout the year. Since Corona we saw that the group was somewhat split apart, so we decided that some regular social activities where welcome to get a bit more coherence in the group. So, since a couple of months we have once a month an “ADP coffee break” with some cake or cookies where we stimulate every one of our group to join. Besides that, this summer a BBQ is organized.

At the end of October we have our yearly “ ADP Science day”. The main aim of that day is to discuss the work of ADP, focusing on the work of the PhD candidates. During that day presentations and discussions are alternated with some social activities like a lunch, a workshop or a tour and a dinner. Last year for instance, this day was organised at Burgers Zoo and it was great fun!

During the December month, around “Sinterklaas” and Christmas also a nice activity is organized like a Christmas lunch or a “Sinterklaas” game.

The ADP party committee

Behavioural Ecology (BHE) group is a diverse international group of passionate people all studying the causes and consequences of decisions animals make.

This year we had several social activities organized by different people of our chair group. In general, we have every two weeks the BEAR (Behavioural Ecology After-Colloquia Refreshments) where we have together with our students a drink in the Spot. In addition, group members are often hanging around with each other after work or during the weekends to have a drink, play some board games or cycle together. Also, activities like visiting the tulip fields in Flevoland are set up spontaneously.

In December, we went to the Blijdorp Zoo, whom we collaborate with, in Rotterdam with the whole chair group. Everyone could bring their partner and kids. We had a stroll around in the zoo and got a guided tour behind the scenes. We also had a Meet & Greet with the employees of the Zoo which was a lot of fun.

As past years, we also joined the WeDay this year with our team ‘Survival of the fittest’. With competitive team members, we gave everything during the challenges. Although, we didn’t win any of the prizes, we are still proud of our achievements and it was an active and fun day together.

Unfortunately, we also needed to say goodbye to some employees this year. We always organized a nice BBQ or goodbye drink. With a lot of international researchers, we always get spoiled with delicious traditional food from their home country.

Department of Animal Science Staff

Our team consists of HR staff, finance and control staff, research liaison officers and other staff members who provide advice and support to all chair groups.

This year we decided to join the 'Battle of WUR' of the WE-day as team building activity, to get our team spirit going. We decided that our name should be "DA'S een verrassing" (that's a suprise), to stay in the WUR tradition of using abbreviations whenever and wherever you can (DAS = department of animal science). And our name could be applied to every situation: did we fail miserably and became last? That's a suprise! Did we blow the competition away and won? That's a suprise! We ordered shirts with our team name and were ready to start the WE-day.

With a lot of excitement we dived into games of mega-jenga, soccer dart and bubble football. Our not very succesfull attempt on the skippy ball worm led to famous quote by one of our members; "I haven't laughed this hard in weeks". If that isn't succesfull team building, I don't what is! Our hesistance to do the water obstacle course disappeared in an instance when our competitive side came to the surface. This led to some photos that should probably never be leaked outside of our team.

Unfortunately we did loose one team member during the day, on the ankle breaking dangerous inflatable obstacle course. Fortunately no ankles were broken, but they did get severly twisted. Get well soon Karin!

We concluded the day with food and drinks in the sun, and agreed that we all had a great time. On to the next edition of the WE-day!

Animals were not the only ones that were moving at EZO that day...

At the Experimental Zoology chairgroup we are always busy with how animals move and interact with their environments. We measure and quantify these interactions using the latest tracking software and modelling options.

So, we naturally study movement and analyse performance of animals, but of course, this is an essential skill to have during activities like the WeDay. By studying ourselves and our opponents carefully and quantifying the best ways to win the great number of obstacles faced during the WeDay, we always aim to get on top of our game and move the best, scientifically backed.

Next to the WeDay we meet monthly on Monday during our food-for-thought event. During this event we fuel our body with the best nutrients and have nice discussions for our mental appetite. Also, we like to go out for animal spotting trips, go for drinks at the spot, or dress up sometimes.

We do have a yearly outing we like to call the “Labuitje’’. For example, last year we went to the Kruller Muller museum, where we had several questions and activities there to let everybody’s creative side show. Next to that we have a yearly Christmas dinner where colleagues bring their families, and we enjoy a lovely dinner together to celebrate our scientific success (and the end of the year of course!).

CBI

Cell Biology and Immunology is a rather small department, however, that means bonding in some cases is easier than for big groups! In addition to our presence at the WEday, there are drinks every once in a while, either on campus, or at someone’s house. Currently a summer social, with pizza, drinks and games is in the making. From September onwards, we’ll have a dedicated social team, consisting of two PhD students, who will organize a bunch of fun events. We also hope to start up monthly drinks at people’s houses in addition to impromptu drinks in the office and our PhDs are socializing with EZO and HMI; organizing a PhD weekend and at times joining potlucks and drinks.

All in all, CBI is a tight-knit group and we’re trying our best to keep it that way!

At Host Microbe Interactomics, it’s hard to feel alone

Studying the trillions of microbes that inhabit us and other animals, it’s hard to feel alone at HMI. This year, lots of fun activities also contributed to our teambuilding! Every year a dedicated committee organizes a lab outing. In this year’s edition, we spent our morning hunting to take pictures of as much different animals and insects as we could find on campus (inspired by the Wageningen Biodiversity Challenge). In the afternoon, however, the real work started: building our own “zeepkist” and racing each other for the win!

We also try to make not-so-fun activities more fun. For example, after all working hard in our big monthly lab cleaning, we relax with a potluck lunch where everyone contributes a delicious home-prepped meal.

Feeling great being part of the ANU team

Within ANU we are battling to keep the balance between workload and work pleasure on the healthy side. One of the reasons why this is still largely successful is, because we occasionally alternate hard work with fun activities.

Bi-yearly we organize the ANU Playback Show. After a cozy BBQ, colleagues dare to step alone or with others on the stage and give a beautiful or hilarious or highly memorable performance. Everyone is doing their utmost best, as winning the prestigious ANU Trophy is at stake. Also the more timid, camera-shy colleagues play a crucial role as audience, cheering on the acts.

The other summers we enjoy completely different activities. We are having fun in the garden of Wouter&Mirian with a great BBQ and beer pond. Keywords: relax, laughs, good conversations. Besides, we like to challenge each other in farmer games; cooking; clay-, skeet-, bow & arrow shootings. Sounds scarry all these shootings but rest assured we keep it clean; we only shoot at permitted targets!

In January we traditionally hold the ANU New Year party. We bring a toast, have a laugh and play a fun game. And this is preceded by a Christmas brunch, where everyone makes (buys) a delicious dish, which brings many culinary worlds together. This ensures that each year ANU ends and starts with a great sense of togetherness.

Short moments that are also dear and giving momentum to keep up the hard work are having drinks & bites after the monthly Research ANU Meetings (RAM), or enjoying cake to celebrate joyous (or sad) events.

And then we have the WeDay. Although many of us did not take the time for the WeDay, our lab staff and PhD candidates were smart to step away from busy jobs, research, they enthusiastically participated. Most lab staff enjoyed the puzzle and orientation tour by foot. They had lots of fun exploring Wageningen and some even discovered new spots in the inner city. Afterwards they returned to cheer on the PhD’s during their thrilling Battle of WUR.

Beyond all these great activities, the main thing that holds us together as a group is the genuine interest in each other, the will to help others and, of course, the common interest in wanting to understand all facets of animal nutrition. In short, it is a fantastic group to be part of!

Thanks to everyone for your written and photographic contributions to make this article a possibility. We all look forward to more animal research, education, team-building and camaraderie in the near future and beyond!

WIAS Magazine board