WASS as research school strives to critically engage in scientific and societally relevant debates. Against this backdrop, we invite WASS PhD candidates to jointly organise a seminar, lecture or workshop for WASS.

WASS funds thematic activities initiated and organised by PhD candidates from different chairgroups. The funds of max. 2500 euro provided by WASS will allow teams of PhD candidates to organise a thematic activity. From these funds you might pay travel and accommodation costs of keynote speakers (senior researchers). WASS Office will further assist with advice on logistics and organisation.

The proposals should include the following sections:

1.     Names and chair groups of the team

2.     Aim and scope of the activity

3.     Background of the proposed participants/ speakers in the activity

4.     Proposed programme for the activity

5.     Detailed budget amounting up to a maximum of 2500 euro

The proposals are assessed according to the following criteria:

-       Focus on one of the four WASS themes ( 1: disparities; 2: responsible production and consumption; 3: natural resources and the environment; 4: knowledge in society)

-       Inter- or transdisciplinary content and innovative presentation

-       Prestigious or up-and-coming proposed guest speaker(s)

-       Organised by a minimum of 2 PhD candidates from different chair groups

-       Duration of activity at least a morning or afternoon, at most a full day

-       Activity with open access to all WASS fellows/ PhD candidates

-       Preferably location that can easily be reached by members of WASS (thus in Wageningen)

Proposals can be sent to wass@wur.nl. There is no deadline for application, proposed activities may be handed in throughout the year.

Examples of previous activities include:

-       “(Re-) engaging with agrarian transformation: the rural, a battle of new social hierarchies” organized by Carolina Dominguez, Lisa Bossenbroek and Xiangdam Meng

-       “Voluntary simplicity in food choices: a seminar to navigate through the theory and practice(s) of responsible food consumption” organized by Simona D’Amico, Esther Veen and Robert-Jan Geerts

-       “Interpreting the human-animal relationship. Problematizing the integration of animals in interpretive research” organized by Hanneke Nijland and Susan Boonman-Berson

International experience is considered to be a vital ingredient for a successful academic career. Junior Researcher Grants are meant for WASS PhD candidates who would like to go abroad for a short stay at another prestigious university or research institute outside the Netherlands. The stay might be in the framework of participation in an international PhD course or a visit to a research group with similar research interests. Field work or other research work which forms an integral part of the PhD project is not eligible for funding. The grant will cover expenses up to 900 € per month with a total maximum of 3500 € (including travel costs) and will be administered via the chair group of the PhD.

Conditions:

O Approved Training and Supervision Plan (TSP), an approved research project proposal and a positive Go-decision

O Substantiated and clear added value to the research project of the candidate

O Consent of the supervisor(s)

O The candidates who benefit from this programme are required to send a short evaluation report (1/2 A4) describing the concrete results after completion of the visit. 

WASS will open a call for proposals for Junior Grants every year in November.

WASS stimulates PhD candidates to take charge of their training. An important activity is the organisation of excursions to research facilities abroad. These excursions are organised by PhD candidates and/or postdocs from at least two WASS chair groups, on the basis of a theme or common interest. The grant will cover a contribution to the costs per participant of maximum €500, up to a maximum of 10 WASS PhDs or postdocs per excursion.

Conditions:

o  A motivation, well-argued additional value, a plan, and a budget

o  Subsidized PhD participants have an approved WASS Training and Supervision Plan (TSP), an approved research project proposal, and a positive Go-decision

o  The organisers send a short evaluation report (1/2 A4) to WASS