When Max van Mulken (on the right in the photo) started his PhD program in Computer Science, he lacked the feeling of being part of a large and intricate social network. This sense of community was something he did strongly feel as a student at TU/e. He started looking for ways to connect PhD candidates. “PhD candidates are the largest group of employees: TU/e has two thousand of them.”

This search brought Van Mulken into contact with Yorick Spenrath (on the left), PhD candidate at Data Science. Spenrath used to be an active member of the General PhD-EngD Council, which represents TU/e’s PhD candidates within the Graduate School. “The Council is also a body dedicated to all PhD candidates, but because of all its duties and responsibilities, there is no room left to organize regular activities or actively build a community, for example.”

With the encouragement of Paul Koenraad, Dean of the Graduate School, the two PhD candidates formed an association to take up this role: E.P.A. Nexus. The abbreviation stands for “Eindhoven PhD Association”, but what about the name? Spenrath: “Nexus means connection point, the place where everything comes together. In this case: where all the Eindhoven PhD candidates come together.” Van Mulken is thrilled that the launch of Nexus is almost upon us now. “Many of the other universities already have such an association. I was actually surprised that this was not yet the case in Eindhoven, which is known for its many associations. As a matter of fact, the Eindhoven EngDs do have their own foundation that organizes activities: ATMOS.

Stack of boxes

In the run-up to the launch in February, a lot of things are happening behind the scenes. Van Mulken points to a stack of boxes barricading his desk: “Those are pens, mugs and hoodies with our logo. During the WinTU/er Village, we handed out glühwein to raise awareness. It was a great success: the number of subscriptions to our mailing list doubled.”

Read on below the photo.

But the preparations began as early as March. Spenrath (who will be Nexus’ chairman) and Van Mulken (the soon-to-be secretary) used ads and brainstorming sessions to gather a group of enthusiastic fellow PhD candidates. Since September, seventeen PhD candidates in various committees have been working on the articles of association, a logo and a website. The Graduate School provides funding for the new association so that PhD candidates can become members free of charge.

They are also looking for a location to house their own association - “with storage facilities for all those cardboard boxes”. Van Mulken even cautiously dreams of having their own café for all TU/e employees. “Staff association Colleagues United was also excited about the idea, so who knows...”

Link

Spenrath looks forward to using the input from the PhD community. “One person came up with the idea for a hackathon, and someone else had an interesting topic for a PROOF skills training.” He also expects Nexus to be a useful link in the communication between TU/e and the PhD community.

“For example, many PhD candidates are unaware that TU/e has its own PhD counselor whom you can turn to for advice. We can spread such information via Nexus. This works both ways: Nexus can also identify which issues are on the minds of PhD candidates and raise awareness of these issues within TU/e.”

What kind of issues is he referring to? “Think of workload and the skyrocketing energy costs, for example. Also, in anticipation of the upscaling plans, there are discussions within the departments about shared workspaces, which causes concern: will I still have my own desk?” 

Kick-off

Nexus will kick off on Friday, February 3, with a kick-off event in the hall of the Atlas building (4:30 - 7 p.m.) PhD candidates can sign up on the website. Admission is free and early birds can get their first drink on the house. The program includes a fun activity to get to know other PhD candidates.

Dean of the Graduate School Paul Koenraad has said he is “very content” with the new PhD association. Behind the scenes, he helped Spenrath and Van Mulken work out their ideas and “strongly encouraged” them to see the plan through. “This was partially due to signals from within the PhD community that such an association was sorely lacking. An association increases the visibility of the PhD community towards the board and acts as a social safety net.”

E.P.A. Nexus will be in addition to the PhD Councils. The university has departmental PhD Councils, each of which has a representative on the General PhD Council, whom Koenraad consults with on a regular basis. “I want the PhD candidates to participate in many areas - think, for example, of training program PROOF, tracking system Hora Finita and the competency profile. This sometimes demands a lot from the members of the General Council. It will be nice to be able to ask Nexus representatives to sit on committees on such topics as well.”