ARC CBBC Summer School

From June 13^th until June 15^th, the annual ARC CBBC summer school took place! In this three day event, the ARC CBBC PhD-candidates visited the AkzoNobel site at Sassenheim, and exchanged their expertise in several ‘PhD teaches PhD’-sessions.

Company visit at AkzoNobel

During the company visit at the AkzoNobel location in Sassenheim on the first day, the group of about forty researchers was introduced to the site of one of our industrial partners. Experts from AkzoNobel, including the very first ARC CBBC PhD-candidate Lukas Wolzak, informed them about the ins and outs of making paint. In addition, they explained their ambitions in sustainability, for example by using recycled paint. The students also enjoyed a tour around the site where they sprayed paint in virtual reality and learned all about measuring color (see picture).

Expertise exchange

The second and third day of the Summer School were held at the Kasteel Oud Poelgeest in Oegstgeest near Leiden. The second day was kicked off by lectures by Evren Ünsal from Shell and prof. Kitty Nijmeijer from the TU/e, and on the third day, prof. Monique van der Veen from the TUD and prof. Hans Kuipers from the TU/e gave lectures.

Consecutively, the PhD-candidates were matched in duo’s with similar expertise, then each PhD-duo was assigned to another duo. In this setup, one duo would teach another on their field of expertise. Next, the receiving duo would present their new knowledge to the rest in a presentation. This structure stimulated both the educational skills of the candidates, as well as their presentation skills.

Teambuilding

Apart from the educational purpose of the Summer School, there was a fine opportunity for the ARC CBBC community to get to know each other better. It was great to see how members from different universities got together during these three days, both during the educational activities as during the social activities afterwards.

We can look back on a successful 2022 edition of the Summer School, where the PhD-candidates both invested in their skills and got to know each other better. Both of these factors are important within the ARC CBBC, as both excellent science and collaboration between different parties are considered as central themes within the consortium.