Our community

The PhD council is a group of PhD candidates that act as representatives of the PhD community of the Faculty. The council discusses problems and issues that arise from PhD candidates and brings them to the attention of the Graduate School of Science and Engineering (GSSE). Besides helping to address and improve several aspects that influence the overall satisfaction of a PhD, the council collaborates with other PhD organizations such as PNN, GRIN, and Gopher, and organizes educational and social events. At our Faculty, we have at least 1200 PhD candidates. 

The Postdoc council is composed of postdoc volunteers from different research institutes of the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The mission of the FSE Postdoc council is to connect postdocs by organizing thematic events, creating networking opportunities, and sharing and highlighting relevant news and information, to make a postdoc’s life at our Faculty and beyond easier. The council acts as a reference for postdocs at FSE, with the aim of collecting information and issues that postdocs might encounter, and addressing them to policy makers.

YSEN is a network for young researchers at the tenure-track level that seeks to support, connect, and advocate for them. The YSEN network holds regular workshops and meetings, focusing on either science or professional development, with time to socialize and connect. The network is initiated by a group of young researchers at the faculty who are passionate about improving the scientific and professional environment for other young researchers at our Faculty. They have strong ties with the Young Academy of Groningen.

Green Labs UG-FSE aims to improve sustainability, the carbon impact, and energy consumption in the Faculty’s labs. The network provides hands-on advice to labs. Laboratories can be improved through audits and get accredited with either a bronze, silver, or gold certificate through the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) by University College London. Examples of what Green Labs UG-FSE has realized and is working on are: A guidebook for sustainability in laboratories, faculty-wide freezer clean-up, energy measurements of lab equipment, and the implementation of the LEAF toolkit. The network also organizes community meetings to discuss lab sustainability with other faculty staff. Green Labs is born from the Faculty’s FSE is Going Green programme in 2022.

The WISE networking group provides an informal forum for female early career researchers working in STEM on PhD, postdoc, and tenure track level. The network is meant for sharing experiences about topics of mutual interest and to discuss issues and challenges related to the career. The activities of the group, among other things, entail: discussions on managing family and children and an academic career; mentoring and coaching early career female scientists across departments; providing information on activities, funding opportunities, and initiatives; increasing recognition and suggesting leadership opportunities; and offering workshops and discussion rounds to improve and broaden scientific and soft skills.

Our faculty is home to ten study associations, covering all degree programmes. Together, they are responsible for the career orientation and social activities for the students. They often organize activities and initiatives in collaboration with the programme(s) themselves. The associations have strong ties with the Faculty and also maintain good contacts with companies and organizations in the sectors related to the degree programmes. This, for example, results in sponsorships or speakers for events, and company visits.

The Bèta Student Federation (Bètastuf) is the overarching organization for student representation at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The goal is to allow student representatives to work together and accomplish their mutual goals regarding student-related matters. Bètastuf is a well-established organization that unifies and represents the collective opinion of the STEM students of our Faculty and University. Examples of student representatives within the Faculty that receive support of Bètastuf are: study association board members, Programme Board student members, Programme Committee student members, Faculty Council student members, and Faculty Board student assessors. In addition, there are other organizations or teams who are related to or closely work together with Betastuf, for example the Beta Business Days, the FSE Radio Podcast team and the FSE Videos team.