The Huygens ING offers students the opportunity to follow a work placement in one of its ongoing research projects. Interns generally perform auxiliary tasks for projects in the field of text editions and source publications (transcribing, collating, archive and literature research). They participate in all the activities of the cluster and the theme group to which the research project belongs, such as cluster and theme consultations, as well as in general institute activities such as the monthly working lunch, symposia, courses etc.
‘Here again as well?’ Experiences of an intern at Huygens ING (Annemarie Melisse)
“If I can do something with correspondence, that will suit me fine’, I wrote I wrote in a first message to my future work placement supervisor. This was – apparently – an attitude that they know how to accommodate at the Huygens ING: eventually I was responsible for the entire written correspondence of the natural scientist and biologist Jan Swammerdam (1637-1680), with an inventory, being collected into a single document. The letters are a component of a larger project in which all kinds of scholarly letters from the seventeenth century will be placed online. I received excellent support within the assignment, of course. In fact, I was even somewhat pampered. I was allocated my own workstation, an enthusiastic supervisor who took me everywhere (professional colleagues greet me nowadays during a oration with: ‘Hey, hello, here again as well?’), perpetually helpful colleagues (‘Could I possibly borrow your digital camera today?’), and, on top of all that, plenty of useful experience for later. By being there for a few months, I could obtain a good picture of what ‘science’ actually means. A work placement is simply more educational than following academic subjects, and is therefore a sensible choice, certainly toward the conclusion of the study programme when the ‘black hole’ of life after uni begins to gape. The HI has convinced me that I really enjoy performing research. Pity that it has already come to an end …”
Work placements are open to students who are interested in scientific research. Usually such work placements entail three months of fulltime work; with part-time engagement, the placement is correspondingly longer. The remuneration for a work placement is 200 euros (gross) per month (fulltime); for three months’ full time endeavour, students also receive 17 ECTS. Interns who do not have a free public transport pass (as part of their student grant) are given travelling expenses according to the KNAW norms. The normal duration of the work placement may be altered in mutual consultation. In that case, the remuneration and study credits are adjusted.
Students interested in a work placement at the Huygens Institute should contact the project manager in question (in a letter providing information on their motivation as well as a CV) or get in touch with Annemarie Kets.