Why did you choose a scientific career?
After I graduated, starting a PhD was not my immediate ambition. I liked doing research but I was not aware of the fact that doing a PhD is the best way to become a researcher. I had a temporarily job at Unilever Research in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands. While working there, Prof. Hans van Trijp was developing three interesting PhD-proposals. I applied and got one of them; consequently I started my PhD in 1999 at Wageningen University.

Did you always know that you wanted to be a scientist or did you become a scientist ‘by accident'?
I don't think people become a scientist by accident. It is hard work and you need to be really dedicated to your work. It is nice that as a scientist you have the opportunity to do in-depth research on one topic. This is what I like most and I think this is the reason why I am now working at Wageningen University carrying out scientific research.

What factors stimulated your career (colleagues, mentor, own motivation, family)?
My husband is very important in stimulating my career. The role of my supervisor was also of crucial importance for my motivation, especially during the first years of my PhD. Another thing that is very stimulating is to publish. The first years as a PhD-student it is hard to know whether your research is interesting or not for other people. After publishing my first paper, I received emails from all over the world from people with comments and questions, that made me aware of potential readers of my papers, and that is really exciting!

How did you obtain your current job position (factors that have been a barrier/stimulated your scientific career)?
I was still working on my PhD thesis when I started my current post-doc position. It was not always easy to combine the finalization of my PhD with this new and interesting work in SAFE FOODS, but I am happy to say that I successfully defended my thesis last January 6.

What ambitions do you have regarding your career?
My major goal is to continue carrying out interesting research. Another important ambition is that I would like to work with other talented researchers, that is what I enjoy most!

Have you ever had the feeling that you had to choose between personal life and work?
It is very important to find a balance between personal life and work. I have a daughter of almost five years old. In the Netherlands it is common for many women to reduce the number of working hours substantially when they have young children. There are a lot of complaints about the poor child-care facilities; this is a problem indeed. However, it is also a cultural problem. In the Netherlands, many people believe that a good mother is a ‘stay-at-least-half-of-the-working-week-at-home mother’. But I don’t think it is wise to work part-time or less than four days a week if you want to pursue a scientific career. It is much better to share the tasks of taking care of the children and the household equally with your partner. The great majority of women in the Netherlands is not very keen on making a career. I think this is one of the reasons why there are not many female professors at Dutch universities. But times are changing and I think things will improve. In my opinion, it is important to have a higher percentage of female professors in order to provide female role models for young female scientists.

When it comes to balancing personal life with work, my husband and I found it no problem to work a lot of hours, as long as we can be flexible. The advantage of working at a university is the flexible arrangements. I have an 80% position, but generally work five days a week. But two times a week I go home around three o’clock to pick up my daughter from school, and sometimes I go home to have lunch with her. Working at home is another possibility, which I sometimes do. And because of my daughter, I rarely extend my trips abroad with a day of sight seeing. Anyway, my work is never really finished; it is (almost) always on my mind.

Do you have any specific advice to other women that pursue a scientific career?
Go for it!

Do you have any suggestions or comments?
No