PhD students at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) will take part in the training program organized by the Oncology Graduate School Amsterdam (OOA): a collaboration between the NKI, the Amsterdam UMC, the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The students follow the OOA training program consisting of courses, meet-the-expert sessions, and an annual retreat. The program includes in-depth courses on various topics in cancer research, as well as technical courses in English writing, biostatistics and -informatics, microscopy, and animal handling. Students with an insufficient background in cancer research can attend the Experimental Oncology course for Master students. PhD students will have the opportunity to meet experts in the field of oncology.
The annual PhD student retreat will focus entirely on the research of the PhD students themselves. First year students will present their work in the form of a poster, advanced students will give oral presentations. Importantly, students will be in charge of chairing sessions, monitoring discussions, and selecting who will win the prize for the best posters or presentations. In this way, the retreat provides not only an overview of the research in the OOA at an early stage of the student’s career, but also a training in presentation and interaction skills.
We hope to encourage translational interactions and bottom-up research, in which PhD students actively establish collaborations with other research groups, further strengthening scientific exchange between the Amsterdam oncology centers.
PhD students are free to enroll in another graduate school if this school provides a more suitable training program.