“This was a fantastic opportunity, I was able to learn so many things”

“I still recall my first attendance of a DPI review meeting. I was a little late and when I entered the room I was somewhat intimidated; it seemed as if a PhD student was being fiercely interrogated. Soon I noticed the atmosphere was quite friendly and it was all very professional. But I also realised that when I would present my own project in a couple of months, I needed to be ready.” Anton Ginzburg, currently an associate professor at KU Leuven, has fond memories of his time as a DPI PhD student over a decade ago. He says being part of the DPI community really shaped his career. “Later, I realised how lucky I am to have been a part of it. You don’t come across such communities very often. You are in touch with prominent figures, top academics and top companies, all at the same table. I was among some 80 people, PhD students, postdocs, professors and industry representatives, all experts in the field contributing with their knowledge. For me this was a fantastic opportunity, I was able to learn so many things. It triggered my interest and appetite to go an extra mile and look beyond my own project, to see things in a bigger picture.”

Training young talent

To DPI’s Executive Advisor Rein Borggreve, this is a crucial aspect of DPI: training young talent for a research position in an industrial context. In fact, he recalls, it is DPI’s ‘raison d’être’. “Some thirty years ago, it became apparent that although plastics had a major role in Dutch industry, relatively few people were trained in polymer science. Through DPI, companies and the government pooled their resources to appoint professors in relevant fields and enabled PhD research projects. This in turn produced qualified people that the industry needed.”

At the time, as a research manager at the former DSM, Borggreve gratefully took advantage of this. “We were able to hire qualified people with expertise in relevant areas such as rheology, polymer chemistry, and fluid mechanics. Through the DPI projects, you get to know the PhD students well. You see what they are capable of and whether they fit in.” Over the years, this aspect has become increasingly relevant, acknowledges Markus Gahleitner, Senior Group Expert Polyolefins at Borealis. “There was a time when industry financed PhD research in a direct one-to-one cooperation with a university. This is becoming less common because it must fit into company research projects, which usually have a shorter duration. This is what makes DPI still very, very relevant. The joint projects reduce the cost of a PhD and at the same time you are training potential future employees.” To Gahleitner, an added benefit is assessing their potential: “If you get to know bright young people during the years of their PhD you see how they are working and what makes them tick, so you can assess much better if and how they would fit in your group or your department.”