Thoughts to take home

Our visit to Heidelberg has definitely sharpened our minds. What we have learned, and how the experience differed from our expectations, we will outline below.

First and foremost, it was very exciting to see how often interdisciplinary research is taking place in science. Especially DKFZ hosts researchers from many different backgrounds. We did not really expect this from a mostly medical institute. As we have learned from the pharmacy museum, interdisciplinary contact is indispensable for a progression of medicine. Also, we were positively surprised by the existence of something like the IWR. As this institute is not bound to a specific department or faculty, the people do not have to worry about what organization they belong to. This in turn stimulates working together with people who think differently about the approach to solve scientific problems.

Also, it seems that (fundamental) research is greatly valued in Heidelberg. We have seen at EMBL that it is possible to create a research environment where the researchers only have to worry about their research. This stimulates scientific progress. At the physics faculty too, it was clear that understanding Nature is at the heart of what they are doing. Although we do not know yet what wonderful things will eventually come out of it, finding new knowledge at the very edge of human understanding will surely guide mankind to and in the future.

While the trip to Heidelberg was of course very enlightening for the individual students, Utrecht University as a whole will also benefit from it. Obviously, some of us will continue our careers in Utrecht. By visiting other universities, Utrecht’s future staff members get a glimpse as to how other universities are set up to deal with the challenging job of providing a suitable place to study for both students and researchers alike. Visiting research centers other than universities can also have a refreshing effect – sometimes it is hard to imagine working in any other way, when you have done so for a long time. For instance, we think an institute like the IWR could be a great supplement to our faculty. Aside of this, new connections are made which could allow for fruitful co-operations between Utrecht and other excellent universities from abroad, like Heidelberg. An endeavour like this could also draw more interest towards Utrecht University, because a university that supports its students to such an extent is a very nice place to study and work.

All in all, we have seen that working together with different disciplines is a great way to investigate new science. In Heidelberg, they have just the right tools for this. As research is very important in the picturesque town, some of us actually consider continuing our research career in Germany. This indicates that our trip was a great success. We would like to thank everybody who was involved in the organization of this fantastic excursion and we are looking forward to seeing how the fruits will be reaped of our Interdisciplinary Honours Programme!

Stijn Hinterding, Istvan Kleijn and Cedric Lau