“After I graduated from Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, I wanted to start my own company. But someone who knew about my affinity with IT and education sent me a job opening at SURF. Now I work as a Project Manager in the Innovation Core Team. I really enjoy the complexity and diversity in my work.”

Common denominator

“Right now I’m working on two projects. One is about using persistent identifiers (PIDs) for research information, and the other focuses on our internal innovation processes and the forms of collaboration that can facilitate them. SURF is a cooperative, which means that we have a lot of different partners to take into consideration: secondary schools, higher education, university medical centres and research institutions. And all of those segments have their own interests, of course. I think it’s interesting to look for the common denominators between all those different members. And I enjoy emphasising the things that tie us together.”

Horizontal organisation

“At SURF, we’re always open to new initiatives. That means you can always take on tasks that don’t fall within your job description. The organisation is also growing, and that brings change: improving processes, developing new services... I love that kind of dynamic. Sometimes it’s difficult to decide which role to take on when we sit down with our member institutions. Because SURF has three different roles: we’re a cooperative, a service provider, and an innovator. The organisation is taking steps as we speak to clarify the distribution of roles. Fortunately, we’re a horizontal, non-hierarchical organisation with short lines of communication. It’s easy to get in contact with your colleagues here.” 

Open and proactive work culture

“The innovation teams have an open work culture. We like to look for opportunities and possibilities. We’re approachable for our members, but we don’t hesitate to proactively contact them either. I recently went to visit Fontys to exchange ideas and experiences around artificial intelligence. It was interesting to hear which technologies they’re working on at the moment.” 

Space and freedom

“Change is a big part of SURF, and not just from the perspective of innovation. We’re in constant dialogue with our members about the changes that are needed today, tomorrow, and the future. That’s a bit ironic, because I don’t plan out my own future, and I like to take life day-by-day. But I do strive to keep developing. So I recently started work on ‘futuring’, to be better able to monitor trends and adapt to them. We work on visions of the future that help us develop a long-term vision of certain technologies for education and research. It’s great that I get the space and freedom to develop my skills and talents in that area.”