PON, the Nijmegen PhD network, had a stroke of luck. The international office wanted to support their buddy system financially, but the system turned out to work perfectly without extra money. The board now plans to use the money for special 'buddy nights', one of which will be accompanied by a gala event.

Last year, the PON board submitted a plan for a PhD buddy system to the annual Internationalisation Award. The plan was to match new PhD students with those who have been around for a while. This way, everyone who applies gets a buddy for three months, to help them get to know the city and the university and help out with practical questions. Four times a year, PON organises a buddy event, but it is up to the PhD student and the buddy what they do together.

Since the system was not running yet, it did not win, because the award is for projects that are already in operation. However, the International Office did decide to support the buddy plan with a sum of 2500 euro. “The money was allocated to us last year as support, the international office liked the look of it. But the system costs no money,” says Isabel Kimmelfield, chair of PON. “There was no budget in our proposal, since we connect new PhD students to volunteering buddies.” PON will now be using the money to organise ‘buddy events’ during the year. They throw a big gala along with one of them, in October.

The buddies focus on the PhD’s social life, rather than their professional life. “We tried to keep it simple and sustainable,” says Isabel. “Rens Jongerius from the UMC international office developed a pilot buddy program in 2014, that we used as an inspiration. He is now pushing forward for a university-wide system, together with some others at the office.”

This week, the plans for a big gala in October were developed further. Isabel hopes there will be at least 150 people. The venue and actual date will be announced later.