In this post, Rebecca Bundschuh, who is soon to finish her PhD in Landau, is talking about her new job at SETAC.
“To quickly introduce myself – after my diploma in Environmental Sciences (focus on Ecotoxicology) at the University Koblenz-Landau I continued with a PhD there. So you see, even if I went abroad several times I stuck with the Institute of Environmental Sciences quite a while.
But well sometimes it is time to do something completely different. Thus, I decided to apply for a job offer by SETAC Europe. Lucky me, I got the job! So I moved to Brussels and am now working at the SETAC Europe office since the beginning of 2016.
But what is SETAC? The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry is a not-for-profit, global professional organization comprised of some 6,000 individual members and institutions dedicated to the study, analysis and solution of environmental problems, the management and regulation of natural resources, research and development, and environmental education. SETAC provides a forum where scientists, managers and other professionals exchange information and ideas. It aims to achieve this by offering international workshops, scientific conferences, and lifelong, high-level education and training.
My time in Landau prepared me well for my new job as I had the opportunity to get involved in the organisation of several conferences, workshops and summer academies and I even got the lead for the latter. By doing so I discovered that I enjoy organising conferences, love to get in touch with people all over the world and still want to stay in contact with science and the scientific community. So exactly what SETAC is offering me on my new job, which includes organising workshops in collaboration with universities and other course organisers in Europe, assist young scientists to increase their professional profile and managing of the newly developed Certification of Environmental Risk Assessors programme (more about this in my next post).
Of course, the additional work during my time in Landau consumed quite some time but it also gave me the opportunity to enhance my strengths and to identify my way. And without I could never do the job at SETAC. So I can warmly recommend to all of you: stay active and think outside the box. You never know where it will take you.
Cheers,
Rebecca”