Marloes became acquainted with Nijmegen during the
HAN education in Biology and Medical Laboratory Research, also known as the HLO. "After completing this education, I studied medical biology for a while at
Radboud University. However, I soon found out that I was more of a person that's working in the lab than somebody who's writing about projects behind a desk. At the same time, I did get a great opportunity here: while I was still studying at the RU, I was hired by
QM Diagnostics, a company involved in veterinary diagnostics. QM expanded quickly and after some time they settled on Novio Tech Campus. I joined them there and built up a strong network in a short period of time."
Cross-curricular network
The way of working together on campus and personal contact appealed to Marloes directly. "During QM's move to the campus, I was on a temporary leave. When I returned, we were in a new lab in a new environment, so a lot had to be arranged. I was able to walk straight into the offices of
Kadans, the campus organisation or other companies and arrange things on the spot. That's how I got to know a lot of people, from all sorts of backgrounds. People with comparable professional backgrounds, but also people who are working on something completely different. This brings joy to your work, often makes it easier and it has helped me in my further career."
Job texts
Some time later, when Marloes was looking for another job, she was actively helped by this network. "It was soon known on campus that I was available for a new challenge. I was regularly texted about vacancies from companies on campus, employees from various companies advised me and kept me informed. For a while, I also worked for a company outside the campus. There I discovered that my working environment has a big impact on the execution of my daily activities. I didn't have to think long when I heard that
TropIQ Health Sciences, based at Novio Tech Campus, was looking for someone with my profile. We knew each other from the time I worked for QM, so this collaboration was quickly established."
From lab to foodtruck
Marloes has been working as an Assistant Scientist at TropIQ Health Sciences for more than six months now. "And I'm enjoying that very much. At TropIQ perform research on tropical infectious diseases, such as malaria, TBC and dengue. With my background in immunology and my ambition to give social meaning to my work, I'm perfectly at home here. Because of COVID-19, some things run slightly differently than expected, but the work continues for us, at least in the lab. You can see that people then come up with creative solutions to, with the necessary measures, still maintain contact with colleagues and others on campus. That's what makes this place unique to me." While smiling: "So if it's up to me, they'll keep spotting me here while working in the lab or picking up a sandwich from the foodtruck."
