Dear fellow PhD students,

Gopher is looking for a new member to join its board for the 2016-2017 period. This is a call for applications.

About Gopher:

GOPHER is the PhD organization of the University of Groningen, providing a platform for PhD students to develop themselves, to network and to get to know fellow PhD students through educational and recreational events. Every PhD student is welcome to participate in GOPHER’s events and to suggest and organize new events. The board consists out of 5 to 7 volunteering PhD students. The board members change every year.

We have established a team consisting out of our Chairwoman (Désirée), Treasurer (Kiran), PR manager (Xu), Head of Educational events (Diana), Head of social events (Ahmad) and E xecutive advisor (Steven).

Being Part of The Board:

The Gopher board members divide the tasks of running the organisation equally between them. These include: organizing events, attending board meetings and documenting them, answering student emails and social media messages, promoting Gopher, establishing connections with other organisations, and others. As a Gopher member, you will dedicate part of your time for Gopher activities. This of course does not interfere with your main PhD activities. All our meeting and events are held outside working hours and we allow a lot of flexibility. 

Some task-specific roles are assigned to certain members. We have a vacancy for the role of Board secretary, who will be responsible for organisational and documentation tasks. This role can be occupied by the new member if he or she fits the role.

Benefits:

Being a board member of Gopher has many benefits. Besides the advantage of being involved in Gopher’s fun and educational activities, a Gopher member gets a lot more out of the experience. Networking possibilities are one of these benefits; through contact with Gopher’s partners (e.g. companies and workshop speakers), university personnel, and other PhD students. Also, when you work with Gopher, you will improve certain soft skills that may be absent from your daily PhD activities. Every member will be awarded 6 ECT's  for a full board year. Lastly, volunteering in an active student organization like this one is a desirable extra-curricular experience for your C.V. .

Apply now and become part of our Gopher family!


Regards,
The Gopher board