It has been a while since I wrote my last post and much has happened in the meantime. As I explained in an earlier post, I’m a master’s student and within the master’s program for Physics & Astronomy there are seven tracks. I am in the Gravitation, Astro- and Particle Physics (GRAPPA) track which focuses on the intersection of theoretical physics, experimental (astro)particle physics and astrophysics. Now, the cool thing is that one MSc student from the GRAPPA track is awarded a grant to enhance their master’s thesis each year. This grant is called the Volkert van der Willigen grant after its initiator and it is meant to support young…

As discussed in Part I, I think it’s very important to teach children about science and what it’s like to be a scientist. It’s more important that we teach children invaluable skills such as being curious, critical thinking and creativity than that they secure high grades in school. In an ideal world, every child is introduced to science and is allowed to discover whether they like to do science. Unfortunately, the Dutch school system has some issues regarding this and there is still the need for initiatives like the Altair project. Let us take a look at the Dutch school system and what can be done. Before delving into this,…

Hello, my name is Scott, and I’m a master’s student working on modelling the emission of relativistic outflows of matter around supermassive black holes in the centre of galaxies. In this final year of my master’s, I’m working on research full-time and it has been an interesting and challenging time so far. Obviously, I’ve been busy with scientific work, but this also led me to think about the position of science in society and the role that scientists play in educating people. Scientists are concerned with developing knowledge and making this accessible to everyone such that we can help humanity in different fields. Personally, I’m convinced that educating people is…