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Within the IoP
- Your supervisor
Your supervisor is also there to help you. They have once been a PhD candidate or postdoc themselves and they have experience with supervising and mentoring PhD candidates and postdocs. - Your colleagues
Just having a coffee and a chat can help a million! We encourage people to talk with colleagues, and, similarly, to be open to supporting your colleagues. - Independent supervisor/mentor
Every PhD candidate has an independent supervisor, don’t hesitate to contact this person. It is good practice to periodically talk to your independent supervisor without your main supervisor(s) present. They can act as a mentor for a wide range of topics. - Institute manager
You should feel free IoP’s institute manager Joost van Mameren about any challenges or problems you might face, also confidentially. He is keen on trying to help you solve them, either directly or by providing useful pointers. - Secretariat
The secretariat is always there to help you, whether by solving your problems directly or by connecting you to the right people. Of course, you can also just come in for a quick friendly chat, or for getting some well-earned coffee, tea, or snacks! - Human resources
While not strictly part of IoP, the HR team is oftentimes one of the first UvA contact points a new employee has. Besides advice on all general HR-related matters, you can also contact them confidentially about challenges or problems you encounter, providing help by suggesting what you can do. The (strategic) HR advisor for IoP is Peter Scholts; our HR assistant is Jan de Vries. Both are highly approachable. - IoP Diversity & Inclusion Council
The Diversity & Inclusion Council of the institute consists of a broad representation of IoP members with affinity and commitment to matters related to equity, diversity and inclusion. You can reach out to the Council as a whole, or approach individual members. - IoP PhD/PD Council
The PhD/PD Council aims to serve as an approachable group of people with whom you can discuss anything, also confidentially. - Dutch class
The IoP organizes inhouse Dutch language class at multiple skill levels. These are not only useful to learn Dutch but can also be a good social activity. Contact the secretariat for more information.
- Your supervisor
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Within the UvA
- Human resources
See above under 'Within the IoP'. - Student psychologists
PhD students can have a chat with the student psychologists, free of charge! They also offer group sessions and multiple workshops, including a stress reducing workshop and a mindfulness workshop. - Company doctor and corporate social work (ARBO)
ARBO is the Occupational Health and Safety Service. Their services include a company doctor, but they are also available for any other health issues, including work conditions (they for example offer a work place check to fix your desk and chair for a better posture!), and mental health issues that affect your work. They also offer different workshops, for example about work pressure. These are also the people that can help you reduce your workload after incidents or when dealing with (severe) issues. - ProActief UvA
ProActief offers individual guidance, workshops, training courses and made-to-measure solutions regarding all aspects of career guiding inside and outside the academic world. - Faculty of Science Career service
For any questions and help regarding your further career, you can contact the Faculty of Science career service. They also periodically organize the IoP career activities. - Support for work pressure relief
You can find information about (reducing) work pressure on this website, including tips for helping yourself, and trainings and workshops that are offered. - UvA website for Social Safety
On this page you can find an overview of the different individuals and institutions you can turn to if you experience an unsafe situation or undesirable behavior. - Confidential Advisors
The UvA has several confidential advisors, with whom you can talk about problems related to undesirable behavior. - Ombudsperson
For all problems and complaints related to diversity and/or inclusion, you can contact the ombudsperson. For more information regarding social safety in general, see the above website.
- Human resources
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Outside UvA
There are several channels for help that can be found outside UvA as well.
- In order to improve personal safety and security, the UvA has a lasting collaboration with Our Bodies Our Voice, a non-profit foundation that aims to prevent sexual violence and establish consent culture at universities through workshops and trainings. You can contact them directly when affiliated to UvA.
- For victims of sexual assault, the Sexual Assault Center ('Centrum Seksueel Geweld' or CSG) can be contacted by phone at 0800-0188, or through an anonymous chat on their website.
- A dedicated phone hotline is available for Suicide Prevention: 0800-0113.
- Contacting the police and other emergency support can be done through phone number 112. For non-emergency police support, you can call 0900-8844.