Hall of Fame: Advice from Dr. Rutger van den Noort

• Rutger is the marketing director for FrieslandCampina Africa, the largest dairy cooperative of the world.
• He graduated with a PhD from the Delft University of Technology. Prior to this he finished a Bsc and Msc at Groningen university

What PhD degree did you undertake and why?

I wrote my thesis about how to innovate the development aid sector. I am interested in cross disciplinary lessons and I thought it was interesting to look at a very soft industry with a fairly hard lens. That is why I came up with the idea to research the poverty problem using a technological cyclic framework. More can be read here.

How did you decide to pursue the degree part-time, and prepare for this endeavour?

To be honest, I hated the University environment when I was doing my graduation. I did not like the “hospital-like” setting and I thought it was not right to do your PhD without having work experience. So I decided to started working while writing my PhD. It took me 6 years instead of the typical 4 years full time.

THE EXPERIENCE

What were the most challenging parts of the part-time PhD?

The most challenging time was when we had kids. My first one was born in my 4th year of PhD (2009) and that clearly destroyed my limited amount of sleeping time. Then in my last year, our second son was born putting more pressure on the schedule. Also, somewhere after a few years from the start, I had difficulties to make progress and I almost quit 3 times or so. But I kept going!

What were the most rewarding aspects?

I was almost gonna write “finishing it”, but thinking more about it, I believe that my scientific findings are more rewarding. Also, the university started a commercial institute based on my finding, which was very cool!

Your most memorable moment?

Of course: the ceremony, where my whole family was present. My brother and brother in law were supporting me!

What skills has it helped you develop?

Determination for sure. Also to look at outliers in a dataset. Typically the outliers are most important and the most important lesson was: “let the data speak”. So don’t do research with a predefined answer in mind, but really understand what is going on. Somehow I believe that I developed stubbornness, which might not always be a great skill, but it certainly helps to be a freethinker in some environments or business settings.

How has the degree helped you professionally?

Not that much to be honest I think. Of course it shows that you have great analytical skills, but I never got a job because of it. I don’t boast about it too much either, but I show it where needed such as on my business card. In the Netherlands they don’t like people who show off, internationally the title of PhD is well recognized and they threat you differently.

LESSONS LEARNED

What are the biggest myths about doing a PhD part-time?

I think most people are afraid of starting, because they are not the greatest master students. That is a myth. Everyone can do a PhD, as long as you have the motivation to do it. You learn a lot about yourself and it’s a great achievement.

What would be your top advice for a new part-time PhD student?

Find the right supervisor, which is someone you respect and someone who understand how you need to be supervised. My supervisor was very tough, but I needed that. He has also a business background, understood my problems and he was very supportive!

Originally published at www.parttimephd.com on June 30, 2018.