My path began with a fascination for the (pathological) mind, leading me to enrol in the Psychology Bachelor’s programme at the University of Amsterdam. I soon realised it’s the neurobiological aspect in particular that interests me, so I started to focus on the brain. I wanted to see as much of it as possible, while it was alive, which inevitably brought me to magnetic resonance imaging. The Brain and Cognitive Sciences programme, specifically the Cognitive Neuroscience domain, made the most sense: a strong emphasis on in vivo neuroimaging, two research internships and a lot of room for track personalisation. And what a great decision that was. With excellent organisation and support from the team behind the programme, amazing (and diverse!) fellow students and two years of being able to stuff my brain full of relevant knowledge and experience, the Master’s prepared me in the best way it could have for the next steps in my career.

My second research internship, at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, gave me the opportunity to gain experience as an MRI operator at the Spinoza Center for Neuroimaging for one and a half years. This in turn lead to a PhD position on a longitudinal brain imaging study in offspring of patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, to investigate the neurodevelopmental trajectories related to familial risk of severe mental illness. So far I have been loving every day of it, and so if there’s any advice I would give, albeit cliché, it’s to make sure you enjoy on a daily basis whatever it is you decide to make your career path. It’s vital for its longevity.