Last year I wrote about a major milestone: moving The 3D Lab to Utrecht University and stepping into my role as assistant professor in ecological scaling. Today, I’m happy to share the next chapter in that story: as of November, I am officially tenured!

Tenure is often described as “academic job security,” and for anyone still navigating the postdoc world, I can confirm that the feeling is every bit as relieving as you imagine. It feels like finally having the space to breathe. The space to build. The space to think in decades instead of seasons, the way so many of us dream to be able to do science during the postdoc years.

And when I look back on the past few years, that shift in timescale is exactly what has brought me the greatest joy.

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Building for the long term

What I’ve enjoyed most since coming to Utrecht is the ability to invest in long-term work. After years of living from grant to grant, I can finally dare to trust the foundations I was building for research that will grow, evolve, and mature far beyond the typical academic time horizon. I was doing that before, but always with the gnawing feeling that things might end prematurely.

Now also, many of the ideas that once existed only as half-finished notes in my drawer – ideas that were too slow to fit within a postdoc cycle – are finally taking shape. And more importantly: they’re taking shape with a team.

The 3D Lab is growing into a vibrant, cohesive group of people who support each other, learn from each other and build together. Watching that happen has been one of the most rewarding parts of this job. It’s a privilege to see ideas come alive not just through my own effort, but through shared enthusiasm.

And it’s of course still a struggle. Supporting that team requires more money, of course, so many projects are still slow and waiting for some stroke of luck to whip them up into action, but now the time and flexibility is there for patience.

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Teaching as joy

Another (un)expected source of joy has been teaching. Having the room in my workday to help raise the next generation of scientists—from the more than 300 bachelor students to the many master thesis projects, and from the PhD students to the young scientists in the team—each bringing their curiosity and their questions—is something I value immensely.

There is something uniquely grounding about teaching. It reminds me why we do science in the first place. It keeps me accountable. And it pushes me to think carefully about what and how we teach, and what message we want them to receive.

There is, of course, a downside: it’s impossible to maintain the same amount of research output now that my teaching load has grown substantially. These are trade-offs we all face, and choices we all have to make. But I did decide I’m willing to pay the price – a few fewer scientific manuscripts – in exchange for creating opportunities for others to become the change we need.

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From “My Science” to “Our Future”

One of the most profound shifts this assistant professor position brought me is the freedom to look beyond my own research papers and ask bigger questions. If I have thirty years of science ahead of me – give or take – what are the problems I want to contribute to solving? What will the world look like in 2055? And what role can ecology, microclimate science, and biodiversity research realistically play in guiding that future?

It’s a daunting line of thought, but also an energizing one. My ambition has grown – not in the sense of personal achievement, but in terms of impact. I want my science to matter not only within my field, but in the world beyond it. This also brought me back much closer again to the ecology where it all began for me. Especially my postdoc was a lot more methodological, but now I want to be talking a lot more about the nature we’re trying to save, and how to do that. That work will involve a lot of ‘a solution for nature’ and ‘nature as a solution’, two things that go nicely together.

Utrecht is the perfect environment for this. It is a university that not only allows but actively encourages its people to work across disciplines, to connect with societal partners, and to tackle the complex challenges facing our planet. I feel supported – and yes, sometimes gently pushed – to think bigger and collaborate wider. And for that, I’m truly grateful.

I don’t know about other places, but I like that in Utrecht the time to think, discuss and learn is build in to our job – officially 10% of my time, if I’m not mistaken – and that has thought me already a lot.

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The honest part

Of course, there’s a darker side to ambition. When you start looking 30 years ahead, the horizon can feel impossibly far away. The problems we’re trying to address are complex, urgent, and often overwhelming. I know I won’t “save the world” – none of us will, individually, and when I think of that long-term vision, sometimes I worry about how much ‘world-saving’ will eventually fit into my day-to-day schedule.

But I do believe in the ripple effect.

I do believe that one of the most meaningful things I can do in the decades ahead is create opportunities for as many others as possible to contribute to those ripples. If I can help equip a generation of scientists, collaborators, and students to do world-saving work – together – that is impact.

That is enough.

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Onward

So I’m really looking forward to this next chapter as a tenured scientist: to long-term vision, to interdisciplinary collaboration, to teaching with purpose, to scaling up ecology in every sense of the word, and to the remarkable people I get to work with every day.

And above all: to create the conditions for others to shine.

If any of this resonates – if you’re interested in joining the lab, collaborating, or thinking together about microclimate, species redistributions, or ecological scaling – my door (physical or virtual) is always open.

The journey continues.
And it’s only getting more exciting.