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An Unlikely Turning Point

I am looking back at my almost 40 years of career in education with happy bewilderment. In the 1980s I started unglamorously from a position as a cleaner at the Leyden University Hospital, and the high point of my career as a university executive as Vice-Chancellor (Rector) of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology for 2 terms from 2012 to 2018, a total of 6 years. In between for 10 years I was a professor of environmental economics and policy in Costa Rica, and for over 4 years director of research funding at Maastricht University, one of the top-10 young universities in the Times Higher Education Ranking.

In the 1990s, as a doctoral candidate studying abroad at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy), I was eager to learn from professors at top institutions from all over the world. I had just won one of only two competitive national doctoral scholarships for historians. My own thesis supervisor seemed knowledgeable at first, but it soon became clear he struggled with indecision. All his doctoral students complained about the same.

ID Card while PhD candidate

He proposed three conflicting thesis topics in quick succession, leaving me confused and frustrated as valuable time was wasted. Worse still, I realized he lacked the experience and publication record to provide proper guidance, often hiring assistants in hopes they would prepare his publications.

At my lowest point, doubts crept in that an academic career may not be worthwhile if my evaluation depended on someone so erratic. But I found the courage to speak with my doctoral committee, who validated my concerns and supported my vision for a focused dissertation.

When I told my supervisor the thesis was complete against his demands for rewrites, he entered a panic. Subsequently, he started to spread unsubstantiated rumours about my skills which still sting. I am proud to say, that my thesis was the first thesis to use the then-nascent Geographical Information Systems running on 486 computers to analyze railway traffic and combine this into an indicator of regional development. His gossip sadly closed the door for my re-entry as an economic historian at a university in my home country, because there are always a few who believe the big lie.

However, that difficult moment also freed me to take charge of my future. Fortunately, my supervisor was unable to convince the other members of the committee - all of them from renowned world-class universities, several of whom became friends. The rumours spread by my supervisor were particularly hard to believe since I had just signed a contract to publish my thesis with Cambridge University Press, the oldest and one of the largest academic publications in the world.


Cover of my railways book

It set me on a path of advocating for students, helping implement fair policies, providing accessible resources, and empowering future scholars everywhere to feel inspired rather than impeded in their learning journey. For 18 years I worked with less privileged students in the developing world in Central America and the Caribbean and  in the South Pacific. Personally, I was able to supervise 5 doctoral theses and over 20 Master theses, and I gave all my students full support and fair, precise, and timely feedback. A key achievement as a university administrator has been providing reliable campus-wide broadband internet for the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, where I was Vice-Chancellor.

While the initial setback with my thesis supervisor stung, realizing I could overcome even the unlikeliest of obstacles by following my principles gave me strengths I may not have found otherwise. It lit a passion for supporting other students, that has since helped countless more achieve their academic dreams. 

One of my key achievements, for example, was in 2010 helping win the record number of 6 post-doc Marie Slodovska Curie grants for researchers at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics, and leading the team organizing the European Reseachers' Night at this University, the second university to hold such an event in the Netherlands.

My story shows that challenges may come from any direction, but resilience and perseverance forge the greatest victories – and most unlikely friendships along the way.


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