From banking to bookish: Dafne’s story
"As Research Software Engineers our purpose is to help researchers use digital technology in the best way: demand-driven, domain-overarching and in the spirit of Open Science."
What drives me the most is helping others in finding solutions to complex problems. I always liked solving ‘puzzles’, which is why I chose mathematics. Since I also like doing things that have an actual impact in the world I ended up studying Computer Science as well. Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Network Analysis are my specific fields of expertise. Before I started at the eScience Center, I worked as a Data Scientist at a large bank. Although I liked the corporate environment to some extent, I was missing the need for deep analytical work in my daily practice and wished for a job with larger societal relevance.
I was hesitant, though, to get into academia. Since my interests were always quite broad I like diversity in my work and working together with others not just on my own research topic. In that sense, the eScience Center came as the perfect opportunity to re-enter the academic world, but with the main goal to empower others, instead of pursuing my own research goals.
“It’s great to work with all these idealistic, open minded, smart and skillful people from all around the world.”
As Research Software Engineers our purpose is to help researchers use digital technology in the best way: demand-driven, domain-overarching and in the spirit of open-science. In the end, the people working at the eScience center are its main asset. It’s great to work with all these idealistic, open minded, smart and skillful people from all around the world. Imagine the variety in different opinions! It leads to heated discussions from time to time, but it also leads to an organization where everyone really wants to contribute to making the world a better and happier place to live in.
– Dafne van Kuppevelt, Research Software Engineer