Welcome and thank you for joining me on this adventure. For the newbies, you can catch up on previous posts: first blog post, second blog post here, third blog post here, fourth blog post here, fifth post here, sixth post here, seventh post here, eighth post here, the ninth post here, tenth post here, eleventh post here, twelfth post here, thirteenth post, fourteenth post here, fifteenth post, sixteenth post, seventeenth post here and eighteenth post here.

It has been nine weeks since the last update on the NWO Vidi application process. Since then I’ve spent the last seven weeks on the road – first for fieldwork and then for summer holidays. Amidst the F&F (fieldwork and fun) – a term co-coined just yesterday with my colleague Cheryl van Adrichem – I have had to keep my mind churning on the upcoming Vidi interview. I did fail in regards to my ambitious plan of combining F&F with interview preparations. I did do something sometimes but nothing substantial. Travelling through Angola, Namibia and then England on a road trip doesn’t lend itself easily to thinking of work. Not when there is fun to be had and kids to be entertained 🙂

It was only last Wednesday that I stepped on the accelerator to put together a finalised draft of the slides for the 5 minutes presentation. Yesterday, Thursday 26 August, I had my first mock interview. I felt underprepared and late on Wednesday evening I had a flashing thought of cancelling the mock interview. The thought of ’embarrassing’ myself in front of my colleagues with an undercooked presentation and unprepared Q&A responses gave me a shudder. I didn’t want the mock interview to ‘mock’ me so I was looking for reasons to ‘kill the mocking interview’ – to twist the title of Harper Lee’s classic book [“To kill a mocking bird“]

In the end, I am glad that I went through the grilling of a mock interview. As it turns out, you cannot get better without practice. I received many valuable feedback tops and tips from my colleagues. These have already helped to improve the slides and as well primed my mind on how best to approach the Q&A session. I remain thankful to the wonderful colleagues who dedicate their time, energy and intellect to support this process. I have arranged for a second and final mock interview next week to get me fully primed up for the real thing.

There is now only one week left before the real interview which is taking place on Friday 4 September 2026, 11.20. I will get the opportunity to present for 5 minutes and take a 15 minutes Q&A. The interview will take place in person at the NWO office in Utrecht. This will be the first time that I have to do a grant interview in person. My NWO Veni Grant 2020 and ERC Starting Grant 2024 interviews were both online.