NRO Grant for Merle Krebber: building bridges between students

Merle Krebber received an NRO Comenius Teaching Fellowship earlier this year, a national grant supporting innovative teaching. With this grant, she aims to create a new course that brings HBO Life Sciences students and Bachelor students in Biomedical Science together.  

“Science today is all about collaboration,” she says. “If we can help students build bridges between them early, they’ll be much stronger researchers later on.” By working as a multidisciplinary team on real societal challenges, students can develop strong communication and collaboration skills. Skills needed in any modern research career.

Focusing on soft skills 

“Often, HBO and university students know little about each other’s expertise. This can make collaboration difficult later. I want them to learn early that these differences can actually complement each other,” Merle says.  

Her fellowship project will create a new interdisciplinary course where small, mixed teams work on socially relevant Regenerative Medicine challenges while reflecting on teamwork and communication. “We’ll focus on so-called soft skills; things like teamwork, feedback, and understanding each other’s strengths,” she says. “Students will need to create a reflective portfolio.  I want students to see how they grow during the course, not just in knowledge, but in how they approach working with others.”

Prepared for multidisciplinary research

The course will be in collaboration with Utrecht University, Hogeschool Utrecht, and the UMC Utrecht, each bringing their own strengths. “At UU, students will explore the scientific content; at HU, they’ll do more practical lab work; and at the UMC, they’ll work together in a real ‘pressure cooker’ setting,” Merle explains. Ultimately, she hopes this approach will better prepare students for the multidisciplinary world they’ll enter after graduation.