Charissa de Bekker
Associate professor Department of Biology
Not following the crowd has always been a driving force for me, both in my professional and personal life. I get triggered when sacred cows are the status quo. I would like to change those, based on knowledge and my own experiences. That’s why I enjoy listening to punk and hardcore music. It is a critical voice against the status quo with the powerful message ‘be yourself’. That suits me and has shaped me to who I am now.
I truly appreciate the opportunity to explore this innovative research within the Faculty of Science.
I have been trained as a microbiologist and am now Principal Investigator of the Parasitic Behavioural Manipulation Lab. We study fungi that alter or even manipulate the behaviour of their host. A host, in our research an ant, does exactly what the fungus needs in order to spread back to other hosts. Studying behaviour is very complex. The organisms that engage in interesting manipulative interactions, both parasites and hosts, are generally difficult to work with. Not so many people are venturing into this interdisciplinary research, for which I bring together people from different fields such as behavioural biology, ecology, biotechnology, micro and molecular biology. I truly appreciate the opportunity to explore this innovative research within the Faculty of Science.
The foundation of our work is to marvel at nature and investigate how it works. I believe that the discoveries we make will lead to new applications and that's really cool. Think of new medication, enzymes for industry and better and more sustainable control of insect plagues. One of my PhD candidates is focusing his Science 4 Sustainability research on infection strategies of fungi. If we know how a fungus takes over an insect, we can then apply this molecular knowledge and replace pesticides with more effective treatments. This kind of work especially excites me because it brings sustainable solutions.
To achieve this all I am very eager to hear everyone's opinion and ideas and think out of the box. There are no stupid questions; in fact, it's good to go back to basics every now and then. In this way, we have discussions about each other's research and new projects from an open and equal basis. During my own academic development, I missed that at certain career stages. It often are the same people who speak up. I want to change this by encouraging everyone to speak up and ask questions.
At Utrecht University, I am enormously supported in my ambitions. Partly as a result, I obtained an ERC grant for fundamental research, which greatly expanded my research programme. The first year of being a manager is quite difficult: you have to do things you are not trained in. The postdocs and PhD candidates are suddenly doing your research. By guiding them, showing them specific techniques, analysing data and writing papers together I do stay actively involved. This is how I help and teach them to do good research independently. Although I regret not working much in the lab myself right now, I think mentoring students and young researchers is really beautiful work. It's awesome to get first year students excited about microbiology and see their fascination blossom. The same goes for mentoring in the lab. That starts with 'what am I doing now' developing to 'I can do it myself' ending at coming up with new ideas. I learned how to deal better with a full agenda, and I have become more efficient as a manager. As a result, I can now focus on other subjects that I find important.
I feel taken seriously, both for exciting research ideas and other important issues, such as our EDI policy.
I feel taken seriously, both for exciting research ideas and other important issues. For example, I am given every opportunity to strengthen our faculty's Equalilty, Diversity & Inclusion committee and collaboration with its working groups. We really want to make our faculty better and more fair for everyone, more open and welcoming. My supervisor literally said, ‘I can see that you really care about that, so go for it’. There are still gains to achieve in many areas, because diversity goes far beyond Women in Science. The academic world, not just Utrecht University, needs to become much more open and encourage people from different backgrounds to feel welcome. That includes neurodiversity and people who need more flexibility because of a disability, for example, something you might not see if you are neurotypical and able-bodied.
I do the things I enjoy; fun in my work has brought me where I am today. It would be beautiful to expand my vision into a chair with multiple groups that also work interdisciplinary on organismic interactions. We could then call that Molecular Ecology.
Quality of our work is becoming more important rather than quantity.
The quality of our work is becoming more important rather than quantity. In academia we have been raised focusing on performance, but I greatly appreciate the idea of letting go of that. And the fact that Utrecht University is putting its money where its mouth is by no longer providing input for rankings I think is super!
dr. A.M. (Charissa) de Bekker
Associate Professor