VLAG courses and conferences

VLAG Graduate School forms a community of research and post-graduate education in the areas of Biobased, Biomolecular, Food, and Nutrition Sciences. The Graduate School provides a platform for high-quality post-graduate education and professional development of young researchers.

For detailed information please visit VLAG webpage: http://www.vlaggraduateschool.nl/en/courses.htm

1. VLAG Scientific courses

The graduate school organises a large number of advanced scientific courses. Topics chosen for these courses are of particular interest to PhD candidates within VLAG, but the courses are also open to external participants.  Some courses are organised annually, but most are organised every two or three years. All courses are in English.

  • Advanced Organic Chemistry
    Advanced course for WUR PhD candidates
  • Ecophysiology of food-associated micro-organisms: Roles in health and disease
    This advanced course aims to develop expertise in (functional) genomics, ecology and physiology of food-associated micro-organisms, in particular with respect to their impact on health and disease focusing on the microbiology of food fermentation processes addressing the newest scientific insights of complex microbial communities, modelling techniques and novel product functionalities, and on stress-adaptive responses, population diversity and virulence of foodborne pathogens.
  • VLAG Online lecture series
    To introduce the numerous great topics that our researchers are working on, we are organising a series of live online VLAG expert lectures.
  • Safety by Design
    Safe-by-design as a driver for innovation in Biotechnology This course aims to share the current status of Safe-by-Design concepts, and to train (future) scientists to assess all aspects of projects, from the project idea through the research phase to the final product, with relation to potential safety aspects.
  • Sensory perception & food preference: into the Future!
    This course is to acquire expertise regarding sensory perception and food preferences; to obtain knowledge and experience in different methods on how to measure (and analyse) these aspects; to connect with other professionals/colleagues in the field.

2. General courses

General courses deal with various issues relevant for the professional and personal development of PhD candidates.
VLAG organises the following general courses:

  • VLAG PhD week
  • Philosophy and Ethics of Food Science and Technology
  • various Statistics courses

VLAG also contributes to the organisation of general/skills courses jointly organised by Wageningen Graduate Schools. For detailed information please visit: https://wgs.crs.wur.nl/

  • Chemometrics
    Each day consists of lectures and practicals using R. Examples of datasets delivered by the course participants in advance will be used in the lectures and practicals when possible.
  • VLAG PhD week
    The aim of the PhD week is to make freshman PhD candidates aware of the importance of the professional skills such as presentation techniques, scientific writing, project management, science ethics, ... in the research arena. Moreover this week aims at network formation within the VLAG PhD community, and getting insight into the wide spectrum of scientific research being carried out within the Graduate School. More at: http://www.vlaggraduateschool.nl/en/courses/General-courses/VLAG-general-courses/VLAG-PhD-week.htm
  • Introduction to R
    The aim is to provide an introduction to R, a computer language and environment for statistics and graphics. The course will focus on getting familiar with the R environment by means of RStudio, to use R for manipulation and exploration of data and to perform simple analysis. Basic programming as well as visualization of results in R will also be part of this course.

3. VLAG conferences

  • Bayesian Data Analysis: a new perspective in the VLAG domain
    A short introduction to the benefits of using Bayesian Data Analysis, with examples from the domains of biotechnology, microbiology, environmental sciences, food, and nutrition. Interesting for staff members, PhDs, postdocs and PIs alike.
  • VLAG Open Round - ONLINE PITCH EVENT
    Teams of Tenure Track researchers pitch their project ideas
  • Mini-symposium Rheology
    This mini-symposium will feature keynote lectures. Furthermore we will invite senior scientists from WUR to give talks on their rheology-related work. Participants can submit an abstract and be invited to give a short presentation on their work, where capacity allows.
  • VLAG Celebrates 25th Anniversary
    VLAG Graduate School celebrates its silver jubilee!