[staff-physics-and-astronomy-HL-UHD-UD] P&A Retreat 2026: program and instruction for pitches

[Juan Rojo]

Dear all,

The 2026 P&A retreat is upcoming, and we have finalised the program. Please find it below:

Thursday
--------

09:00 - 09:45                 Arrival
09:45 - 10:00                 Welcome by Juan
10:00 - 13:00                 Course on annual consultations (including break out rooms and a coffee break)
                               => Please submit the intake materials by Thursday 18th June at the latest

13:00 - 14:00                Lunch

14:00 - 17:30                 Defining the strategic research agenda for the coming years:

a. Three short presentations
     - Erwin/Sven/Lyuba on the National Technology Strategy
     - Kjeld/Matz on the Dutch Physics Council vision document (sectorbeeld)
     - Juan on the SEP evaluation recommendations, VU instellingsplan, Beta multi-year plan

b. Pitches (to be communicated one week before the retreat, see below)

c. Discuss pitches in small groups

17:30 - 18:00                 Poll to identify most relevant topics

18:30                                Dinner
20:00                                Pub quiz / social activity
  
Friday
------

07:00 - 09:00                 Breakfast
09:00 - 12:00                 Discussion on new PI hiring profiles (following up on discussions on Thu)

12:00 - 13:00                 Lunch

13:00 - 14:00                 Free time for discussions & walks
14:00 - 15:30                 Discussion on new PI hiring procedure
                               - Including discussions on best practices in hiring from the DEI committee (Andrea)

15:30 - 16:00                 Wrap up and discussion of the best steps
16:00                         End of the retreat
  

As announced already, we encourage everyone to prepare a pitch for the discussion on our strategic research and hiring agenda for the coming years. To make sure we have enough time, and to avoid that multiple people will prepare a similar pitch, we ask from everyone who wants to give a pitch to share the idea with the MT beforehand. At the latest one week before the retreat (Wednesday June 17 end of the day) this pitch should be sent to Karin (<k.s.colvin at vu.nl>). Please include, in this pre-pitch:

     - Title
     - Short description & motivation of the position / research topic
     - Embedding, including possible inter-/cross-section aspects
     - Name of presenter(s)

Based upon the pre-pitches, we will provide a format and the time limit for the pitch.

We look forward very much to the retreat and the discussions about the strategic future of the department. Many thanks for thinking along, your activate participation is essential!

Best,

Juan (on behalf of the MT)

-- 
-------------------------------------------------
Prof. Dr. Juan Rojo
Professor of Theoretical Physics
Head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy
Faculty of Science, VU Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1081, 1081HV Amsterdam
----
Nikhef Theory Group, Science Park 105,
1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
----
Webpage: http://www.juanrojo.com/
Zoom: https://vu-live.zoom.us/my/juanrojo
E-mail: j.rojo at vu.nl
         j.rojo at nikhef.nl
-----------------------------------------------