Setting priorities for research stays

Since I spent only a limited amount of time every year in the Netherlands, I make a list of priorities for my research stay to make sure I take full advantage of my time. While I’ve discussed my particular priorities before, my more general take on things is the following:

• Focus on in-person meetings: Kind of logical, but sometimes it gets tiring to run the entire day from meeting to meeting. But that is what I’m in the Netherlands for.
• Focus on supervision: My students deserve extra time when I am with them – it is when seeing them, that I really get a sense of how their research is going. I cannot sense them in the same way through Zoom or Teams.
• Focus on connections: The local network, the funding body – these get priority as well.
• Keep momentum: I cannot step away from my regular responsibilities for about two months, so I need to find ways to keep moving proposals and regular activities forward as well.
• Plan ahead: planning things ahead of time is necessary – I often think about the dates for my next summer during an ongoing summer stay, so I have enough time to figure out my childcare and travel logistics, and people know when I’ll be back.