"nen-shi"

After leaving UMC (see the other post here), I started to be more and more occupied with teaching. At the same time, I spent my time writing a research grant in collaboration with a physicist from Free University Amsterdam, Dr. Imran Avci. It took us several years to develop the project idea to be mature enough, and we submitted it in April last year. Of course, the competition is high, and I thought the chance of getting it is near zero. But surprisingly, we got a very positive feedback from the referees in August. While I was helping my mother in Japan and traveling back to the Netherlands, I had to work on writing the rebuttal at a "manga" cafe and the airports (see the post here).

We got the final decision in November, and the answer was "yes". We got it. Not only that, it was ranked as number one among the recipients.

But... as always, the story does not end here.

Because of my age, coming close to the retirement age, there was a complication on the administration side in terms of my employment with the budget. The project requires a lot of hard work, especially at the beginning. I was not going to work for free. But at the same time, it was hurting me for not being able to start the project by myself. I had put a lot of myself into the writing. Getting the grant was a huge reward, and I was proud of it. It really knocked me out. After losing my mother in December, this project was the way, I thought, to put myself together again and go on with my life. But now I was not even getting the chance?

Well, after many back-and-forths of logistics, the head of the group, Prof. Richard van Wezel, sorted it out, and finally, I was allowed to start the project. At the end of April, my involvement in the project officially started.

Now my current life is all about building a new rig, putting together all the pieces (literally) of the equipment, to get ready for the neuronal recording.

Yes, the beginning of a whole new project from scratch.

Wish me good luck!

(The image is from a calligraphy I practice. It reads 'nen-shi', which means "aspiration achieved".)