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“As soon as I knew it was possible, I made arrangements to save up days off to go on a sabbatical. In South Korea, I was introduced to a different work culture and was able to spend a lot of time with my in-laws”, says Danny Broere, associate professor and group leader within the Institute for Sustainable & Circular Chemistry.

“It's in my nature to step out of my comfort zone and I love to travel and get to know another culture. It gives me the space to critically question myself both professionally and privately why I do things the way I do.”

Not thought out in advance

Danny did know he would be taking a sabbatical, but adjusted the schedule to fit his family circumstances. This created the opportunity to spend over four months in South Korea. He hadn't thought of that beforehand, but it worked out very nicely: “I found the perfect scientific environment to take my research to a new level, and my children were able to get a long-term introduction to their South Korean roots. My three-year-old daughter is now fully bilingual and I myself speak quite a bit of Korean now.”

My biggest takeaway from my sabbatical is that we will now focus even more on the experimental side. This was not the intended plan

Scientific collaboration

“On the scientific front, I wanted to learn more about theoretical research within a group that focuses 100% on that. In my own group, we work mostly experimentally, with our hands and chemicals in the lab, supplemented by a little theoretical research. My biggest takeaway from my sabbatical is that we will now focus even more on the experimental side and collaborate more with groups that specialise in the theoretical side. This was not the intended plan, but the group where I worked in South Korea is much faster and better at doing the theoretical calculations and analysing them. To illustrate, I had a few questions I wanted to work on in South Korea and expected to spend the entire period working on them. However, together with a small team of PhD candidates, these issues were solved within a few weeks! That gave me space to go a step deeper and also for other important things, such as preparing for the interview about my ERC application, which was subsequently granted.”

Different work culture

From one of the poorest countries in the 1950s to one of the largest economies in the world. The so-called “economic miracle” was made possible in part by the demanding work culture, something South Korea is known, or rather, infamous for. Danny relates: “In the first few weeks of my stay, a national bill for a 69-hour work week fell through... This sounds bizarre from a Dutch perspective but this was the norm in South Korea until it was limited to a maximum of 52 hours in 2018. However, there is no sign of this restriction within academic circles. My colleagues at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) live for science, doing little to no other things. My expectation when I was invited to a hike was quite different from that of the person who invited me. I arrived equipped with mountain boots and backpack, ready for a spirited day-long hike with personal conversations, while the rest in suits on neat shoes wanted to go for a stroll to spar about science. I don't miss the South Korean work culture. Seniority determines what happens and the focus for me is too much on quantitative output. I realise again extra how good we have it here with our flat culture, where openness and equal treatment are important.”

I myself have noticed how it is to work as a loner among colleagues with their own lives

Importance of interconnection

Danny chose not to go completely off the radar for his own research group. Managing remotely sometimes proved quite difficult: “I realise how quickly the mutual connection is gone when you speak to each other less frequently. As a result, supervising employees takes a relatively long time. It is necessary at a distance to pay more attention to how someone is doing before you go into depth. Conversely, I myself have noticed how it is to work as a loner among colleagues with their own lives. They don't always have time and attention for the newcomer. Help is very nice for the newcomer, for example to manage the paperwork in a foreign language. Half of my team is not from the Netherlands and experiences this as well. It was good to experience that again myself.”

Take that chance!

Danny's tip about taking a sabbatical is, “Take that chance if you have the opportunity. Really, I recommend it to everyone. In the regular work environment, the delusion of the day often rules. During a sabbatical, you have the space to reflect well on everything and only pursue the aspects of your regular work that excite you. After all, you have the perfect reason to say no to everything else. For me, the effect of four months of living in a different environment is that the fresh perspective stays longer, so the space for self-reflection and more critical thinking sticks better. A sabbatical is good for your personal development and for building interesting working relationships. In my opinion, the ideal length of a sabbatical to do research is 2-3 months. Supervision of your research team, as mentioned, is more difficult remotely the longer it lasts.