With a new academic year comes a new Regional Board of the UvA Section Psychology Students (SPS) of the Dutch Association of Psychologists (NIP). Spiegeloog spoke with UvA’s Regional Board SPS-NIP, a non-profit organisation that aims to bridge the gap between professional and student life. They organize events, like workshops, clinics, and lectures for psychology students. They provide opportunities to network and for students to learn a new skill and figure out their post-graduation plans. The organisation is located in the G-building at GS.09.
What does the Section Psychology Students (SPS) of the Dutch Association of Psychologists (NIP) do?
‘During this pandemic, we have to come up with new ways to organise activities which gives us the opportunity to test out different types of meetings. We are currently in the process of organizing our first online event which will probably be an online lecture for which we are planning to invite a speaker on forensic psychology. Due to the current circumstances, we are unable to hold physical training, lectures and workshops. However, it might be easier for students to attend our online activities as they can be accessed from wherever the students are. We are the Regional Board for the UvA – there’s also one for the VU and other universities that offer psychology. We are in touch with the National Board – which is a full-time job that consists of coordinating the Regional Boards – and we must run everything we do by them. Some of the guidelines we have to follow are that our events have to be science-related and the speaker has to be a registered psychologist. This is to try and ensure the information we provide is relevant and true. The National Board also advises us and gives us constructive feedback on our planned activities and discussions.’
Why should psychology students join SPS-NIP?
‘While all psychology students can join our activities, members get attractive benefits such as discounts on all events and the opportunity to participate in raffles throughout the year where one could win goodies like psychology-related books. Members also get access to all our extra training and professional advisers on becoming psychologists. Finally, they can access an extensive database of internships and part-time jobs, related to psychology – which may be tricky to find if you do not have the right connections.’
What does the Regional Board do?
‘We are the new Regional Board UvA and we consist of five members, Sophie (chair), Sofiya (secretary), Anastasia (treasurer), Daan (internal promotion officer) and Niklas (external promotion officer).
Sophie is responsible for ensuring the board sticks to the weekly schedule and maintains communication with the relevant parties. Sofiya is mainly in charge of organising the email and handling the logistical aspects of events and meetings. Anastasia handles the financial planning for the whole year and each event. As we are a non-profit organization, she also has to make sure our books are balanced. She also gets in touch with companies who may be relevant for psychological students to get sponsorships or freebies for the students. Daan does all the promotions for events, online (Facebook) and offline (posters), as well as recruitment campaigns. Niklas maintains communication with lecturers and keeps them up to date with the event. At the events, he’s the host and moderator.
Overall, we work together to support one another and make sure we are carrying out the tasks we are supposed to. We spend five to seven hours a week working and provide extra support if one person is feeling overwhelmed. One thing that helps us keep on track is planning our meetings in advance and creating a to-do list for each person. This allows us to schedule our week, so we have plenty of time to finish our tasks.’
How can one go about joining the board?
‘An advertisement will usually be posted on our Facebook page asking you to send in your motivation and CV. You may then be invited for a job interview of about 30 minutes. The existing board is the one in charge of forming the new board.’
Sophie (Chair)
Sofiya (Secretary)
Anastasia (Treasurer)
Daan (Internal Promotion Officer)
Niklas (External Promotion Officer)
What does the Section Psychology Students (SPS) of the Dutch Association of Psychologists (NIP) do?
‘During this pandemic, we have to come up with new ways to organise activities which gives us the opportunity to test out different types of meetings. We are currently in the process of organizing our first online event which will probably be an online lecture for which we are planning to invite a speaker on forensic psychology. Due to the current circumstances, we are unable to hold physical training, lectures and workshops. However, it might be easier for students to attend our online activities as they can be accessed from wherever the students are. We are the Regional Board for the UvA – there’s also one for the VU and other universities that offer psychology. We are in touch with the National Board – which is a full-time job that consists of coordinating the Regional Boards – and we must run everything we do by them. Some of the guidelines we have to follow are that our events have to be science-related and the speaker has to be a registered psychologist. This is to try and ensure the information we provide is relevant and true. The National Board also advises us and gives us constructive feedback on our planned activities and discussions.’
Why should psychology students join SPS-NIP?
‘While all psychology students can join our activities, members get attractive benefits such as discounts on all events and the opportunity to participate in raffles throughout the year where one could win goodies like psychology-related books. Members also get access to all our extra training and professional advisers on becoming psychologists. Finally, they can access an extensive database of internships and part-time jobs, related to psychology – which may be tricky to find if you do not have the right connections.’
What does the Regional Board do?
‘We are the new Regional Board UvA and we consist of five members, Sophie (chair), Sofiya (secretary), Anastasia (treasurer), Daan (internal promotion officer) and Niklas (external promotion officer).
Sophie is responsible for ensuring the board sticks to the weekly schedule and maintains communication with the relevant parties. Sofiya is mainly in charge of organising the email and handling the logistical aspects of events and meetings. Anastasia handles the financial planning for the whole year and each event. As we are a non-profit organization, she also has to make sure our books are balanced. She also gets in touch with companies who may be relevant for psychological students to get sponsorships or freebies for the students. Daan does all the promotions for events, online (Facebook) and offline (posters), as well as recruitment campaigns. Niklas maintains communication with lecturers and keeps them up to date with the event. At the events, he’s the host and moderator.
Overall, we work together to support one another and make sure we are carrying out the tasks we are supposed to. We spend five to seven hours a week working and provide extra support if one person is feeling overwhelmed. One thing that helps us keep on track is planning our meetings in advance and creating a to-do list for each person. This allows us to schedule our week, so we have plenty of time to finish our tasks.’
How can one go about joining the board?
‘An advertisement will usually be posted on our Facebook page asking you to send in your motivation and CV. You may then be invited for a job interview of about 30 minutes. The existing board is the one in charge of forming the new board.’
Sophie (Chair)
Sofiya (Secretary)
Anastasia (Treasurer)
Daan (Internal Promotion Officer)
