I got the news a month ago while standing on the deck of a small boat during the conference dinner in Sydney, that I got the PDM I applied for earlier this year. This is a short term postdoctoral position funded by the university itself, “aimed at providing young researchers who have obtained their doctorate at KU Leuven with an opportunity to share their research by: (a) generating publications based on their doctoral research, (b) passing on acquired knowledge and expertise to other members of the research group, (c) conducting research based on the knowledge and expertise acquired during the doctoral research and on the results obtained”. So that’s what I will be doing in the year 2014. Three of us applied for this from the department, and only I got it. Probably the fact that I applied by submitting a full FWO (Flemish Research Foundation) proposal was decisive. I will apply for an FWO postdoctoral research fellowship early next year (again), which could add another three years to my postdoctoral life in Leuven, and help me unravel the secrets of pulsating B-type stars on the main sequence ;)