aCKNOWLEDGEMENTS

An ecological perspective on microbes and immune defences in avian eggs
Grizard, Stephanie
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2015
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Grizard, S. (2015). An ecological perspective on microbes and immune defences in avian eggs
[Groningen]: University of Groningen
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aCKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
When I look back on these four years spent in the Netherlands, I surely remember my
interview, my first days in Groningen, my initial incompetence to speak in English, and
much more of the moments that followed. All these moments as well as the numerous
persons who contributed to create invaluable instances will ever stay in my mind and leave
imprinted memories. Many people had a tremendous, and often beneficial, impact on me
and earned thereby special appreciation. Nonetheless, one particular person deserves my
unique thanks first. I could not have done this without the support of my mother. Maman,
cela n’a pas toujours été facile d’être loin de la maison mais j’ai toujours pu compter sur toi
et sur nos (interminables) conversations par Skype. Partager les bons moments comme les
petits tracas fût d’un infini réconfort. Merci pour ton soutien et ton amour maternel sans
lesquels, il faut bien l’admettre, ce chapitre de ma vie aurait été plus ardu à achever.
I next would like to express my special gratefulness and thanks to my two promoters,
Joana Falcão Salles and Irene Tieleman. Being co-supervised has not always been easy, but I
gradually found huge intellectual advantages on learning from both of you. Joana, your
patience and innumerable advices have undoubtedly encouraged me to find my marks in
the lab and in research in general. You deserve special thanks for helping me to develop the
self-confidence I needed in science and for your contagious enthusiasm about the ‘beauty’
of microorganisms. Irene, although we have unevenly met each other during these years,
because of unfortunate or joyful events, I always appreciated the way you taught me how to
become a guided but autonomous researcher. Starting from hatching, you helped me
becoming a fledging. I am now ready for flying and learning more as I carry on growing in
science. To you both, thanks a lot for your critical and helpful inputs and your overall
guidance, which have led me to the achievement of my thesis.
I am also grateful to the members of my reading committee, Simon Verhulst, Steven
Beissinger, and George Kowalchuk for taking the time to read my thesis and to approve it,
appending the final point of this work and bringing it to its end.
There are some people in life that make you laugh a little louder and smile a little
bigger. Manoj, you are undoubtedly one of those persons and you deserve more than
ordinary thanks. From the very first day we met, starting with penguin and polar bear
stories, I never stopped learning from you. Many thanks for playing chess or for biking late
from the lab with me, but also for inviting me home and offering me the amazing chance to
discover India. More generally, you deserve exceptional thanks for sharing the good as well
as the bad times along all these years. I also would like to thank Miaozhi for our special
friendship, which remained delightful over time despite our different personalities. Miao, I
promise you that going to fitness class and playing badminton together and then later
sharing apple pie was definitely a perfect balance.
I next want to acknowledge several friendly persons from Microbial Ecology and from
Behavioural and Physiological Ecology (the ‘old’ Animal Ecology), who contributed in one
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
way or another to the social and intellectual aspects of my PhD time. Pilar, thanks for your
patience while I was trying to get in touch with English and for your further “French it up”
that so often helped me. Aside being a genial office mate, I found in you a helpful and bighearted friend. Maaike, our brain-stormings about statistics have been the most exciting
ones I ever had. I hope for more of those discussions in the near future. In general, thanks
for all the precious advice you gave on my work, for helping me so many times in the last
bites of my thesis, and for preparing the Nederlandse samenvatting. Hartelijk bedankt.
Nicholas (Nick), from the day I started working with you in the lab to the last days where
you corrected part of my final thesis version, at all times it has been a pleasure to interact
with you. I will surely keep in mind your communicative good mood. Francisco, thanks for
our always fruitful ‘DNA sequence analysis’-related discussions. Pablo, when you taught me
about DGGE on my first day in the lab, you told me to think about how my choices will affect
(or not) the outcome of my results. You may not remember those words but I often used
them as a guideline through many of the decisions I had about lab work. Kevin, thanks for
the first helping hand in immunity in my earliest PhD days. I knew your door was always
open. Irshad, thanks for your constant happiness and amazing laughs, which were
particularly worthwhile when facing a hard working day. Pieter, I relished speaking
together about your project and mine to trigger new ideas about how to explore the link
between microorganisms and antimicrobial defences. Sasha, I sensed that sharing office in
the old Biologisch Centrum Haren would be more than only speaking about work and I am
delighted I was right.
I am also grateful to all the members of Microbial Ecology, who helped me in one way
or another progressing in my work and/or were just happy to share a little chat. I would
like to express my particular thanks to Riitta, Rashid, Silvia, Anna, and Mukil for their
particular joviality. Michele, Diego, Jolanda, Stephanie J, Larissa, Miao W, Pu, Maria Julia, it
was nice to meet you and to share some instances together. As much as the persons who
settled in the lab for their own PhD left good memories, it was also rewarding to cross the
paths of all the ones who just passed by for a few weeks or a few months. I own particular
thanks to Victor, Sander, Jonas, Koen, Domen, and Irene M. I last want to acknowledge
Corine Eising, Joukje de Vries-Veldkamp, and Joyce Rietveld for their perpetual help with
the administrative aspects, smoothing thereby my relationship with the bureaucratic life.
I also owe personal and special thanks to Nicolien Wieringa and to all the persons I met
in the ‘writer’s boot camp’, especially Jasper and Jildou. To all of you, I am so glad we had
the opportunity to share this experience. Keep strong, I know you will soon succeed in
completing your doctoral journey.
Last, but not least, I would like to express particular thanks to Élodie. Over four years in
the Netherlands, occasions to speak in French have been, let’s be honest, relatively poor. It
is however good to feel sometimes a bit like at home and to share some ‘Frenchy’ moments.
Élodie, merci pour les inoubliables fous rires en cours de Zumba, pour les petits moments
tranquilles devant la télévision et pour nos soirées crêpes.
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As someone who surely spent most of the time looking at the sun (and perhaps more
often at the rain) through the lab window, I cannot explain how much I valued the time
spent in the field, especially when the persons whom I collaborated with made everything
prized. The few weeks of fieldwork, both in Kenya and in the Netherlands, would have
never been the same without the astonishing determination and the precious skills of the
field assistants in spotting breeding females and in finding nests, but also in making those
(sometimes long) hours as fun as possible. I would like first to thank Henry Ndithia for the
fruitful equilibrium we found, enabling both of us to carry on with our own research: while
you were waiting for hatching, I was hoping for eggs. I owe a special thanks to Peter
Gachigi, Mwangi Kuria, and Paul Kimani. Peter, thanks for your patience and this incredible
way you have to transmit your passion for birds. Mwangi, your daily smile made each day
worth getting up at the first light. I will not forget your undeniable skills in finding nests
while telling stories in the meantime. Paul, thanks for the happiness you communicate so
easily and for this “mama kipepeo” that will never leave my mind. To all of you, thanks for
the Kiswahili lessons that allowed me to tell you today “Asante sana”. I express my
gratitude to other Friends of Kinangop Plateau for their punctual help and sharing a part of
their life, in particular Dominic Kimani and Samuel Bakari, and to Susan for her
contribution in the sampling effort. As I left Kenya for the Netherlands, the drastic change
in weather conditions was largely outbalanced by the enthusiasm of Rob in finding nests
and in teaching me much more about birds.
Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank some important persons in my life
back home. Florent, si les longues heures passées à améliorer la qualité des images a pu être
source de maux de têtes, ton aide a été sans nul doute précieuse. A part tes talents en
informatique, ton soutien m’a été particulièrement cher. Clémentine, peut-être n’en as-tu
pas eu conscience mais tous tes “bon courage” m’ont aidé à tenir bon dans la (longue)
dernière ligne droite. Pauline, si l’architecture et l’écologie n’ont finalement pas grand
chose en commun, merci d’avoir fourni tant d’efforts à comprendre mon sujet de thèse. Un
merci particulier à ma grand-mère maternelle qui s’est toujours intéressée à mes études et
se montre fière de moi.
A list of names cannot be fully exhaustive. Four years in the Netherlands and one more
year at home constitute many occasions to be filled with nice encounters and good times.
So, if we have shared those good times together you will recognize yourself. Thanks for
your contribution, in one way or another, to this work.
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