KIVI has around 40 (specialist) departments that give their members the opportunity to connect and to keep abreast of the latest developments in their area of expertise. Driving force behind these departments is a large group of enthusiastic members who keep the communities active and vibrant.

Jun Wang is chairman of KIVI’s International Engineers (KIE) department, a community for international engineers in the Netherlands. How did Jun end up at KIVI, what is his background as an engineer and how can the KIVI International Engineers community help its members in their development and career in the Netherlands? Jun tells more here.

Electro-Mechanical Engineering background 

After starting his Bachelor of Automation in China in 2005, Jun joined an international collaboration programme in 2007 to continue his Bachelor and Master study in Electro-Mechanical Engineering at KU Leuven in Belgium. Jun says: “I got my PhD in Micro and Precision Engineering from the same university in 2016. After my PhD, I moved to Enschede in the Netherlands, where I worked for more than five years on advanced manufacturing techniques for a family business in Twente. In September 2021, I joined TMC and moved to Eindhoven. After a year at Frencken, I started my new project at ASML as a Supplier Quality Engineer.”

Chair International Engineers

Jun had known KIVI for a while, but an interesting opportunity presented itself early this year that made him apply for membership. He tells: “I knew KIVI since I moved to the Netherlands. In January 2023, I noticed on LinkedIn that KIVI International Engineers was looking for new board members. Though I even didn’t know the section before, after some research on the internet, it successfully caught my attention and I immediately felt there was a click. After sending out my application, I met Gülsüm Hilal, KIE’s former chair, in person and other board members online, and I became a board member since February. In just two months period, I was happy to take over her role and became the new chair in April.”

Benefits for members

What is the added value of KIVI International Engineers for its members? Jun explains: “The goal of KIE is to cater for international engineers living and/or working in the Netherlands and Dutch engineers with an international mindset. We accomplish this through forming a community, creating a platform to discuss technical and societal topics, inspire each other, and socialize.” Jun continues: “Besides all the benefits offered by KIVI, and all kinds of events organized by other KIVI departments, KIVI International Engineers focuses on organising English-language events to ensure that all its members can participate. Of course, Dutch members are more than welcome to join as well. We only share events organized by other sections with our members when they are in English. With more and more international engineers living and/or working in the Netherlands, we believe this will also promote KIVI to be more international.”

Jun Wang, chairman of KIVI International Engineers.

Jun says that his department is also paying more attention for activities and visibility in the Southern part of the Netherlands. He explains: “KIVI International Engineers is also active in ‘Revitalizing Region South’, initiated by Gijs Lankveld, account manager at KIVI, together with other departments active in the region. We believe that as we join forces, interaction with companies, universities and institutes in the region is more streamlined. And of course, we can organize even more interesting events for our members.” 

To know even better what their members need, KIVI International Engineers is preparing a survey, with the aim of getting to know their members better and also to know what motivated them to join KIVI, what it brings them now and of course what kind of events they would like. Jun adds: “With the feedback from this survey, we can ensure that what we do even better meets the wishes and needs of our members.”

A nice example of an upcoming initiative is ‘KIVI Ambassador’. Jun tells: “A KIVI Ambassador facilitates a KIVI member for example with internship opportunities or a study exchange program using the network in his/her home country. A great initiative for students, both Dutch or with an international background. We are now in the pilot phase.”

Personal development

Jun tells he really enjoys being part of the International Engineers community, both as a community member and chair. He tells: “I like meeting other engineers, exchanging knowledge, participating in events and helping each other through the community. But my role as chairman also offers me a lot of advantages. On one hand, I have been learning and developing my skills in leading the board team in preparing our events, and how to fulfill the department’s mission and objectives (long term). On the other hand, I have also been keep motivating each board member to contribute the part she/he likes and does good at, and to ensure a pleasant team. In short, I have gained more experience in leading and sustaining a team.”

Join KIVI International Engineers

Would you also like to join the International Engineers community from KIVI? Become a member and make use of this social and knowledge gateway between the Dutch and the international engineering community, for almost all engineering disciplines. 

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