Pros
Great salary, many holidays, prestige
Cons
This research institute treats its PhD researchers like modern slaves. Lower tier staff is also treated as such (until they get a permanent contract, after which most of them become completely apathetic and useless). You get many holidays, but are frowned upon if you decide to use any of them. There is little to no support for the student; you are treated like you are worth nothing, completely and easily expendable. SCK is all talk; there is no retention of knowledge, as permanent staff are not at all motivated to learn new techniques themselves, let alone write any SOPs. If you start here you will realise that you will learn only the most basic of techniques at SCK itself. If you want to learn anything useful, you are quickly sent to a collaborating university with actual knowledge, where you are expected to parasitize as much as possible. Senior staff is completely unmotivated and treat SCK like a resort; they work 20% (but get paid 100%) while the students generate all scientific output and work 200%. If you voice any criticism you are efficiently disposed of, I have seen it happen multiple times. This is also the reason why practically no PhD students truthfully speak up about their situation. Highly talented PhD students near graduation are often lead to believe that they can get a permanent position (some even buying a house near the site as a result), when they are suddenly informed that they are no longer welcome. SCK tends to open positions for projects that are nowhere near feasible, resulting in hired students being technically unemployed for years, after which they are reprimanded for a lack of output.