Atmos

What is your background?

I completed a bachelor’s degree at the RUG in chemistry, specialising in green and energy chemistry. I initially planned to continue on this path until I finished the future planet innovation (FPI) minor; this made me realise I would rather apply the skills I gained from my bachelors than deepen them further.  
Within EES, I did not take a defined track, as my interests were quite broad. My main interests were in modelling, LCA (which was taught in MEMS), and courses that also explored the softer-side of sustainability (i.e. citizens science, marketing and consumer well-being). 

What is the topic of your current project? What sort of work do you do for this project?

My project delved into the topic of sustainable product design and was supervised by Reino Veenstra and Klaus Hubacek. In my research, I looked into ways the softer sides of sustainability (product value, consumer perspective) could be integrated in decision making alongside the physical sides (i.e. industrial processing, recycling). My project involved a mix of quantitative and qualitative research; I completed a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) during the project and individual interviews with a company to feed information for my analysis. 

Is it your first experience with this type of research?

This project completely contrasted previous projects I have done in the past. In my bachelors, the work was predominantly lab-based, which was easier for me in some ways compared to this project. However, completing the MEMS course made it easier to grasp the concepts that arose in the project, so the transition was not that difficult. 

How is the project going so far?

I finished my project on Jan 31st, so now I have already started my internship. In general, I would say the process was non-linear. Jumping into a project with a lot of independence for the first time took some time to get used to; I had to learn how to trust my own intellect throughout the process. It also took me a bit of time to be okay with uncertainty within the research process, since things had to be tweaked/adjusted throughout the process. However, despite the ups and downs, I managed to stick to my planning and turned everything in on time, so in this sense it went well.

How did you get to the topic that you’re investigating?

I was scrolling through Brightspace and saw a research project titled “EPOS”, which intrigued me, since it looked unique compared to the other projects I saw listed. As such, I emailed Klaus, who was listed as a supervisor, and asked him if it was still available. After this, he put me in contact with the main expert (my daily supervisor) on the subject, and I began the project. 

How have the EES courses helped you prepare for this research? Did you personally feel like there were any gaps?

MEMS and “conceptualising and modelling human environmental systems” were the most useful courses when completing my first project. The LCA and MCA knowledge from MEMS was very useful when determining my methodology for the project, and the other modelling course was helpful with the writing process. Being able to write four mini theses before the main one was good practice, and made the final writing process very smooth. As such, I did not feel that there were any gaps from what we were taught in the year before.

Has this research helped shape you towards a particular career path?

I have been talking to a company in the Randstad for a possible job, but in general, nothing is certain at the moment. I am hoping that my current internship offers a job after as well to provide me a range of options, but we have to wait and see of course. While RP1 had its ups and downs, the skillset I gained from it will definitely be applicable in my future career. It allowed me to explore the field product design, something I had always been interested in but never had the opportunity to explore until now.

References:

[1] R. Veenstra and H. C. Moll, “Scoping the environmental impact of products: Systemising product aspects and the related drivers of humans’ impact on nature,” unpublished.