Alumni story Judith Slagt
- Judith Slagt
- Ecologist at ARK Rewilding & PhD Candidate at Wageningen University and Research
“I’m constantly trying to build bridges between practice, policy, society and science.”
Judith has 2 jobs she works on: at ARK Rewilding as an ecologist and as a PhD Candidate at the Wageningen University and Research. The combination gives the possibility to both implement and investigate rewilding in the Netherlands.
ARK Rewilding is known for their projects on giving nature back to nature. A famous example is the Millingerwaard, where ARK Rewilding is already working more than 35 years. Otters, beavers, and spoonbills amongst others have returned in the area ever since. The projects Judith is working on within the company, range from reintroduction of bisons in the Netherlands to international projects on nature restoration.
A week consists of 3 days at ARK and 2 on the PhD, which also relates to rewilding. “I don’t have any funding, but that also means I have a lot of control. What I like best about that, is that in the one job I’m implementing rewilding, while in the other I can research the science behind it: What works when and why?” “I see a lot of benefits to doing my PhD a decade after graduation, because that gave me the time to develop skills, gather experience and get to know my own limits”.
Judith graduated in the time when there were not a lot of jobs in the nature sector. This is why she first started as a project assistant for a company that finances startups in the health sector. “I wrote tons of application letters. But the competition was killing, and I didn’t have any experience, so I never got invited to job interviews, which was super frustrating” She therefore cut back on working days and started as volunteer at Natuurmonumenten and Landschapsbeheer Gelderland.
“I finally got a job as an ecologist at the Antea Group, a large engineering company. However, I missed working with likeminded people that were passionate about nature and switched to a smaller company. After a few years, I saw my dream job at ARK Rewilding: working with European Bison, in the Netherlands. Despite me writing the application letter on my phone, not having an updated CV – I was on a holiday – and me being one of a hundred applicants, I got the job.”
“My advice to you would be: Stick to your goal, even if it takes 50 application letters. Do not think the beaten track is the only one but find a path that suits you.”
“Be patient, don’t lose motivation and keep on making the world a wilder place.”
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