Alumnus testimonial
Project manager Climate Adaptation Innovations
Thijs de Bruijn: “After I finished the specialisation Adaptive Water Management of the master’s International Land and Water Management, I directly started working. I found a job at Waterschap Drents Overijsselse Delta. In that position I provided subsidies to residents for regreening their gardens and collecting rainwater. I got into this job via the National Water Traineeship. In this traineeship you work for four days for a selected company and one day you have trainings. The traineeship was nice as it provided a smooth transition from studying to working life. It also gave me a lot of opportunities to learn more about myself.”
Every day, I feel like I can make the urban areas a little bit more sustainable!
Field lab for innovations
“After one year of the traineeship, I changed jobs because I moved to Rotterdam. Currently I am working at VPdelta+ at the TU Delft, where I am project manager of the WaterStraat. The WaterStraat is a field lab for innovations that help urban areas transform into more resilient places. We offer entrepreneurs a place to develop and test new ideas and innovations, such as Roofclix (‘cool’ roof tiles that reflect the sunlight), Bufferblock (solutions for rainwater drainage and buffering) and BlueBloqs by Fieldfactors (systems for rainwater utilization in urban areas). We help municipalities, water authorities and the province implementing these innovations.”
Bird’s eye view
“As the MIL programme includes an internship in the second year, I was well prepared for working life. And because the programme is so broad, I had learned a lot on every aspect, from socio-economic aspects in agriculture during my internship at Aequator, to the technical aspects of modelling river discharge of the river Rijn during my thesis at HKV (knowledge entrepreneurs in flood risk and water resources management). Furthermore I was trained in looking at complex and interdisciplinary issues from a bird’s eye view and analysing all the different aspects of these issues. For example, for a course we discussed if giving legal rights to rivers is a good way to protect vulnerable ecosystems.”
Organising debates
“Moreover, in the programme you not only learn how to find a solution for the issue, but also how to make a change in the whole system. During my master I learned that a shift in paradigm is an important part of any transition. Also, all perspectives of the stakeholders are included. We practised this by organising debates about organic agriculture and hydroelectricity where we learned to look through the eyes of every stakeholder. Thus you learn how to think and work in an integrated way. This has really helped me in my previous job as well as in my current position: I not only have the skills to define solutions for interdisciplinary challenges, but also the skills to communicate this with different governments, entrepreneurs, professors and of course my colleagues.”
Generalist
“Being broadly educated has been practical during my jobs, as I am able to work in many different working fields and together with people from various disciplines. I really like being a generalist. It offers me the possibility to go into the field and talk to different types of authorities and entrepreneurs. I like being the middleman that connects entrepreneurs and potential customers, such as the government. Most importantly, every day I feel like I can make the urban areas a little bit more sustainable!”