Student testimonial

Student Fenneke Brascamp - MSc Forest and Nature Conservation

Fenneke started at Wageningen University with a Bachelor in Business and Consumer Studies. Because she lost her interest in this topic and got fascinated by nature conservation she chose to switch to a free Bachelor. In this free programme she combined Business and Consumer Studies with Forest and Nature Conservation. After her Bachelor she continued in the Master programme Forest and Nature Conservation. Maybe this seems a strange transition, but in the end Fenneke’s Bachelor is still very valuable as she combines both fields in her Master thesis.

Some periods I spent happy outside in the field and other periods I studied interesting policy cases.

Programme

“I believe the Master Forest and Nature Conservation is a very interesting programme, especially because of the optional courses I took:  alternating between policy and ecology. Some periods I spent happy outside in the field and other periods I studied interesting policy cases. Advanced Forest Ecology and Forest Management was one of my favourite courses. In this course we had to go to the forest to make a forest inventarisation. Later we had to use the inventarisation to create the best production forest, on paper of course..

At the moment I am in Indonesia for my thesis. Here I am trying to map how the landscape of coal mines will develop when all coal is mined. I am focusing on the roles that different actors haves and how these influence the landscape. In other words: what happens with the landscape and why does it happen this way? I do not investigate the ecological aspects of the landscape, but the roles of for example the government, companies and the local population. It is really nice work and I am combining my Bachelor and Master programme by looking at both the economy and nature.’’

Student life

“I am currently not a member of a study association, because I changed my programme, but I am a member of student association KSV Franciscus. At KSV I was quite active in my year club and sorority for a couple of years, but nowadays my studies are also becoming more important. I furthermore work at restaurant H41, together with a lot of other students. It is really nice and my colleagues are actually good friends. I enjoy going to a bar to drink a beer and when the weather is nice I always go to the riverside to swim or take a sunbathe.”

Plans for the future

“When I graduate I would like to start working.  I do not have the ambition to study more or become a researcher. I do not know yet where I want to work. It could be in the Netherlands, but if I get a nice opportunity abroad  I am also willing to go for it.’’

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