Alumnus testimonial
Lotte Holvast – Program Manager
We had a very diverse team in terms of cultures but even more so in terms of characteristics.
Following my ever-present broad interest, I pursued the interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Beta-Gamma at the University from Amsterdam from 2009-2013. After two gaps years, I deliberately chose for the ‘green’ Wageningen University to learn more about the interactions between nature and people. Still being interested in many topics, I got attracted to the Master’s Management, Economics, and Consumer Studies (track: public administration) which I followed from 2016 – 2018.
WUR provided the opportunity to follow a two-years social master’s studies, which besides an internship and thesis writing included time to take additional courses. In my second year, I pursued my internship at the Maatschappelijke Alliantie, a foundation that sets up collaborations between the philanthropic and public sector in the circular economy. After my internship, I got the opportunity to contribute as an employee, first in a more operational coordination role while quick moving into a more content-rich project management role. My second, and current, job continued on the path of building partnerships but moving from the national geographical scope to the global. As a program manager at the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), hosted by the World Resources Institute, I set up cross-sectoral/industry partnerships to overcome key challenges which are too complex to solve alone and that inhibit the transitioning to the circular economy. The circular economy motivates me, as the theory looks to create win-wins for people and nature.
What experiences did you really like during your study?
During my time in Wageningen I kept living in Amsterdam. One of the things I loved about these two years of commuting, were the beautiful bike rides in the early morning from the train station Ede-Wageningen to the Campus and the many Spotify music lists created on the train rides.
I absolutely enjoyed, and learned, the most at the Academic Consultancy Training – although back then the time commitment was challenging. We had a very diverse team in terms of cultures but even more so in terms of characteristics. Our coach supported us in coming together as a team. It was an interesting project in which we executed many interviews with citizens driving green citizen initiatives (buurttuinen) across the country. ACT proofed to offer a very comfortable environment to be thrown into new uncomfortable situations.