Finishing your Master’s degree is one of the greatest milestones. We offer our students to look back over their Master’s year and reflect on the highlights and takeaways, as well as share some of their plans for the future. Learn about the year of Julia Brink, a Climate Adaptation Governance student.

What are the most memorable moments of your Master’s year?

I would say all the nice field trips we did. The nice trips we did with other students, the field trip days, it is also really nice to get to know the fellow students. It was a great way to see what you would like to do in the future, having a sneak peek into the industry and building your friendships at the same time.  We had a very nice group and everyone could really connect, so it was always nice to have conversations and share experiences with each other.
There was also a really nice variety in the trips. Thus  we had a really nice one to the Afsluitdijk, which was a bit more technical and it really did show me that there are all these big companies in contact with each other working on the projects related to climate adaptation, so i really enjoyed that one. But also in the Nature landscapes and heritage course we did a couple of trips and then looked at different types of heritage sites, which I really liked, because I never thought about a landscape or a city with specific buildings in that way, so that really changed the way I now perceive those things.

Now when the year is almost over and you’ve had an overview of all of the courses, which ones are your favorites?

I have a favorite subject based on a subject and another favorite one based on how the course was built up. In terms of the contents of the course I really liked the Urban adaptation and innovation course. Personally I’m very interested in urban areas because so many people live there and they are only going to grow in the future. Therefore the questions on how to make sure that all those people can remain living in those areas, as well as the challenges related to climate change and migration that come with that are very relevant. I personally find that really interesting so that was something that the course also went into and that I really liked. But then the build up of the Nature, landscapes and heritage course was really great, because there we had to go into the field, we had to choose a specific area of nature in the Netherlands and we had to really dive deep in the heritage that could be connected to that area. We really had to find practical examples, which we saw in theory in the literature. It was a really nice and effective way to learn about those topics.

What is the most valuable takeaway from your studies?

One takeaway would be that there are so many people working on this climate-related subject  and that they all have their different views and their own background so some people look at it from a more social lens while others from a rather economical view, for example. And the problem they are tackling is so complex that you indeed need all those views and also all the different types of cultural background so in the end, this field is very much about team effort. I think the Master really gave everyone the opportunity to share their views and experiences, so that was a nice way to do it together.

What’s next for you?

I would like to work at a company in the field of sustainability and more precisely on its social side. The kind of questions I would like to deal with is how can we create a more climate-adaptive living environment for people living in that environment together with the people living in that environment. Maybe in the Netherlands, maybe on a bigger scale, but that would be really great.

Start your student journey in MSc. Climate Adaption Governance!