Second year at Utrecht University

Dear readers of the UES Weblog,

It has been a while since my last post on this blog. Trying to catch up on the developments of the last couple of months I hope you don´t mind that this post exceeds the usual length.

The end of last semester was rather busy with deadlines constantly approaching. But eventually we all accomplished our first year´s goal to hoard 60 ECTS. It was both a challenging and inspiring first year at Utrecht University with lots of new friendships that will (fingers crossed) survive the big separation we are all facing in the next couple of months. As we are proceeding in our second and last year in our Master program Sustainable Development we are swiftly approaching our – at least for some of us – final academic challenge or hurdle before obtaining our degree – our Master thesis.

Since Sustainable Development is a holistic concept that renders a global perspective indispensable, some of my fellow students choose to spent their research activities abroad with destinations ranging from Brazil to India. Any speculations that their ulterior motive might be to skip European winter months are of course completely unfounded. Especially developing and emerging economies exhibit a high potential for promoting sustainable development. To help them leapfrog into an era of green technology while improving people´s livelihoods should be on top of the political agenda and the sustainability movement.

Nevertheless, the potentials of developed countries concerning this matter are vast. Especially in Europe, the sustainability movement is gaining momentum and more and more supporters. Sustainability has become a buzzword and an essential element of any policy initiatives, be it the promotion of renewable energy sources, the concept of 'cradle to cradle' or urban greening. The latter is the topic of one of the classes I am currently taking. The general idea of it is to commit a group of students in conducting integrative research to solve a real-life problem. All case studies are located within Watergraafsmeer, a low-lying suburb of Amsterdam. For those not familiar with THE peculiarity of the Dutch landscape: low-lying in this case means 5.50 meters below sea level. No wonder one of the main issues faced by the inhabitants of this mainly residential area is a shallow groundwater table inflicting severe damage to private properties such as gardens and basements.

Alleviating the proneness to flooding of one building block within Watergraafsmeer is the task of our team which consists of seven students from a diversity of backgrounds (policy, energy, land use). Making use of and integrating this range of different expertise, interests and perceptions turns out to be challenging but also very inspiring. My personal favorite about this project is the step we are taking from the “well preserved“ and familiar university environment into the job world with real clients and real and tangible stakeholders.

Even though we are only 3 weeks into this assignment, I can say that this class is definitely one of my favorites in the entire program and being one of the last for me, it will probably stay so. Though not completely settled yet, the rest of my second year at Utrecht University might look like this:

I will most likely opt for the short version of my thesis, i.e. 30ECTS (equivalent to one semester) instead of 45ECTS (equ. to 1,5 semesters). Students who go for the short thesis may either supplement their schedule with an additional two electives or with going through the procedure of publishing their results in a journal. I myself would like to gain a more comprehensive and holistic overview over the different disciplines involved in sustainable development which is why I will do an additional two electives. In doing so, I will probably take advantage of Utrecht´s central location and attend two classes at Wageningen University. This proximity of Utrecht to other academic institutions combined with the excellent public transportation system of the Netherlands expands the range of choices dramatically. Wageningen University offers me the chance to learn a bit more about Marine Environmental Science, which shall also be the main focus of my Master thesis. I am very much interested in doing some research about phase shifts in marine ecosystems, which basically a dominance shift from corals to macroalgae with dramatic and largely irreversible consequences for this mega-diverse marine ecosystem. Research on ecosystem phase shifts is definitely one of our departments academic flagships.

And then hopefully, after two inspiring years at Utrecht University I will obtain my Master degree in Sustainable Development and after years and years of knowledge acquisition I will be able to put this knowledge into practice and try to make the world a better place :-)

Utrecht University has been a stroke of luck for me and in this context I would like to express my gratefulness to the numerous generous donors of the Utrecht Excellence Scholarship Fund. Thanks to your donation, I was and still am able to spend two academically and personally inspiring years at Utrecht University. Thank you!

And last but not least I would like to thank all the readers for following our blog. To all the prospective students out there considering to apply for a program at Utrecht University - a definite recommendation from my side. To all the other readers – enjoy reading the posts of the next generation of UES students. It has been a pleasure filling this blog with our experiences. Tot ziens!

With kind regards,

Andreas