Testimonials
Discover what (former) students say about their study choice and experiences with the programme.
Thomas van Schaik, Student
"As an Environmental Biology student, you are able to completely shape your own Master’s experience."
What makes this programme unique in your eyes?
This programme is unique in the freedom and flexibility it offers. As an Environmental Biology student, you are able to completely shape your own Master’s experience. Very early on, you get to choose between a variety of research projects where you get the chance to work closely together with professionals and gain some extremely valuable practical experience. Additionally, you get to pick from a wide range of theoretical courses, and get to pursue a second research project, or a profile, with perhaps even more freedom.
What is your favourite subject of this programme? Could be a course, a project, an assignment, the thing you like most?
My favourite component of this programme would have to be the major research project. It is a chance to spend nine months working on a research topic within your own field of interest, creating a project of your own in the process.
And on the contrary: what is the biggest challenge of this programme?
While I personally love the freedom and flexibility that this Master’s programme offers, it can also be a very challenging component. Having to plan far ahead can always be difficult, especially when your thoughts are still occupied with the course or project you are working on at the moment. Add having to make sure you fit all required components of your Master’s into your planning and arranging them in such an order that you are able to follow all theoretical courses you want, and you’re faced with a task that is definitely not easy.
Anything else you would like to share with prospective students, you would like to have known before you started?
Definitely feel free to reach out to current or former students by using the Unibuddy system if you have any questions about what it’s like to follow this programme here in Utrecht!
Thyra Balborda, Student
"This programme allows you to fully dive into your interests, meet others with similar interests and similar mindsets"
What makes this programme unique in your eyes?
It’s a very interdisciplinary and flexible programme in which you have relatively a lot of freedom to explore your specific interests and work on specific skills. This freedom keeps you motivated throughout the entire programme as you are essentially only learning about topics you are interested in.
Are there any misconceptions about this programme, can you name them?
Also, the track Ecology & Natural Resource Management might give the impression that it’s all about plants, but there are many opportunities to work on subjects like animal conservation, insects, sustainability, water management, microbes etc.
What is your favourite subject of this programme? Could be a course, a project, an assignment, the thing you like most?
I really liked the writing assignment because, for the first time, I had absolute freedom to research a topic I was interested in, without being bound to any specific prompts or contexts. It was just lots of literature research and being creative with compiling a scientific text, without any hard deadlines.
Anything else you would like to share with prospective students, you would like to have known before you started?
This Master’s programme is a great opportunity to develop yourself not only as a scientist but especially as a person within the scientific community. You will get to learn more about yourself without the academic pressure of a Bachelor’s programme. This allows you to fully dive into your interests, meet others with similar interests, and similar mindsets and create a community of people who can help you learn and grow as a scientist and person. This programme will definitely encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone and into a world of possibilities.
Annelies van Donkelaar, Alumna
"I could specialize in what I do best and what really mattered to me"
This Master’s gave me a lot of freedom: I could specialize in what I do best and what really mattered to me. Another good thing about this Master’s are the many great courses. I was actually struggling to stay within the 120 credits!
During the programme, there are two major internships/researches that you get to carry out. One of them takes nine months, which seemed a really long time when I started, but time really flew by. In this internship I studied hornbill breeding behaviour. Some species of these tropical birds are threatened with extinction, but zoos are struggling to breed them. It was great to dedicate nine months of my life to this cause.
Jeffrey Brand, alumnus
"It were the internships that convinced me to enrol in this programme here in Utrecht"
After finishing my Bachelor in Biology, I spent a lot of time looking at and comparing Master's programmes. I had had enough of lectures and was eager to put the things I’d learned into practice. In the end, the internships convinced me to enrol in the Environmental Biology programme at Utrecht University.
For me, as a nature conservationist, the Environmental Biology programme opened many doors. The internships put me in touch with inspiring nature conservationists and organisations in the field, and my network grew exponentially. During my internships, I have learned more than would ever be possible during courses. An internship lets you develop your soft skills, and above all, it allows you to get a grasp on the complexity of nature conservation issues in real life. I have worked with the Amazon Conservation Team in Suriname, inventorying non-timber forest products in the heart of Suriname, and with WWF in Indonesia, sharing lessons learnt on forest and landscape restoration, where I experienced what nature conservation is like in the field. In both cases, I also learnt a lot about myself, which prepared me significantly for my post-university life. For example, I got confronted in the field with my strengths and weaknesses, which now plays to my advantage in my working life.
After graduation, I started as a trainee at Rijkswaterstaat, where I focus on ecological monitoring of the Marker Wadden (Markermeer, Netherlands) and the governance of Dutch river systems. The complexity of a multi-stakeholder playing field in the tropics turns out to be not so different from the Dutch river systems. Being at work definitely proved to me how much I have learned during my studies!