 So, good afternoon. Thank you for coming to this interview. How are you? Yeah, good. Thank you. How are you? Good. Good. Thanks. We'll start asking you to tell me a bit more of your current job, the job title, organization, company, and if you can explain what does the job entitle. Yes. So, thanks for having me. I am currently working as a policy advisor for the regional water authorities. So, in the Netherlands we have water boards. The one I work for is called Hoge Himlaatschap van Del Vland. It's in the area between The Hague and Rotterdam. Roughly 1.3 million people, I think, live in this area. And as I said, I work as a policy advisor on different themes, but mostly around water quality and ecology. Well, I think the biggest thing I work on is the topic of emerging pollutants in the water. So, that could be plastics, microplastics, medicine residue, and all kinds of substances of very high concern. So, I think it's a group of around 150,000 substances and we're trying to figure out how we should handle this. So, actually, I recently finished a strategy for the coming decades where we focus mainly now on the coming years to gain knowledge and to form alliances with partners, so research institutes, but also different governments and different levels. So, well, yeah, and I started to work on the implementation right now. So, a lot of different things, a lot of different stakeholders. Nice. I think that is quite an important role then, since there's all these news on antibiotics running water and so on, so coming more and more frequently. It's a very hot topic. We see that, but at the same time, we also still have a lot of efforts on reducing nutrients and pesticides, which we sort of see more as the traditional pollutants in our water. So, this is really about all the new stuff that's coming up. But definitely a hot topic and a lot of policy or non-existent policy for some topics, a lack of knowledge. So, it's a very dynamic environment, but very interesting. Nice. Now, I'm going to ask you a bit about the EMETE program and I want to ask you why did you enroll to EMETE? Yeah, it was sort of like a few coincidences coming together. So, I used to work in the oil industry as an engineer and it was very fun. But yeah, I was also a little bit there because I really liked this international environment. So, I lived in different countries for my work at the time and at the same time, I really enjoyed traveling. And on one of those trips, I got really inspired to sort of see like this new topic, well not new topic, but environmental issues and sustainability to sort of find out for myself like how big are these problems that we are actually facing and what could be solutions. So, I got very interested in, well, either moving more towards that field or maybe gaining knowledge through a program, through studying and then quite randomly, I was on a hiking trip in Nicaragua and I met this Canadian guy who was enrolled in the EMETE program. So, he started telling me about this program in three different cities that focused on quite a broad spectrum of environmental technology topics. And I was like, oh, that sounds interesting. So, I got back from my trip and I started looking into it and I enrolled and got a position. So, yeah, it's sort of the different things coming together. That's quite a story to be fair. And how was the, what was the experience with the course and what did you like the most? Well, I definitely can say I had a very pleasant experience. For me, I guess, well, obviously I like a bit of adventure. I'm very curious. So, I really like the aspect of living in different cities and seeing a little bit of, well, for me it was almost closer to home than where I lived before, but still different cultures. And the program itself, for me, it gave me a nice and broad overview of the field of environmental technology. And also I think in the last semester, there was like an option to choose electives and then especially also with the thesis work, there was definitely enough flexibility to personalize and specialize. And I think the thing I really liked best was being in this program with other students from all over the world, very different backgrounds and getting to know each other, learning from each other on an academic level, and I think more about each other's cultures, each other's habits, how to communicate. I think that was for me the best part of the program. And how was your experience living in these three European countries? Well, yeah, I'm a little bit of a nomad, I think. So, yeah, this is, for me, it was really nice experiencing Prague with its beautiful architecture and parks and museums. Well, I'm from the Netherlands, so it's not that far away, but still very pleasant experience to live in this city. And to be honest, I am actually from Delft, so that was not such an exotic experience for me, but at the same time at IHE, I think I was a bit of the exception to the rule. There's very few Dutch students, so I really enjoyed working in the lab together with people from Africa, Asia, Middle East, all kinds of different cultures. It was very nice. And what do you see yourself doing in the next few years? Yeah, it's a nice question. It really forces me to also think about this a little bit. I do see that I never expected to end up in a government, but I find it extremely interesting to see the interaction between science and policy. So I feel especially with this topic of emerging pollutants, that we're so reliant on, like, we're dependent on scientific knowledge to make policy. So I'm very excited to focus more on this interaction. And yeah, we really have to work together. So I think within the Netherlands, we already do this, but also in an international stage. So I really hope I can play a role there. And also maybe, yeah, I'm investigating if I can also already reach maybe out to students. So through guest lectures to tell them about my work as a policy advisor. So that's already a first introduction between science and policy. Does this kind of link to your master thesis that you did before? No, and not really, I think my master thesis was very technical. So it was a very specialist like topic. So I don't see a clear link with the thesis topic, but definitely from the program. Obviously there are contacts already. I mean, I've seen different institutes. So that definitely helps. Interesting. And what is a cause ideal project you believe in or would like to pursue? Well, I guess this. So I really believe in synergy. So in working together and with different stakeholders and the topic I work on now, I think it's a very important topic also just for the quality of our environment, of our living. And I think it's a topic that requires like a strong effort to work together internationally, but also between fields of policy and science. So this is definitely a cause I believe in. Yeah, and also very important. Yeah. Breach those fields that seem so separated, but they are actually very connected. Yeah. Do you think the knowledge you gained from the program can help you to achieve this goal? Well, yeah, I think the network I gained from a meter definitely will help me achieve this goal. And also like the skills of communication and interaction with with people from different with different interests, I guess that that will definitely help in making this bridge. And what advice would you give to a student or anyone interested to apply for the immediate program? Well, definitely. Look into it go for it. But I guess it goes for most people be adventurous and be curious and. Yeah, and keep learning. Perfect. Thank you for your time. We'll finish the interview now. Thank you.