Name: Leon van Kouwen
Title of Master thesis: Establishing an ecological status threshold for the Danube River with data from the Second Joint Danube Survey
Date of graduation: December 2008
Current job: Junior researcher aquatic ecology at Deltares
I started TWM late 2006 with a bachelors degree in ecology. I enjoyed ecology but I wanted to move slightly more towards management based studies. So, TWM seemed the perfect fit for me. Both ecology and management are indeed present in the TWM-study program, but there was more. I also did courses in, for example, modelling, environmental management within companies, flood management, hydraulics and philosophy. These were all obligatory courses. I did not enjoy all of them and at times it was perhaps a bit too broad for me, but they gave me a good view of what sustainable water management is about. It is not only about ecology, economy, or sociology: the three pillars are all equally important.
Although I decided to move towards ecology again, it gave me a much broader overview and a sense of importance in what I was doing. I realized what actually happens with research I conduct and why it is so important. Fresh water is a valuable resource and there’s a lot of pressure on it from all sorts of actors. It is difficult to manage, resilient but vulnerable and most importantly, unmissable.
Next to the obligatory courses, the internship and thesis will actually specify what direction you will move in. There are many organisations that are happy to have you and this can lead to interesting projects and great locations to do your internship. I did my internship on Java, Indonesia and this was a great experience. Next to this, there were people in my year doing internships in Nepal, Jordan and the United States. During this internship and thesis I gained experience in setting up projects, ecological assessment and statistical analysis which led me to my current job. Hopefully doing internships abroad will be made easier by the network of alumni.
I think the sort of company/organisation you will end up at, depends on your internship and thesis. However, a number of organisations you can think of are: Deltares, Arcadis, Royal Haskoning, Alterra, Waterboards, Rijkswaterstaat, Grontmij, Infram and universities, but also industrial companies such as Shell will need water managers since they make use of water for cooling and emission purposes. There are also smaller companies on water related subjects.