Our third alumni presented in this series of Alumni of Psychology is Marijke Broekhuis. She graduated from a master on communication studies in 2015 and a master risk- and conflict psychology in 2016. She works as a PhD student at Roessingh Research and Development on a topic to improve healthy aging.
How long did it take to find your first job?
While I was finishing my master thesis for Psychology, I started looking for a job. That meant that I graduated on Friday the 1st of April, and started my first workday that following Monday. After a year, I noticed this was not really what I wanted to do. So again, I started searching for a job. After two months I found my current job, which I’m doing with a lot of fun and enthusiasm!
What are your tasks and responsibilities?
Currently, I am doing a PhD at Roessingh Research and Development. I work in several European projects that aim to improve healthy ageing. The main focus of my thesis is usability evaluation of eHealth technology that supports the general wellbeing and healthy lifestyle of older adults. As a PhD student, you have a variety of tasks and responsibilities. Besides conducting studies and writing research articles, you learn much on guiding and supervising students, presenting your work to the field and working together in international project teams. An extra benefit is that you can travel a lot to conferences, symposia, and project meetings in Europe.
What have you taken along your study which you now profit from?
I think mostly the academic skills, like writing, structuring your research, conducting qualitative studies (interviews, focus groups, etc.) and presenting. Also, I once followed the course on group dynamics that was really interesting. It helped me learn a lot on the roles that individuals take on while working with other people.
What do you hope to achieve in your career?
Since I just started, I’m mostly focusing on writing my first research articles and getting them published in scientific journal. Hopefully, I will finish my thesis within the given time. Let’s see what happens then!
If you think about your study time, which memory comes to mind?
One of my highlights during my studies was an internship I did with a friend in Brazil and afterwards we travelled further to Argentina and Uruguay. If you ever go to South America, don’t miss the waterfalls at Foz de Iguazu!
Which tips and tricks would you like to give to current students?
Here is a lot of pressure nowadays to do a lot of stuff besides your studies, such as internships, following extra courses, doing a board-year, study-related jobs next to your studies, etc. I have to admit I also was experiencing this fear of missing out, so I tried to do it all. But it’s okay to be a bit more selective in the extracurricular activities that you do, just do those activities wholeheartedly. Use them to meet new people, broaden your network, or find career or internship opportunities. Plus, you have more time to focus on what you really like to do (and to relax!). You don’t need to do everything to have an amazing student time.
Marijke graduated writing two master thesis’. In the first thesis, for communication studies, she found that developing a scenario-based simulation training based on the specific motives for (non)compliance of cashiers of supermarkets would enhance their compliance with the minimum age law on alcohol.
In the second thesis, for psychology, she aimed to gain more insights in both individual and group factors leading to radicalization by investigating the roles of emotions (anger and contempt) and personal life events of respondents.
Any questions to Marijke?
This alumni has given the opportunity to answer questions about his/her work. If you have a question you are invited to mail this questions to amygdala@utwente.nl. Our moderator will bring you in touch with the alumni, who will answer your questions. For direct career opportunities you are advised to get in touch with the Human Resources department of the employer.
Get in touch!
Do you know someone who has a nice job, has an inspiring career of otherwise is interesting to join the Humans of Psychology series? Please get them in touch with us. To be able to keep this series going more alumni are needed.
Published: September 24th, 2018