Jurriaan van Wakeren, MSc
Safety policy advisor at municipality of Woerden
When I started my bachelor's degree in Public Administration in 2010, I was quickly drawn to the field of public safety. From an early age, I was interested in all things related to the emergency services. This way, I figured, I could give an academic twist to my boyhood dream.
Why Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety?
So when it was time to opt for a Master's, the choice was quickly made: the Public Safety specialization of the Master Public Administration. However, as I was looking for more depth in the field of public safety, I decided to combine this master with the Conflict, Risk and Safety specialization. This combination of specializations, I reckoned, would help me look at social issues from a policy perspective, but also help me take into account the effect policy decisions have on how we behave, both as individuals and in groups. This combination indeed turned out to be very valuable. After completing a pre-master's program in which I was already able to take a number of courses in the field of safety psychology, I was able to start both master's programs.
Working at a safety region
In my first job at the Utrecht Safety Region, I dealt with the question of how to encourage our residents to live as fire-safely as possible at home. By installing smoke detectors, for example, but also by cooking safely and taking care with electrical devices. While many of my colleagues (too) quickly came up with solutions, I had learned to take a more analytical and scientific approach. Subjects like risk communication taught me to start with a good analysis of things like a person’s attitudes and social norms, and find out why people behave in a certain way. This helped me to choose between several different interventions, like a communication campaign or advertising through social media. Courses like Advanced Research Methods taught me to measure the success of our interventions. That in turn helped to justify what we did to colleagues and our board.
Safety policy advisor at a municipality
I currently work as a safety policy advisor at a municipality. I am mainly occupied with fighting organized crime (in which, in recent years, municipalities have taken an increasingly large role alongside the police). In addition, a large part of my job concerns preparing for incidents and crises, together with emergency services such as the police and fire brigade. Think of fires, but also of a new pandemic or a new refugee crisis. With the knowledge I gained during my master’s, I can contribute to questions such as: how do we motivate people to report suspicions of crime to the municipality or the police? How do people optimally function when placed in a crisis response team? How do we motivate people to prepare for disasters like floodings or large scale power failures, for example by storing emergency rations?
I believe most students go to university desiring to contribute to solving societal problems. Human behavior plays a role in almost all challenges we face, which ensures psychology is a very useful background for any career in the public sector.
Advise for (future) students
My tip to future students: focus on your studies, but also try to join some extracurricular activities as they provide you with valuable additional experience. Organize a symposium for your study association, for example, or do a board year or go on a study trip. I would especially recommend to find ways to get to visit organizations you might be interested in working for. Do a graduate internship for the police, a municipality or any other organization you’re interested in, or just simply stop by for a cup of coffee somewhere. People will be happy to tell you about their job. Combining the knowledge from your courses with the skills you obtain during extracurricular activities will vastly help your experience in the first years of your career.
Interested in learning more about my career experience or want to grab a cup of coffee? Feel free to contact me via LinkedIn!
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