Marcia Fissette, Junior Advisor Forensic Technology at KPMG and PhD student at the University of Twente
Before starting the master’s programme in September 2010, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Communication & Multimedia Design and Artificial Intelligence. I wanted to apply the techniques I learned to forensic problems, because of the social relevance. That is how I started this master’s. The varied programme was appealing because it allowed me to learn about all types of data that are relevant in the forensic field, and to which I potentially could apply the artificial intelligence techniques.
I particularly liked the variety of topics discussed but also having the opportunity, with the elective courses and research project, to go more into depth. My research project was about ‘the identification, visualization and analysis of processes from general ledger data’, with the objective to detect fraud. I performed this research at KPMG Forensic Technology.
The project prepared me for the work I’m currently doing, because I became
familiar with the field I’m now working in. Furthermore, because of the varied
program I became used to switching between different topics and to quickly
acquire knowledge of new topics, which is useful for my work now. I am employed
as a junior advisor Forensic Technology at KPMG and as a PhD student at the
University of Twente. The PhD project is part of my employment at KPMG and
focuses on the development of methods to detect fraud. I want to keep working
for KPMG Forensic Technology and finish the PhD project within 6 years.
To prepare for a career, I would recommend students to find a specific area they
want to focus on and use the elective courses to specialize in this area,
because the remainder of the master’s programme is quite broad. Try to find
organizations or institutes, besides the Netherlands Forensic Institute, that
operate within your area of interest.