Joanne Lucas, Photo by: Robert Moltmaker

During my Bachelor of Sports Management and Business, I performed internships at various international development organizations, of which one on Jamaica where I lived for six months.  After completing my Bachelor's, my education felt unfinished; I wanted to know more about theories and events that I felt passionate about. My choice for Political Science: International Relations was not based on future job prospects; it was solely based on interest. I applied for the pre-master Political Science, and although it was really hard to earn a spot in the programme, I eventually succeeded with the help of a study advisor who believed in me. I completed my Master's in one year, combining it with my professional job as a Human Resources Manager at an international company, earning my living and gaining professional experience. It was a busy and challenging, but interesting time. I knew I had made the right choice for this Master's, because it taught me so much about the way the world works. After graduation, I left for South America and had a fantastic time travelling and learning Spanish.

Appealed by a story

During a Political Science career day, organized by Machiavelli*,  I met my future employer Ruben Maes, the founder of &MAES **, who gave a presentation. Since I was immediately appealed by his story, I send him an open application, and this is how I started my job as Junior Adviser for &MAES.

I had a great time and worked on several interesting projects. Recently, however, I decided to take on a new challenge and I have accepted a PhD position at the University of Wageningen. Here I'm going to do PhD research on public-private partnership in the preservation of Global Value Chains. A very interesting topic and the opportunity to immerse myself for four years in science! I am very much looking forward to this new challenge and never thought I would have the chance to obtain a PhD degree - thanks to my Master’s in Political Science.

Express your passion

My advice to Master's students is to write your thesis and choose your electives based on what you enjoy reading and talking about; this will make it so much easier to study hard and deliver good results. Also, make sure people remember you; visit events, put time and effort in building a network and try to find a platform for your voice. For example, I started writing blogs about climate change and security, the subject of my thesis. If you choose to study what you are passionate about, you will find a way to express this passion, whether it is in a job, in volunteer work, in an internship or in your own company. Most importantly, make the decision for your studies based on your interest, not on external or job expectations.

  * Machiavelli is not only the largest, but also the oldest study associating of Political Science in the Netherlands http://www.svmachiavelli.nl/

** &MAES organizes congresses and events for mostly public organisations such as the European Commission, the Dutch government, NGO’s and municipalities and also provides strategic and communicational advice in the public and political domain . http://www.en-maes.nl/