One of these internships was at the Forensics Department of the Police, which was a great opportunity and provided me with a drive to learn more. Because of this drive I applied for the programme.

Besides the knowledge and skills, the broad and interdisciplinary setting of the programme was something that I really liked. One of the important parts of the programme is teamwork and interdisciplinary thinking, something that is present in basically all courses in the first year. This really gives you the tools to overcome day to day issues in your job (in forensics). My most fond memory of the programme is our trip to Geneva, learning about forensics in a different country, socializing and making friendships for life!

I think the master’s fit my expectations quite well, although I had hoped to be able to apply my domain specific knowledge to forensics earlier in the programme. During the second year, you can combine the in-depth forensic knowledge of the first year with your own domain, making the students specialists. However, I do think that in order to specialise you need a well aligned research project, or, as I did, a more practical background.

I got the opportunity of doing my internship at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, where I focused on the IC-MS analysis of pre- and post-explosives residues and their prevalence in the Netherlands. After my internship (2018) I stayed for a couple of months at the NFI during my solicitation procedure for the Dutch Police.

Currently I am working at the Forensics Department of the National Police (Oost-Nederland) as a forensic operational specialist; working on crime scenes, coordinating cases and crime scenes and advising in policies. I can use my knowledge and network from the master’s for solving cases and innovations in our field. Just a dream job!