It was after finishing the first year of my previous programme that I started thinking about what I could do that is both challenging and innovative, but at the same time something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I started thinking of how I could perhaps combine IT with some other field, and I quickly realised that the only other field I've ever been interested in was forensic science, which is how I found this programme.

I started this programme, with the hopes of acquiring the mind-set of a forensic scientist and a deeper knowledge on forensic data analysis and database forensics (think: financial crime, fraud detection, money laundering, etc.) Since I'm still at the very beginning, the courses so far consisted mostly of general knowledge on forensics and the forensic process. Unfortunately the programme does not have a course on digital forensics (yet), but I was aware of this when I started, so I knew my focus would be on choosing the adequate specialisation courses and research project in the second year. However, each year more of digital forensics is getting incorporated in the existing courses. One particularly interesting week was when we had a guest lecture from forensic data analysts from KPMG and from an expert on digital forensics from the NFI. In that same week I attended a forensic frontiers lecture on how we can make use of artificial intelligence in the forensic science field. All in all, a very interesting and educational week.