Welcome Emiel Driessen!
Former student Emil Driessen has been hired at NDH. He comes from the Netherlands and loves everything about music.
How come you ended up here?
”I'm originally from The Netherlands. I was born in Amsterdam, but my family moved to the smaller town of Huizen, just a few years later. After high school, I got back to Amsterdam to study Musicology at the University of Amsterdam. After finishing this bachelor, I did some travelling while I considered what to do next. I decided to shift to environmental science and stumbled upon the bachelor program of Ecotechnology at Mid Sweden University in Östersund. Even though I never heard of ecotechnology nor of the city of Östersund, it immediately appealed to me. I moved to Östersund, finished the bachelor and continued with a master by research at the university, in which I got the opportunity to focus on resource use and the circular economy in the region.”
What will you be working with?
”I will be working as a PhD student as part of the Circular Biomass 3.0 project at the Department of Natural Science, Design, and Sustainable Development in Östersund. I will focus on using microbes and plants to clean waste streams of harmful substances like PFAS and to transform those streams into sustainable resources.”
What is your impression of our university?
”I’ve had quite a few years of experience at this university as a student. I’ve always liked the smaller scale compared to my studies in The Netherlands. We were a relatively small group of students and the teachers were very involved. At the same time, despite its size, the university has a lot of the resources that you’d want from a university as a student. Now that I started working at the department, I’ve met many of my old teachers that are now my colleagues, and they still remember a lot of what we did as students 5 years ago, which I think is a great indicator of this personal, small-scale approach.”
And how do ypu spend your spare time?
”I love everything about music. I play keys and guitar in a band, and we regularly play at the university for events or somewhere in town. Besides that, I also like to go out and bike, run or hike in the beautiful nature surrounding Östersund.”