Van Loon: “Boris, I immediately get straight to the point: How do you look back on your time as a programme director? What are you proud of and what will you miss? ”

Jansen: “I am most proud of the design and implementation of the major curriculum renewal, which became available for the students in the academic year 2019-2020. This was an enormous operation, but it succeeded thanks to the great efforts of a very large group of people, including teachers, students, the management team of FPS, colleagues from the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and especially Willem Bouten and Coyan Tromp, who led the development of the two new interdisciplinary majors / specialisations with boundless energy. This was quite an exciting project to manage and I learned a lot from it. Also in a formal sense, because I used it as a case study for my Senior Teaching Qualification trajectory.”

“What I will miss is the collaboration with the FPS team, a well-oiled machine. A team where you can really count upon each other. Emiel, how did you get to know the IIS? And what are you most looking forward to as a programme director?”

Van Loon: “I first came into contact with the IIS at the start of FPS (mid 2008), when Coyan Tromp was hired as a curriculum developer and Jeanine Meerburg was at the helm of the IIS. It was a period where we as a core team of lecturers in the Earth Sciences programme made contact with many new people, at the IIS but also other faculties such as the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Economics and Business. I am most looking forward to thinking about (and trying out) new teaching methods, as well as new study components, together with teachers and students. Secondly, I’m looking forward to active collaboration with all people who are closely involved in the study programme (students, teachers, staff at the IIS and many other colleagues in the faculty) to facilitate the regular course of events. Since we will still be in crisis mode during 2020/2021, that requires some extra attention and improvisation - the latter may make it even more fun.”

“I wish for the students of FPS that they enrich themselves with ideas, new friends and insights during their studies. Also that they find the space to realise (part of) their ideals. The latter in particular may not seem to be directly related to an academic study - but that is really an illusion. By having ideals and working on it, you become much more owner of your own learning process and you look for knowledge that is useful to you. ”

"Boris and I work together quite intensively in research and therefore have contact on a regular basis. Although I have already been trained very well in recent months, I will still have a question now and then - and I can therefore ask immediately. Those questions usually relate to how things went in the past.”

Jansen: “Extremely passionate and committed people study FPS and work for the programme. Use that enthusiasm and motivation to keep innovating and developing FPS. But also protect your people and make sure they don't run past themselves.”

“Finally, a few words addressed to the students of the programme: To most of you, FPS is not just a study that you have chosen "because it seemed like fun" or "because you had to choose something". No, usually you choose FPS with a clear motivation. Because you are concerned with sustainability, because you want to change the world for the better, or because you are simply very interested in how system earth and humanity systems function and influence each other. Whatever your motivation was when you started FPS, you had something in mind you wanted to achieve with FPS, and I wish you all to succeed.”