Introduction to me and my research

Dear reader,

Before I begin about the current state of my research and the experiences I have while traveling to Brazil, I shall make a small introduction about my research subject and myself.

If you have read my introduction on the Living Lab Biobased Brazil page, you probably know that my name is Thijs Hoek. My origins lay in the middle of the Netherlands, close to the city of Zwolle. Because I have an great interest in every big and technical, I have made the choice to follow the study Energy and Process Technology at the HZ University of Applied Sciences in Vlissingen (Flushing), The Netherlands. If you look at the map of the Netherlands, you will notice that Vlissingen is not exactly close to my home town, acutely it’s quite far away (about 200 km long directional).

Distance between my hometown and Vlissingen

This distance means a travel time of 5 hours between home and school, so I moved to Vlissingen and enjoy the student life there. But every weekend I try to get home to visit my family and friends, because they are the most important in life. Besides studying, working and traveling to and from home, I really like to capture my surroundings by photographing it or just sitting somewhere with friends and enjoying the moment. Especially the sea surrounding Vlissingen always gives my time to reflect and think.

Some examples of the sea surrounding Vlissingen

Because some of my friends are quite venturesome, we often talk about our possibility’s abroad. During those talks it struck me that my study program didn’t had solid connections abroad, but the possibility’s where out there! So I started researching what could be the possibilities for me and my fellow students at Energy and Process Technology.

During this research I had some discussions with study coordinators and lectures at the study. These saw the same opportunity’s as me, but they were never (officially) examined. Due to my interest in the subject and the possible outcomes for the study, they give me the chance to conduct an official research to the international possibilities for the study during my minor slot in the study program.

And so I started researching the possibilities!

Next week I will tell you more about the outlines of my research and the way I got connected to Brazil.

Until then,

Thijs