Last year University College Maastricht student Rieke Sonnenberg participated in the MaRBLe programme. With her analysis of the organisation structure of Maastricht University’s Green Office she got her first real research experience, now applying this during her thesis writing. At the end of April she presented her work at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research in Bournemouth for which she was awarded a MaRBLe scholarship. EDLAB spoke to Rieke to learn more about her experience.
The start of MaRBLe
Rieke first got interested in undergraduate research when on her semester abroad. “While I was on exchange in Canada I realised a lot of students worked together with their professors to gain some research experience, and I realised that I really wanted to do that as well.” As she wanted to focus on sustainability and developmental science she decided to take matters into her own hands and find a researcher who wanted to work with her. “I wrote an email to ICIS and I got an email back from a PhD student who was very enthusiastic as he was looking for a research assistant.” Luckily Rieke got the opportunity to join this project focusing on UM’s Green Office and how to navigate organisational transformation towards sustainability. “It was participatory action research which means that you are researching within your own university where you are part of the change in a way. I sat in the Green Office’s meetings and participated by giving feedback or sharing ideas.”
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Well done!