Student
04/09/2014

And how are things in Loitokitok?

During a short break from my hard work I had the chance to go on a small safari, where I saw giraffes, elephants, lions, and many more wild animals. It’s a wonderful experience for tourists, which you see a lot in national parks, but for locals the wildlife can be a nightmare. The dry season - a nine-month period - is a time elephants come out of the parks at night in search of water. Newly installed water pumps, often funded by foreign donors, are demolished frequently by the elephants looking for water. Upon daybreak, villagers are left without a source for clean water and destroyed crops.

by Peter Kuin | masterstudent Innovation Sciences

I have been in a village in southern Kenya for over a month now, where I’m researching water conflicts for my master thesis. Together with a local organization I try to map the problems that occur and try to find possible pathways for innovations. Apart from having to share water with local wildlife, the people have conflicts sharing it among themselves, too. Finding a durable solution is quite a challenge in a situation where everybody is dependent on a resource that’s scarce, but I still think it is possible.

At the moment even I am experiencing problems with water. Our taps have run dry since the water company has stopped supplying water because of the drought. We’ve been waiting for a water tanker to arrive for a week. In the meanwhile I have to buy water from vendors who go around with carts pulled by donkeys. Unfortunately, the water is expensive, and most people cannot afford such ‘luxury’ so they have to walk a couple of kilometers everyday to get to the closest water pump. Should that pump be destroyed as well, I don’t think the elephants will be considered friendly anymore.

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Student
02/10/2014

And how are things in Mexico City?

Mexico, the country of drug cartels, Tequila, tacos and corruption. It’s also the country I decided to do my internship for the bachelor program of Industrial Design. It is a challenge , because the country doesn’t have a long design tradition. Early August I left for Mexico City to start my internship at ‘Studio José de la O’.

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Student
01/10/2014

And how are things in Haifa?

Most of you may have heard something, either via newspapers, TV, intelligence agencies, social media or friends, about how things role in the country that is torn apart by war and student parties. I will leave the former for the professionals working at the newspapers and will tell you something about the latter.

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Student
16/09/2014

And how are things in Dübendorf?

When I started my study Building Engineering, I knew I wanted to graduate at Building Physics and Services in the chair acoustics. During my study I learned about wind flows and wind tunnels. For my graduation project I wanted to combine acoustics and wind flows.

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Student
18/06/2014

And how are things in Sydney?

Early February I set off from Schiphol, unexpected weather conditions made my trip longer and got me a day in Dublin and Abu Dhabi too, sponsored by the airline. Four days later I arrived in Sydney, jet-lagged, tired, but with enthusiasm I spend the first days outfitting my new room and exploring the neighbourhood. Because the Sydney-feeling wasn’t there yet I decided to conduct the mandatory visit to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House… Now I felt like a Sydneysider.

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Student
16/06/2014

And how are things in Riga?

Each year a commission of the European Union calls out one city to be European Capital of Culture. In 2009, Riga was called out to hold this honorable title for the year 2014. However, it was years later that I decided to come to this unpolished gem to follow an internship at 1PLUS1 - architecture & design.

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Student
05/06/2014

And how are things in Montpellier?

On February 6, 2014 at 9 o’clock sharp, a pilot who wishes to stay anonymous started the engines of his airplane to arrive in southern France only moments later. As a last assignment of our former Highness, I was assigned to make friends with the French people, and to launch a massive campaign for peanut butter.

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Student
15/05/2014

And how are things in Istanbul?

Thankfully, I didn’t experience much of a culture shock when I moved to Istanbul. After all, I’d already gone through that phase five years ago when I moved from a small South Holland town to Eindhoven, the city where everyone has a ‘soft G’, is twenty minutes late all the time, takes the week off to celebrate carnaval, enjoys sausage rolls, and prides themselves on their agricultural roots.

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Student Research
02/05/2014

And how are things in New York City?

New York City, the city of yellow cabs, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. For my four-month internship I am working at New York University Medical Center, which is a great opportunity to explore this gigantic metropolis.

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Student Research
29/04/2014

And how are things in Boston?

In every human cell, several meters of long, linear DNA is used to store all of our genetic information. Although these 700 megabytes of DNA per cell are incredibly important, researchers in the field of bionanotechnology find the natural occurring DNA rather boring. Instead, they have devised ways to precisely manipulate the DNA and are now able to successfully create any arbitrary two- and three-dimensional shape on a nanometer scale. Think of a DNA strand as a balloon animal that is folded into its shape, not by a clown, but by the hands of the scientist.

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