“During my bachelor’s programme in Health Sciences, I became fascinated by the relation between work and health. Everyone wants nice work, but also a good work-life balance. For companies it’s important that employees stay healthy, enjoy their work and are able to work longer. This area of tension is becoming more and more relevant in today’s society.

My bachelor’s programme was very broad and gave me a thorough theoretical basis. I was now looking for a more specific master’s programme with a focus on work and health, but also with more practical aspects. I looked at other universities and other programmes  like Work and Organisational Psychology, but in the end it is the combination of work and health that interests me most. Furthermore, I’m a great fan of the problem-based learning method which I already experienced in my bachelor’s programme here at Maastricht University and I therefore preferred to continue my studies here in Maastricht.

So far, the programme is exactly what I hoped it would be. It’s a challenging workload of course, but the programme is also very practical which for me is highly motivating. We have this model we can use for every case, which highlights the problems very clearly. We then set to discuss and work out possible solutions.

My goal is to find a job that enables me to give advice to companies how they can reduce absenteeism and make the workplace a healthier and happier place for their employees.”