"People's behaviour and health have always fascinated me, which is why I sought a study combining these fields." At UCV, I designed a curriculum that included courses in health, psychology, and economics (consumer behaviour). The major common denominators in these courses were behaviour and health. "Because of my education, I now have a better understanding of how and why people make decisions regarding nutrition and health," says Ilse Knoops. She puts her UCV studies to good use as a health policy adviser at GGD Brabant-Zuidoost.

"As a health policy adviser, I advise municipalities on health policy issues such as overweight. In the Brabant-Zuidoost region, we are working to implement several health-promoting interventions throughout the entire healthcare and prevention chain. Other projects I work on involve changing social norms about drug use or young people's mental health."

Ilse continued her education at Maastricht University, where she earned a master's degree in Health Education and Promotion. Looking back on her studies in Venlo, she values the skills she learned the most: "I greatly benefit from being able to collaborate, which I learned during the problem-based learning groups, as well as skills like logical reasoning and argumentation."

Ilse is still actively improving herself. "I want to keep learning by following my interests. That is one of the reasons I chose UCV; I pursued my own interests, which inevitably put me on the right (career) path."