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In this week’s double take the corona times experiences of Dirk Reedijk, Financial Controller at ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� College Utrecht, and an account of what it is to give an online guest lecture by alumna Mara Soekarjo, now working at the consultancy &samhoud, and Economics Lecturer Kim Zwitserloot. Furthermore, a proof in pictures that King’s Day did happen at the College.

Dirk Reedijk, who has been at the College almost right from the start in 1998, brought his screen and chair home from the office. “It’s important to sit well’, he says. “By now I have used to working from my home office in the attic. With three home working family members, we each have claimed our own floor.”

“A good functioning online administration system is crucial for my job. The access is strictly protected, but I readily could access it from home, and up to now it works well. I meet regularly with my team mates Janneke and Tania on Teams. That gives us an opportunity to share all kind of news with each other.”

“At times I have the impression that it is now busier than at the office, as all regular meetings continue online, and on the top of that there is quite a lot extra we have to deal with due to the coronavirus measures. Financial prognoses remain difficult to make in these uncertain times. I am glad to have people with whom I can talk about that as well.”

“My hope is that we will be allowed to return to campus within a reasonable time, if only for a part of the week. I look forward to sharing the campus atmosphere with students and teachers again.”

Guest lecture with virtual campus background

Originally part of the Microeconomics, Game Theory and Behavioural Economics course, the guest lecture was meant to give students an insight into how behavioural economics is applied in practice. “But when we ended up doing the lecture online, we decided to make it open to anyone interested”, explains Economics Lecturer Kim Zwitserloot.

The speakers were Mara Soekarjo, alumna of the College, and her colleague Merijn Duchatteau, who both work for &samhoud, a consultancy looking to use behavioral insights to help organisations achieve their strategic goals. Mara: “I was hoping to show current students how I am applying theories that are discussed in the course in my work at &samhoud. I took the Microeconomics course myself in 2012, and at &samhoud I am now building on theories I first come across with in that course, as well as in the psychology courses I took at the College.”

“After shortly introducing the company, Merijn and I discussed various behavioural science concepts and gave examples of how our daily behaviour is influenced by a variety of sources, often subconsciously. We also looked at how the current coronavirus situation influences behaviour, and took up the methodology we use for behavioural change at &samhoud.”

Kim was glad to have positive feedback on the lecture, which was attended by more than 10 people on the top of the 17 students in the course. “Students were very enthousiastic, and I have had several of them contact me afterwards for more information. I hope to have more alumni come back to the College for guest lectures in the future. Ideally, in person of course.”

Mara agrees with Kim’s impression that the lecture was well received. “The students said they liked diving a bit deeper into various theories and techniques, and it was nice to be able to show them that what you learn at university indeed matches with work in practice.”

“For me as a speaker it was enjoyable as well. This was my first online lecture, and I was happy to see that so many students attended. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to share my experiences with students again, and on campus, instead of a virtual campus on the background.”

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King’s Day at UCU

Students Anna Dekker, Quintie Mijnals, Reinier Derks, Maya Homsy King, Annabelle Willeme and Elise Kooij made the best of their King’s Day in W Courtyard, in spite of the corona times restrictions. Flatmates of two units created a chalk family tree of the Dutch royal family. The students also played traditional Dutch games like spijkerpoepen and koekhappen.