Student Floris on the Honour Programme Inclusive Energy Transition

Floris Borghouts is a master's student in Public Administration with a specialisation in Policy and Politics at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB). We spoke to him while he was completing his master's degree, an exciting period for any student. But Floris is no ordinary student: in addition to his master's, he followed the Honour Programme Inclusive Energy Transition. We asked him what motivated him to participate and how he experienced the programme.

'I was about to enter my final year of study, so this was my last chance to add something extra to my education and do something so unique,' Floris says. 'When I saw that the Province of South Holland and TNO were among the clients of the honours programme, I signed up right away.'

During his studies, energy transition often came up as one of the great challenges of our time, but Floris realised that he actually knew little about it. 'I had never directly linked inclusion to the energy transition, but after following the programme I understand very well why these two topics belong together.'

A unique opportunity

'The honours programme gets you out of your own bubble,' he reflects. 'You sit with all students from other studies and faculties. In my case, that included three students from philosophy, law and economics studies. Well, those are super fun perspectives. Together, you carry out a practical assignment that an organisation gets stuck on. That's just a unique opportunity.'

For Floris, it felt like a mini-internship. 'You are in the office a lot for eight months and you also have weekly contact with your client. We were working on an issue from the Province of South Holland and TNO: "How do we raise awareness of the concept of climate justice among decision-makers of the Province of South Holland and TNO". The cooperation with the partner went very well. We received intensive guidance, and I liked that. Everyone has their own schedule besides the honours programme, of course, so you do have to make good arrangements to see and speak to each other.'

Together with his team, Floris conducted a policy analysis and presented it to the province's energy team via a workshop. 'We wanted to deliver something useful. Therefore, throughout the process, we included the energy team's perspective as much as possible. When they said to us at the end of the project, "We are really going to use this", we were very proud. Of course, that's what you do it for. We worked hard for eight months.'