Education of Soil Physics and Land Management

During your BIL internship you will experience the international, interdisciplinary and intercultural nature of the study while working within a professional organization. The internship is highly interwoven with the BSc thesis, for which you collect data during your internship. The BSc
thesis and internship together form the Bachelor Completion.

Here, you will find basic information about your internship and an overview of internship possibilities that staff members could possibly arrange for you. All detailed information and documents needed to prepare the thesis research and internship projects of bachelor’s and master’s students International Land and Water Management can be
found on the BIL/MIL Brightspace.

Your internship is a personal learning experience, and each student has different learning goals and preferences for an internship place. The SLM group offers a wide diversity of internship places, and of course you can also arrange a place at your own preferred host institute yourself!

In the second year BIL you will start with orienting yourself on internship
possibilities, and you will start drafting an internship plan and writing a
research proposal. The orientation usually starts after the internship and
thesis market in January and an intake conversation with your study advisor. After this meeting with your study advisor, you will be send to the internship coordinator (Saskia van der Kooij) for further refining your internship plans and to link you to the most suitable supervisor.

On the BIL/MIL portal, you can find the Planning booklet and the BIL
completion Guidelines to see how you can prepare yourself for the bachelor completion.

You will carry out your internship and the data collection for your BSc
thesis research simultaneously, at the same host institute. The time abroad will be approximately 3,5 months. During this time you will be supervised by a supervisor from your host institute and a supervisor from SLM.

In order to help you in the writing process and in finishing your BSc thesis on time, you can participate in January or June in the YWU-80812 writing sessions. These consist of two assignments that help you improve your writing skills by giving and getting feedback from other students, and – most important – that stimulate you to keep on writing and finishing on time.

Bachelor student: Evi Derks

For my BIL internship and thesis research I travelled to Bonaire a small island in the Caribbean and municipality of the Netherlands together with my study colleague and friend Annis. During our internship we helped in a mangrove restauration project by doing measurements in mangrove nurseries, which have been planted. Also, we researched valorisation of Sargassum seeweed, which means composting and reusing the seaweed for new purposes, in this case fertilizer and compost. An overload of Sargassum weeds wash up on the east coast and start to rot. The rotting process deprives oxygen from the coastal waters which negatively affects the valuable ecosystems.

Furthermore, in our thesis research we quantified soil erosion caused by runoff on the east coast and estimated erosion risks when this area potentially will be developed with buildings and roads. In order to do this research we went into the field with our pick-up and mountain bikes, a pick-axe to collect soil samples, mini-disk infiltrometer to make infiltration measurements, and of course also got stuck with our car in the clay. In short, our field work was one great adventure. I really enjoyed doing my internship and thesis research in Bonaire, and I am already looking forward to my Msc Thesis/Internship!

Bachelor student: Rouan Fousert

For my International Land and Water Management Bachelor thesis I went to the province of Murcia, to a regenerative farm called La Junquera, where I looked at the influence of farming management on the carbon uptake of almond orchards on the high planes of Murcia.I Compared three different almond plots, managed in different ways. I measured the carbon stock of these plots by doing field experiments on soil, above ground and tree carbon. When I had obtained my results, I compared them with existing literature in order to place them within the current reality. Overall, it was truly a special experience and I learned a lot about the potential of soil and above ground biomass carbon storage.

For BWA and MEE students SLM offers a wide variety of topics for carrying out minor and major thesis research (18-36 ects).

The thesis possibilities cover different topics from water and solute distribution / transport in soils and groundwater, through soil erosion to ecosystem services and land management. Thesis research can have a methodical emphasis on laboratory or fieldwork and analysis or modelling and can be adapted to the students prior experience and wishes.

An overview of actual potential thesis topics is given in the information booklet. There is of course also a possibility to come to us with a topic of your own interest, provided that it fits with the research field of the SLM group. In case you are interested in a specific topic from the booklet, or would like to just have a general orientation discussion about thesis research within the SLM Group, please contact Loes van Schaik.

Internships, where you work in a professional organisation on themes related to SLM research topics, can be arranged and supervised through SLM. Students may have different learning goals and interests for their work during an internship, therefore we also strongly recommend to actively search and create new connections. This can be an opportunity to start creating your own professional network in a field of your choice or to try out whether you enjoy working
in a certain type of organisation! In case you do arrange your own internship contacts make sure to get the approval from your university supervisor before you start.

For general information or an orientation discussion please contact Loes van Schaik.