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| June 2024 |
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| Hi there! Welcome to the last newsletter for all new Master students in EPA! |
You have registered for the master's program Engineering and Policy Analysis (EPA)! You may still have doubts about whether you are going to follow this program or what studying at TU Delft actually entails. To help you make this choice, this final newsletter provides some glimpses into the EPA life and crucial logistics for moving to the Netherlands.
Thanks!
Thank you for reading our newsletter this past academic year! We hope that they were helpful to you in everything you need to before you come here. If not, feel free to reach out to any one of the volunteering students. Now comes the fun part, have a great summer, and hope to see you on campus this upcoming fall in Delft! |
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| In this Newsletter |
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- EPA conference: Grand Challenge Accepted 2023
- Faculty introduction at The Hague campus
- Business Trip to Porto
- Ministry Visit
- Practical information
- Things you need when you come here
- Summer in the Netherlands
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| Welcome by Director of Studies MSc EPA, Haiko van der Voort |
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EPA is like the Dutch weather at the moment. Some showers, some sunshine, some deadlines, some free time. Some day summer will kick in. After the deadlines life at Wijnhaven will be much quieter. There is plenty of space for second year students to work on their thesis. Dentatus board is organizing for some outdoor activities and already for some meetings in September.
Foremost, we are anticipating on the start of the 2024-2025 season. That’s when you will join in! We will unite farewell and welcome on the upcoming “Grand Challenge Accepted” conference (August 22), this year with the title “Inclusive systems”. Here EPA graduates will present their thesis work and alumni tell how EPA still inspires them in their daily work. That is along with a key note about inclusive energy systems by UNDP official Ana Victoria Rojas, a panel with EPA alumni and a not-to-miss beach party at night.
The good news is: you are welcome to join and get a taste of your future 2 years. You can enlist via link. It is free of charges. For the beach party (including food) we ask for a small fee.
Haiko van der Voort
Director of Studies Engineering & Policy Analysis
Please note: Receiving this newsletter does not imply admission to the EPA programme. |
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| Özge Okur: EPA program manager |
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One of the most exciting things about being EPA program manager is meeting the new EPA cohort at the beginning of the academic year. It gives me energy to interact with diverse and ambitious students, and to be part of their university experience.
You will also see me as one of the lecturers in the programming for data science course. I have been really enjoying teaching this course for the past few years. I find EPA students very eager to learn, enthusiastic about approaching complex problems analytically.
I hope to facilitate a wonderful learning experience for EPA students, working as a team with the Director of Studies, Haiko van der Voort, and the office manager, Lilian Hellemons. Looking forward to meeting you in the Hague in September!
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| Grand Challenge Accepted 2024! |
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| SAVE the 22nd of AUGUST!! Because we have our annual EPA celebration called “Grand Challenge Accepted” on that Thursday in The Hague. It is a meeting with upcoming EPA students, current EPA students, EPA graduates, EPA alumni and EPA teachers. It starts feeling like a conference, with a key note, break outs with presentations by EPA graduates and a roundtable with EPA alumni. It ends feeling like a party, as we have photoshoots, volleyball and drinks on the beach. If you feel like EPA, you are more than welcome to enlist here. |
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| Faculty introduction at The Hague campus (and Ommen Trip) |
On August 28, you will get to meet the professors who will be teaching you through your student life at EPA, and more importantly- each other! More details about Faculty Introduction will follow soon.
A few weeks after the first quarter begins, the Ommen trip takes place. It is basically all new EPA Students gathered in Ommen, talking, playing board games and having a few non-academic fun days together in the Dutch countryside. There is also a serious game involved, which has been developed by EPA alumni and professors. While the days are for networking and getting to know what EPA entails, the evening are more informal and laid back. All in all, this event is engineered to help students of the cohort to get to know each other and engage in as many conversations as possible. The trip from 2023 is pictured above. For 2024, the Ommen trip will be from September 23 to September 25. |
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| Business Trip to Porto |
In the vibrant and sun-kissed city of Porto, the EPA group embarked on an exciting business journey that coupled work with exploration. Students visited a think tank, a digital consultancy and a space exploration organisation, where they had conversations about innovation and collaboration.
But the trip wasn't all work! Beyond the boardroom, the team caught waves in a thrilling surfing adventure, explored Porto's historical tapestry, and indulged in the refined pleasures of Port wine tastings. The picture above was taken by Ryan, a second year EPA student, it captures the happy faces of the attending group! |
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| Ministry Visit |
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Policymakers from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate invited EPA students to discuss with them an important and very timely topic: the transition away from fossil gas. At the COP in Dubai in 2023, the countries came to the agreement to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems”. Now it is up to the countries’ governments to determine how exactly they will implement this. Policymakers in the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate are currently working on this. It was up to EPA students to look into the gas system, the dependencies in this system, different scenarios and the critical pathways for decisionmaking.
On Tuesday June 12th, 15 EPA students have visited the Ministry (basically a 10 minute walk from EPA, as all Dutch Ministries). In subgroups they made their analysis and presented it to 9 junior and senior policymakers. Of course, most of the presented material was common to the policymakers, since they have been acquainted with the material for months. Still, they were surprised by the ideas of EPA students, not being hindered by the conventions and organisational oddities within a Ministry. So EPA students indeed had impact! Behind a good drink afterwards we could look back to a successful and fun event.
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| About Housing: Finding a Room |
Once you've decided to attend TU Delft, you should start looking for housing. Before arriving in the Netherlands, all students are strongly encouraged to guarantee their housing. You could use these links as guides to learn more about housing in the Netherlands.
Finding a room in the Netherlands can be challenging. We hope the following tips and advice will assist you in finding one if you haven't already. Here is some advice to find a room or accommodation provided by Charles, an academic counsellor of TPM. |
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| Online beginners course Dutch |
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| How do you order your coffee in Dutch? What is life like in a typical Dutch city? The Delft Dutch Course for Beginners will help you in your first steps learning Dutch and give you a head start getting around in the Netherlands. You are going to learn the language by following the daily life of Maria, an Argentinian student who lives in Delft. |
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| Helpful Phone Applications |
There are many phone applications that will help assist your daily life in the Netherlands. Here we listed some of them that we think are the most necessary for you to download on your phone.
- 9292: to check the public transportation schedule and plan your journey.
- DigiD: an online identity platform to access many services and government websites in the Netherlands.
- My TU Delft: to access personal information related to schedule, study progress, and exam registrations.
- Pulse: to access Brightspace, a TU Delft's learning platform, to get the course information.
- Outlook: to access email accounts and calendars.
- Buienradar: to check the weather forecast.
- Google Translate: to translate languages.
- Bank Account Application: to access online banking features from your phone. The application depends on which bank account you have.
- NS: to access personal information related to your journey with NS, the train in the Netherlands.
- Online stores: Bol.com (a webshop similar to Amazon), Zalando (an online retailer of clothes), Marktplaats (to buy and sell secondhand goods).
- Tikkie: to ask for your money back and pay back other people.
Note: Some applications will only be available to download if you have changed the region of your play store or app store to the Netherlands. |
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| Things you need when you arrive |
| Curious about what you need to organize before coming to the Netherlands? Do you want to check if you miss something regarding your preparations? Here we wrote some information that can be helpful for the first-timer in the Netherlands and TU Delft! |
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| Summer in the Netherlands |
There are plenty of activities you can do during the summer in the Netherlands. You can visit the beach, castles or islands. Here there is a list with recommendations for planning your summer (check it here). Also, besides staying in the Netherlands you can travel throughout Europe. Be careful that the UK is no longer from the EU. So, depending on your situation, you may need to apply for a visa.
If you like museums there is a very convenient option for having cheap access, the museum card. For only €65 per year, you can enter more than 400 museums in the Netherlands. |
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| Colophon |
Third edition Delft, the Netherlands, June 2024
Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management
Master programme EPA
The 1st and 2nd edition of the EPA newsletter is still available online |
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| Contact |
| If you have any questions about this newsletter or suggestions for possible new items or events, please contact the editorial office at internationaloffice‑tbm@tudelft.nl. |
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