Tamara Happé obtained a broad background during her Bachelor’s studies at Amsterdam University College, where she studied the earth and environment from both the science and social science perspective. After her Bachelor’s thesis research at the KNMI, where she got inspired to continue studying the climate dynamics and interactions and therefore applied for the specialisation Earth and Climate at Earth Sciences.
“Here at VU Amsterdam, I was able to decide the courses that made up my curriculum. This freedom, and the fact that the programme included two research projects really fitted my interests at that time. During the Master’s, I followed courses focusing on earth system dynamics and climate modelling, like “Climate Modelling” and “Climate Dynamics and Processes”. Additionally, I took courses from other Master’s programmes that I thought to be relevant to climate research, like “Science Journalism” and “Ecohydrology”. Next to following courses, I was also involved in the educational programme and teaching as a Teaching/Student-Assistant. For this, I helped in outreach of the Master’s programme, but also assisted with teaching in several master courses.”
“My first research project was internally, with professors from the VU Earth Sciences department, and focused on paleoclimate modelling. For my final master thesis, I wanted to go abroad to do research at a different institute, to meet new people and broaden my research experiences. Thus, I conducted my research on “The relation between North Atlantic Sea Surface temperatures and European heatwaves” at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, with Prof. Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf and Dr. Efi Roussi, under the supervision of Dr. Gerald Ganssen and Prof. Dr. Han Dolman from the VU side. I really enjoyed this research topic, and the international collaboration between different institutes. This inspired me to apply for a PhD position in the same research area, atmospheric dynamics of European heatwave.”
“So currently, I’m entering my second year as a PhD candidate at the Institute of Environmental Studies (IVM) here at VU Amsterdam. I’m part of a larger European consortium on the use of Machine Learning tools for detection and attribution of extreme weather events, called XAIDA. Here, I’m continuing doing the things I love most: learning, doing research, teaching, and collaborating with people from all over the world with many different backgrounds.”
“For me, that is in essence also the strength of the Earth Sciences master at VU Amsterdam; you have the freedom to shape the curriculum to your own needs and wishes, while getting to know many interesting people along the way.”
