As speaker I can tell you the most fascinating stories about ants. These social insects are amazing, and resemble human societies in many ways. We can learn a lot from them, and even use them to our own advantage. I will certainly give you an interesting story (in Dutch or English) that you will not quickly forget. As a bonus I will bring ants to the show, to make this experience unique! For more information have a look at my website (in Dutch): www.mierenlezing.nl

Mierenspecialist is a company selling different ant species and necessary accessories for keeping ants as pets.You'll find an overview of all the ant and other insect species that you can buy.

WageningenUP is an online platform designed to give students from Wageningen an up-to-date and complete summary of all the upcoming events. Wageningen is a sociable University town where you will quickly notice that 1 in 6 persons living there is student. Within the vibrant and enterprising student community a variety of events and parties is organized.

Working at the Business Unit (DLO) of Wageningen UR at the department of Bio-interactions, food-safety, plant health and diagnostics. Within the Global One Health approach in the strategic plan of Wageningen UR we focus on unraveling the microbiome community in biting midges. How these communities shift under different circumstances and how they differ between midge species.

Working at the Laboratory of Entomology, focussed at the coordination and excecution of necessary background research for the LIVEepi European project (part of the ANIHWA-EraNet funding program). In collaboration with Warwick University (UK), Linköping University (Sweden), University of Pierre and Marie Curie (France) and the Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale (Italy).Presentation ofthe results on consortium meetings and at the Dutch Entomology Conference 2015 with the topic "Vector diversity in Europe".

Manager of the rearing facility. Manager of five to seven employees. Optimization and improvement of the insect rearing by developing and performing research projects.

As Front Desk Employee at Sportscentre "De Bongerd" I was the first point of contact for both sportive students and employee's of Wageningen University. Communicational skills were needed which helped in clearly answering questions and providing information concerning sports activities in both Dutch and English. In addition, I followed a yearly Company First Aid training to ensure the safety of all athletes at the Sportcentre.

This is a follow-up study of my Bachelor Biology. With this Master I specifically enhanced my knowledge on Evolutionary Biology and Entomology. I executed my thesis research at Wageningen University on the subject "Evolution of asexual and sexual reproduction systems in a Basidiomycete: Mycena galericulata" at the Laboratory of Genetics. My Internship was executed in Cotonou, Benin for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on the subject "Persistence and density of an Oecophylla longinoda (Hymenoptera Formicidae) cue affects the oviposition behaviour of two mango fruit flies Bactrocera invadens and Ceratitis cosyra (Diptera Tephritidae)" in collaboration with Laboratory of Entomology at the Wageningen University.

This study focusses on the basics of Biology. My personal specialization was in Ecology. Bachelor thesis was about “Insects and climate change: Phenotypic plasticity of insects in relation to temperature change”

Assisting for the Dutch Fauna course, I was in charge of a practicum room of 80 students together with 1 or 2 other assistants, teaching first year students from Biology and Forest and Nature Conservation about diversity and determination and capture methods of arthropods.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is one of the world's leading research partners in finding solutions for hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. Their method of Research for development (R4D) addresses the development needs of tropical countries. At my position I worked with the West-African Fruit Fly Initiative (WAFFI) group. My research project was about how weaver ants (Oecophylla longinoda) can be used to protect mangoes against fruit fly infestations.

Working on a project in an interdisciplinary team commissioned by a company. During the Academic Consultancy Training I worked on the Flying Food Factories project. This is a project initiated by the Dutch Consortium (with companies like TNO, VENIK, ICCO and KRECA) addressing the problem of food insecurity and lack of livelihood opportunities in Kenya and Malawi. The core idea is that edible insects can provide communities with nutritious and protein-rich food and can help overcome undernourishment and malnutrition. I was personally involved in conducting field work in Malawi, in collaboration with ICCO, Imani and Bunda College for Agriculture. Conducting market survey’s and meeting with stakeholders like the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security where part of the work. I was the insect specialist of the team, giving advice on possible insects species that could be used for breeding. Together with the team chairman I gave the final presentation, presenting the results of the research to the Dutch Consortium.

Sportsfoundation Wageningen University (SWU) Thymos is the umbrella for all student sports associations. The Daily Board consists of six students who work full-time to improve the sporting possibilities in Wageningen. The commissioner sports is responsible for organizing sport events, tournaments and competitions.