Profile

About

Dutch engineer with an MSc in Urban Technology. Offshore wind R&D, urban waste systems, heat mitigation, and currently rebuilding an educational eco-farm in Uruguay! The thread through all of it: how do you design systems that hold up under pressure in the places that need them most? Building towards an in the field career in climate-vulnerable regions via the Netherlands JPO Programme.

Systems thinking Climate adaptation Field work JPO 2027

Experience

2026 2 mo.
Sustainable Construction Volunteer
Tierra de Sueños · Toledo Chico, Montevideo, Uruguay

Educational eco-farm outside Montevideo delivering hands-on sustainability education through working demonstrations of experimental agriculture systems. Joined months after a December 2025 fire to contribute to the full rebuild of the farm's learning centre and food production infrastructure.

  • Built and installed aquaponics, hydroponics, and aeroponics systems operating on a fully closed water loop — fish waste converted by bacteria into plant nutrients, water recycled indefinitely
  • Built the mushroom cultivation space from foundation through to installation
  • Construction works: structural steelwork from recycled metal pipe, concrete and masonry, roofing, plumbing and electrical
  • Planted ground cover between surviving trees to reduce moisture loss and support forest recovery after the fire
  • All work conducted in Spanish within small international teams under local leadership
Construction Field Work Urban Agriculture
2024– 2025
Research Consultant — Urban Heat Mitigation
Lectoraat Klimaatbestendige Stad, AUAS · Amsterdam, Netherlands

Commissioned research into why urban pergolas — recommended in academic literature as an effective urban heat mitigation tool — remain almost entirely absent from Dutch public spaces. Conducted on behalf of the Climate Resilient City research group at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

  • Designed and conducted brainstorm sessions, municipal stakeholder interviews, and focus groups to map implementation barriers across Dutch G4 cities
  • Identified that rejection of pergolas by municipalities was driven primarily by internal coordination failures, maintenance complexity, and aesthetic concerns — not technical ineffectiveness
  • Reframed identified barriers as design opportunities, producing three concrete opportunity scenarios for context-specific pergola implementation
  • Delivered advisory report and case study analysis to municipal decision-makers and the commissioning research group
Climate Adaptation Research Design
2024 6 mo.
Student Consultant — Climate Adaptation
Buikslotermeerplein · Amsterdam Noord, Netherlands

Five-person student consultancy commissioned to redesign a major shopping centre in Amsterdam Noord based on climate adaptation and wellbeing KPIs. Focus areas: heat mitigation, water management, and social cohesion. Led the water management workstream.

  • Conducted field observations during heavy rainfall, photographing water buildup patterns across the entire district to map drainage failures
  • Used field data combined with national climate scenarios to calculate hydraulic stress tests and determine optimal locations and sizing for proposed water management measures
  • Presented findings and integrated redesign proposals to fellow students, professors, Amsterdam municipality representatives, and consultants from Arcadis
Water Management Climate Adaptation Urban Systems Field Work
2024– 2025
Student Consultant — Circular Economy
Science Park Amsterdam · Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ten-person student consultancy commissioned to develop a business case for an on-site waste disposal and value retention facility. Proposed splitting the group into three specialist workstreams and led the value retention track.

  • Analysed the mixed waste stream to calculate recoverable value through better sorting and material separation
  • Mapped circular loop opportunities at local scale: reusing coffee grounds, producing on-site biofuel for heating, capturing carbon from composting
  • Used OpenLCA to calculate CO₂-equivalent impact of proposed implementations
  • Built an interactive dashboard allowing stakeholders to model CO₂ and cost impact of different implementation scenarios
Circular Economy Research Design
2022– 2023
Junior Engineer
Akkodis Engineering · Rotterdam, Netherlands

Technical engineering consultancy delivering project-based work across two client sectors.

  • Designed a modular cooling system for large-scale datacenters using CAD modelling — project had global deployment scope
  • Created factory layouts for a market-leading construction vehicle manufacturer
  • Translated client briefs into detailed engineering outputs within project teams
Mechanical Engineering Systems Design
2021–22Minor
Waterworld: Energy Transition at Sea — Rotterdam UAS

Intensive multidisciplinary minor on offshore energy systems. Part of the core calculation team for offshore wind farm design on decommissioned platform G14-B — turbine configurations, buoyancy, wave forces, energy output. Also designed a hydrogen production system using PEM electrolysers, osmosis chambers, and staged compression for subsea storage and pipeline transport.

Mechanical EngineeringClimate Adaptation
2022BSc Thesis
Intern Engineer — Jansens & Dieperink, Zaandam

Bachelor thesis at a specialist silo and storage manufacturer. Advised on CNC milling machine acquisition: spindle power calculations, big data analysis of 400+ machines, market trend projections, break-even analysis (~17 years) — leading to recommendation against purchase and toward an alternative solution.

Mechanical Engineering
Feb–Jun 2020R&D Intern
R&D Intern — UpZwam, Amsterdam

Mushroom cultivation startup. Developed sensor systems to measure and monitor humidity, CO₂ levels, light intensity and duration. Developed actuator systems to control the growing environment in response to sensor readings. Prototyped with Arduino; applied Siemens PLC for control system development.

Mechanical EngineeringSystems Design
Sep 2020–Feb 2021Intern
Intern Engineer — TrueKinetix, Hillegom

Fast-growing scaleup producing high-end home training equipment. Designed the production line for a new facility: detailed time-and-motion analysis, balanced cycle times for dedicated assembly stations, lean manufacturing principles from the Toyota Production System. Part of the production line design remains in use today.

Mechanical EngineeringSystems Design
2023–24Hospitality
Barman & Event Host — The Flying Pig Hostel Uptown, Amsterdam

International backpacker hostel. Hosted and organised recurring events for 10–30 guests. Led pub crawls and walking tours through Amsterdam. Managed bar operations alongside event responsibilities.

2018–26Hospitality
Waiter & Barman — Café-Restaurant Amsterdam

One of Amsterdam's largest restaurants. Progressed from runner to full table service and independently managing the café section (up to 50 covers). Returned repeatedly across seven years including every Christmas season. Known among management for effective onboarding of new staff.

2017–18Volunteer
Youth Coach — Sporting West Korfball Club, Amsterdam

Long-term club member from age 6 to 19. Co-coached a team of 7 and 8 year olds — self-taught, focused on fun and inclusion. Member of the events and parties commission, organising social events to build community cohesion.

Education

2024–25
MSc Urban Technology — Transitions Design & Systems Thinking · Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Thesis: Pergola, Problem or Solution? Collaborative research commissioned by the Lectoraat Klimaatbestendige Stad — mapping implementation barriers for urban heat mitigation infrastructure in Dutch cities.
2021
Minor Smart Cities · Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven. Covered all six smart city pillars. Lean Yellow Belt certified. Winner — Future of Retail Brainstorm Session.
2021–22
Minor Waterworld: Energy Transition at Sea · Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Offshore wind farm design on decommissioned oil platform G14-B. Hydrogen production system design using PEM electrolysers. Industrial heat exchange optimisation and ocean wave energy converter testing.
2018–22
BSc Engineering (Mechanical) · Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. Systems design, production technology, thermodynamics, applied physics.

Skills & tools

Professional
Systems Systems thinking · Lean manufacturing (Yellow Belt certified) · Production line optimisation
Engagement Stakeholder interviews · Municipal and institutional presentations · Workshop and focus group facilitation · Intercultural team collaboration
Reporting Technical reporting to external clients · Structured business case development
Technical
Software Python · Excel (advanced) · OpenLCA · Arduino · Siemens PLC · HTML · CSS · JavaScript · C++
Engineering CAD modelling (SolidWorks, Inventor, Fusion 360, OnShape) · Structural calculations · Thermodynamic system design · Big data analysis
Other Adobe Creative Cloud
Certified
Safety L2 Health & Safety · Fire Marshall · Manual Handling · COSHH · Emergency First Aid · Food Safety Level 2 · HACCP

Languages

CEFR
Dutch Native
English Fluent · C1+
German B1
Spanish A2 · active learning · Uruguay context
Mandarin Basic

Competitions & awards

Nov 2024
Winner — UrbanCircular Hackathon
U!REKA European University Alliance · Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Two-day international hackathon bringing together ~30 students from Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Lisbon to develop solutions for real circular economy challenges in the Rhine-Main region.

  • Developed the winning concept: a gamified recycling app combining education, competition, and personalised performance tracking to drive citizen participation in waste separation
  • Played a key role in keeping the multidisciplinary international team aligned across significant cultural and communication differences
  • Winning solution selected for inclusion in U!REKA's 500 Solutions programme
Innovation Circular Economy International Teams
2021
Winner — Future of Retail Brainstorm Session
Smart Cities Minor · Online

Student brainstorm competition presented to a panel including Retailagenda, Q&A Insights, INretail, the Municipality of The Hague, and The Hague University of Applied Sciences.

  • Winning concept: introducing greenery into city centres to create calmer, more inviting retail environments — addressing a liveability gap that online retail cannot fill
Urban Design Retail Liveability