Alumna Saskia van Otterloo

Anthropologist working for the government

"In my job as a policy advisor on climate adaptation at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, I focus on three key areas: climate justice, involving people in decision-making, and effective communication. Being naturally curious has been a valuable skill for me, something I was encouraged to develop during my studies. It enables me to delve deep into understanding the reasons behind how things work. My education also stressed the importance of being objective and staying neutral, which are crucial in my role as a consultant in government."

Alumna Deborah Stolk

Coordinating cultural relief in disaster situations and conflicts

“The staff at the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development consists mainly of anthropologists. The added value of anthropologists lies in strong analytical skills in disaster situations and conflicts. To be able to offer cultural relief, I have to quickly understand how a society functions.”

Anthropologists are trained to quickly understand complex situations, without losing sight of the broader picture. In addition, they come up with innovative approaches that take relationships and patterns of human interaction into account. This makes anthropologists incredibly strong strategists.

As a Programme Coordinator, I make much use of my cultural sensitive communication skills learned during studying Anthropology. I didn’t recognise the importance of this skill when I just graduated. Much later, I noticed that knowing how to communicate with people from all parts of the world was an enormous added value. For example, during one of the largest rescue campaigns for culture when I had to negotiate with 26 library owners. 400,000 manuscripts from Timbuktu were threatened by right-wing extremists because of their content, but eventually got evacuated in a month’s long undercover operation.