Marcia van der Vlugt

Senior Innovation Adviser at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment

Marcia van der Vlugt didn't really have a career plan. She did however respond to and make use of the opportunities that presented themselves to her. “My focus has always been on the desire to learn!” And so far she has had an impressive career in a relatively short space of time, as well as the chance to do a lot of interesting work. She started as a 'Rijkstrainee' in the government and has progressed through posts such as senior policy officer and project leader to her current position of senior innovation adviser in the Department of Knowledge Innovation at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment.

Van der Vlugt had doubts about what she would study for a long time. She’s happy that eventually she chose Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management (CoSEM) at the faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. “I find it particularly challenging to operate on interfaces. So then it's an advantage if you can contribute to discussions on and think about the purely technical aspects, but that you also know how the administrative processes work. The position of different parties (the actors) in the process and how you can bring these closer together.

Making an actor analysis and connecting language is something that Van der Vlugt sees as a typical SEPAM (CoSEM) contribution to her work. At ProRail, for example, you work with technical engineers on the one hand and politicians on the other. The engineers know what is best from a technical perspective, but you also have to deal with the political reality. This is where projects go wrong. Your education as a SEPAM (CoSEM) alumna enables you to bring the technical world and the world of public administration together.