Two students from Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) have been selected for the Nationale Denktank 2020. The foundation is committed to letting students think with fresh eyes about current and relevant social issues.
The Nationale Denktank is committed to using the 'refreshing ideas' of students to help society move forward. This year, the group consists of twenty young academics who will study the theme 'perspective for middle groups'. EUR students Samet Özcan (Master Business Information Management) and Linde van Noord (Bachelor Philosophy) are part of the selection.
Relevant topic
In the next four months, the participants will work on the question: 'How do we strengthen welfare and prosperity and increase control for middle groups, in the city and the region, now and later? A subject that is close to the heart of Master's student Samet Özcan: "This year's theme applies to a large group in Dutch society, including my own environment. That gives me an intrinsic motivation to participate. I especially want to contribute to solutions for the current shortage in the housing market."
Interdisciplinary approach
The twenty participants of the DenkTank have very diverse backgrounds, from technical science studies to philosophy. Linde van Noord sees this as the strength of the DenkTank: "I think the cooperation between twenty enthusiastic and young experts with various (study) backgrounds is unique in the Netherlands, and therefore can generate original analyses and solutions. Özcan is also convinced that this interdisciplinary approach works. "I myself learned a lot about Big Data during my master's in Business Information Management and I hope to be able to use that knowledge at the DenkTank."
Impact on policy
Both participants see the DenkTank as a great learning experience. "It is very instructive to step out of the purely academic world for a while and be closer to the experience of policy", says Linde van Noord.  Samet Özcan firmly believes that their ideas can have a real impact: "We are the bridge between government, science and business. Which means that we can make a huge impact on their policies with our ideas and visions."
- More information
The Nationale DenkTank was founded in 2005 with the ideal of bridging the gap between government, science and business. The Foundation works independently with the fresh eyes of young thinkers, who are ideally suited to provide concrete solutions to tough social issues. Take a look at https://www.nationale-denktank.nl for more information.
For more information about the participation of Samet Özcan and Linde van Noord, please contact Meral van Leeuwen, press officer EUR, 06-40264367.