Data & Analytics Thesis Awards: The winner’s story
14/12/2021
On December 1st, 2021, MAEUR hosted the Data & Analytics Thesis Awards (DATAs) where four ambitious master students presented their master theses and competed with each other to win the prize for the best thesis. Eventually, it was Eva Nijssen who took home the €500 grant. Let’s see how she experienced writing her master’s thesis and winning the awards!
This year´s winner
Eva is a 24-year-old student, who used to study International Business Administration. She extended her bachelor’s program by doing a minor with a focus on Big Data. “I got very enthusiastic about the endless possibilities data analytics have to offer,” she says, and after finishing her master's in Accounting & Financial Management, she enrolled for the first cohort of Business Analytics & Management (BAM). For the BAM thesis, all students were advised to also do an internship in combination with writing their theses. After dutifully searching for one, Eva’s father connected her to the ETZ hospital where she became very passionate about a certain project. The openness of the hospital staff to her ideas and their input on limitations and wishes for a model, as she describes, were the key components that motivated her. “I really sensed that the people I interviewed were open to the use of data to change the way of working. The feeling that my work might contribute to an actual existing problem and the engagement and openness of the stakeholders have helped me to complete this project.”
The DATA experience
In Eva’s opinion, the DATA event was “very well organized” and “very prepared”, even though it was transformed to an online format within the last minute. “The combination of presentations and Q&As kept it dynamic,” she states.
Victorious emotions
“No need to say I was very happy and honored to be awarded the title of best Data & Analytics Thesis. Receiving a good grade for your work is of course already very rewarding, but having external parties who declare your work of being very relevant and of high quality is something that never tires! Validation and recognition of hard work are always pleasing, so when I got announced as the winner, I felt extremely proud.”
Valuable knowledge and insights for participants
“I think MAEUR did a great job in enabling students to get inspired by the wide variety of thesis subject possibilities in data analytics,” says Eva. She thinks that “the possibilities are very broad, as long as you keep the context of your problem in mind.” She adds that in her place, she would definitely feel inspired by the work of her fellow finalists, as “the topics were very different from each other, and each contestant showed their knowledge and problem-solving skills in just ten minutes of presentation.”
Future plans after master’s
In September, Eva has already started her traineeship at Yacht and is currently working as a finance business analyst at KLM Cargo. “I believe data analytics should always be used in combination with subject knowledge and awareness of context. My plan is to develop my financial management and business controlling skills and reinforce them with the use of data analytics.” With this magnificent story of Eva, we aim to inspire you to strive for your most desired interests and gain success in it. Maybe until next year at the DATAs or EMTAs!
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