From Würzburg into the world

Which jobs do graduates from the University of Würzburg work in? To present different perspectives to students, Michaela Thiel, the director of the central alumni network, interviews selected alumni. This time, it is Teresa Deckert's turn.

After studying Political and Social Studies at the University of Würzburg, alumna Teresa Deckert has wound up in the Ruhr region. As an employee of the City of Essen, she promotes green development.

Ms Deckert, which project of the City of Essen are you currently working on? It is an EU project called "European Green Capital – Essen 2017". European cities can apply for the award; Essen was last year's winner. In 2018, it is Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

And what was your role in this? As a project manager, I supervised the "greenApes" sustainability app which encourages and rewards everyday sustainable actions. Doing this, I developed concepts to help achieve this goal and held workshops on zero waste or upcycling or gave lectures on valuable digital tools.

How did you find your job after graduating? I came upon a post in our master's Facebook group. Then I applied through the online platform.

Which aspects from your studies do you find especially helpful for your everyday work today? Coordinating various tasks, time management, working in a team, back then literature research - today researching topics.

What would you recommend to alumni who are looking to pursue a similar career? In my opinion, keeping your goal in sight is important, especially for students of the humanities, since you are not working towards the ONE profession as in law school or medical studies. Also, I recommend doing different internships for orientation.

How do you like the Ruhr area and the city of Essen? Was it easy to meet new people there? Having moved to Essen to do my master's, I found it easy to make new friends. With 40 students in a master's programme, you get to know each other quickly. A lot of my present friends are still from the time between 2012 and 2015 and new friends gradually joined our girls master's clique after this time.

What are your favourite memories of your time in Würzburg? Balmy summer nights on the Main river! Unfortunately, the river Ruhr does not flow directly through Essen, so I miss the atmosphere, especially in summer.

Thank you for the interview.