Anouk’s internship in the innovation team grew the competence of both the botanist and the company

Anouk Meijers, Master of Plant Sciences, completed her four-month internship at the Kekkilä-BVB innovation laboratory in Venlo, the Netherlands. Anouk considers getting this internship a stroke of luck, as she has always been interested in soil and growing media. Anouk experienced a new pleasant surprise when she was offered a position in the company’s product management team as a continuation of her internship.

Anouk Meijers says that the internship experience at Kekkilä-BVB was interesting, as she learned a lot about experimenting with growing media during the spring and summer of 2024. Her experiments have helped Kekkilä-BVB to develop new growing media alternatives with improved growth performance.

“My main task during the internship was to test products that improve the water retention of growing media. I performed saturation experiments by submerging rings filled with growing media in water for 24 hours, then measuring the weight of the rings when removed from the water and at regular intervals thereafter. With the help of the experiment, I found out how much the moisture content declined over time. The test results provided insights into the water-holding capacity of the tested growing media products. In addition, I performed complementary tests to determine the effects on pH, electric conductivity and phytotoxicity of the products.”

“The innovation team provided me with substantial support and guidance throughout my internship. We had weekly meetings with my research supervisor Roxanne van Rooijen and other researchers in the innovation team. In these meetings, I received valuable feedback, which helped me a lot in organizing the experiments and processing the data. The atmosphere in the team was really good. I felt welcomed and enjoyed a positive working environment during the entire internship.”

A job with a purpose

After the internship,  Anouk was positively surprised when she was offered an extension from Kekkilä-BVB, this time as a Junior Product Manager. In the autumn of 2024, she started with excitement in her new role and now feels that it is great to expand her expertise in a whole new area. The difference from her previous researcher’s job is that working in product management is more dynamic and involves more stakeholders.

In her current role, Anouk aims to positively impact the product management of retail growing media and contribute to the team’s success with her plant science background. In her broader goal, she wants to do a job that motivates her and serves a purpose in society. Anouk appreciates that Kekkilä-BVB is continuously innovating new growing media alternatives, where peat is partially replaced by renewable materials, rather than remaining stagnant.

Three short questions

Your education?

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Biology from the HAS Green Academy and a Master’s degree in Plant Sciences from Wageningen University, both in the Netherlands.

Your life before Kekkilä-BVB?

I worked on my thesis about the disaggregation of the supramolecular structure of humic acid by low molecular weight organic acids within Wageningen University’s soil biology and soil chemistry chair groups.

Your life outside of work?

I enjoy going outdoors, learning Spanish, and watching football. My favorite teams are Ajax and VVV Venlo. I also love listening to music and watching TV series.