Hi everyone,

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My name is Laia Perote, and I am the chairwoman of the International Student Association Umami for the academic year 2022-2023. I am from Barcelona, Spain and I decided to come to Venlo because I was very motivated to do the master HFIM. Until now I have been able to appreciate the international community within the master program and the life in the Netherlands, all I can say is that is everything I had expected and I am grateful to be part of it.

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A little throwback in my life: I graduated in biotechnology last year, a bachelor’s degree that took place in University of Vic, UVIC in Spain. My motivation for this master program is that I am very interested in the FoodTech innovation which is very useful to me in process development and other areas. A high motivation for me would be having the opportunity to work in the cultivated food technology as in-vitro meat and alternative protein production. In the other hand, I also want to learn as much as possible in nutrition, health food and entrepreneurship is essential.

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Throughout my career, I was able to discover how the body works physiologically and the technological advances available for the research in deep science. It is impressive how food plays a major role in our health and the interaction in our gut and brain. This master program allows us to learn about the interaction of food with our system and provides us tools for personal and professional growth by international trips, which makes it a lot much interesting and fun.

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Studying the Master of Health Food Innovation Management at Maastricht University is a great opportunity to link your previous knowledge with the effects of food in health in disease. It also allows you to develop your entrepreneurship skills and maybe developing a food product. You decide what you want to do in your future but here you will definitely be able to discover that and what you want to achieve.

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Last but not least, even though the academic part is very important, it is also crucial connecting with people and make the best of the overall experience during our master. We are in charge to make this happen, to connect people and to inspire students. ISA UMAMI will allow all of us to improve the experience by creating business activities, educational activities and also parties. This is my main goal as a chairwoman and I am very excited for this amazing opportunity. Additionally my role is to provide an overview and plan all the meetings that we make as a board and I will assist my board fellows whenever necessary. I always represent our association together with the board during the intro duction days, open days, and other social or business events that are related to promoting our master’s program or our association.

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I am really looking forward to working together with my fellow board members to make it an unforgettable year for all the ISA Umami members. I am sure that we, as the ISA Umami board, will learn a lot this year, but mostly have a lot of fun! Feel free to approach me or contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or if you just want to have a nice conversation!

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See you around!