Yu Zhou, also known as Jacob, has been interning at Publyon since February 2023. As well as supporting the consultants, he’s also a part of the Monitoring team and assists the Energy & Sustainability team.
Prior to his undergraduate studies, Jacob lived and went to school in Belgium. He moved back to the Netherlands to study History at Leiden University. While studying in Leiden, he developed a broader interest in the history and politics of the Netherlands and discovered a keen interest in cultural history. As a student, he worked at Museum de Lakenhal and then as an exam trainer and tutor at secondary schools in Hoofddorp, Heemstede and Nieuw-Vennep.
In the autumn of 2022, Jacob did an internship at the Bestuurdersvereniging (association of local councillors and aldermen) of the CDA. Here he was able to familiarise with the dynamics and lines of communication between local politicians, the House of Representatives, and party headquarters. At weekends, he is finishing his thesis on Pim Fortuyn’s cultural criticisms, in which he tries to chart the historical development of Fortuyn’s cultural thinking. After completing the internship, Jacob wants to take the master’s degree Governance and Management of Complex Systems at Erasmus University Rotterdam.