ESOP Scholarship: Nina Bili Rossi wants to feed the world

How did you choose to do a Master's in Agricultural Sciences at D-​USYS?
I did my Bachelor's in mathematics and economics at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. I then spent a semester at the University of Tokyo, where I took some classes on agricultural and environmental economics. That’s when I realised, that I wanted to apply mathematics and economics to a purposeful topic. Now I am majoring in agricultural economics. I have also met a lot of people from ETH Zurich while I was abroad and they all had very wholesome vibes!

What made you pursue a major in agricultural economics?
I found my Bachelor’s in mathematics and economics intellectually gratifying. When you study something like Hermitian spaces in maths, you need to work on them a lot before understanding them. Feeling the progress brings a lot of pride and motivation to keep going. I always liked maths. At the same time, I was very involved in sustainability at my school. An exchange at the University of Tokyo was a real turning point to allow myself to merge my two passions. When I selected my classes for the exchange, I had this doubt, if I should really take the classes in agricultural economics or keep this interest just as a hobby. But then I took them and realised how deep you can go and how much diversity there is, which reassured me that I would not exhaust my passion for the topic! There are very few programmes where you can study both economics and food sciences, so I was super excited when I saw that this Master’s in Agricultural Sciences where you can major in agricultural economics.

What does it mean to you to have received the ESOP scholarship?
I applied for the scholarship because I wanted to feel responsible for my studies and financially independent from my parents. It also goes without saying that the scholarship opens many doors in academia. The scholarship has been a very good reminder of my abilities when my self-talk wasn’t at its best. One aspect of the scholarship that I really appreciate is that I feel like it is here to support us more as a person than as a student. It’s not (only) about the grades but also about the creativity, entrepreneurship and projects. All in all, besides the money, which allows me to take on activities focused on personal growth more comfortably, the scholarship is a powerful tool for me to remind me to believe in my abilities.

What plans do you have for the future?
I love the possibilities in this Master’s. I am really happy to stay in economics and still have a lot of maths going on. But I can also take all the other classes that I want. At the moment, I would love to work in consumer behaviour or do a project about agriculture in Brazil. I am also really passionate about coffee. I would also like to get more into entrepreneurship activities at ETH Zurich. And I really want to enjoy myself and grow besides academics, so I am also running the Lucerne Half marathon this week and working on my Swiss German.