Emma Verschuur, program manager
Emma Verschuur joined our cluster of Awareways program managers as its youngest new member. With a background in social psychology, she analyses human behaviour to help refine and improve awareness programmes. “It is very rewarding to see the results of your own work reflected back by clients.” Emma grew up in Wageningen, where she discovered her interest in social psychology at an early age. “Through an old neighbour, I was able to do a one-day internship in social psychology at the RIVM while I was still in secondary school, and that really opened my eyes to what else you can do with psychology. I find the social aspect by far the most interesting, working with behaviour.”
She went on to study Psychology at Utrecht University. “The bachelor is quite broad, with the standard components such as clinical and youth psychology, but social psychology and really diving deep into behaviour and behavioural change appealed to me more.”
This led her to a master’s degree in Social and Health Psychology. Two months after graduating, following a trip through Vietnam and Thailand, she joined Awareways. “Cybersecurity is also very interesting to me, and that came out strongly in my graduation work.” That work included a successful internship at TNO in Soesterberg, within the security domain.
“The security aspect is very intriguing; it also makes you more aware of it outside of work.” At Awareways, Emma works closely with clients as a program manager, and also occasionally collaborates with fellow social psychologists. “That variety is very valuable to me.”
Farzam Madani, back-end developer
Farzam Madani has come onboard as one of two new backend developers. “I have a strong passion for backend programming and system design. Awareways is a great scale-up where I can work on an interesting platform, while the size of the company still allows you to get to know everyone.”
His interest in programming started at a very young age. “I was very much into computers when I was five years old, but I always wanted to do more than just play games. I really enjoyed programming things – even if no one used them.” Born in Eindhoven and raised in Iran, Farzam returned to the Netherlands and chose programming as an obvious path. “I completed one and a half years of software engineering. My bachelor’s degree, which was more marketing- and business-related, gave me a lot of time to work on programming, websites and building startup projects.” He received the Best Student Award for the 2018–2019 academic year at Fontys Eindhoven University of Applied Sciences. “This program equipped me with the skills to build full-stack websites and adapt to the constantly changing technology landscape.”
One of his startup projects is Reeply. “Our AI-powered platform helps simplify how businesses create, manage and optimize advertising campaigns, making it easier to run campaigns across platforms like Facebook Business Manager through a simple, conversational interface.” Before that, he worked as a software engineer at Treehouse. “There, I collaborated with a team of developers on platforms such as Pararius and Huurwoningen. It was a huge leap in terms of knowledge, with a strong focus on architecture, collaboration and continuous learning.”
Over time, Farzam realised where he works best. “I discovered that I personally enjoy working most in an environment where there is close collaboration with other developers and room for technical discussion.” While searching on LinkedIn for a role that matched his technical stack, Awareways immediately stood out. “You can really sense that it’s not one of those dry companies – there’s a living, breathing team behind it. As for the subject matter, my wife has a master’s degree in cybersecurity, so I had already been exposed to the field.”
“Learning is a big part of my passion for programming, so it’s great to be surrounded by skilled technical developers. I’m confident that I made the right decision in coming here.”
Illia Dulaiev, back-end developer
Illia Dulaiev brings 18 years of software development experience to Awareways. “I’m passionate about building clean, reliable systems that make a real impact.” He started programming at a very young age. “I started as a developer somewhere in the 8th grade, you could say.” At the time, he played chess at a high level and became interested in computer games. “They are much better,” he jokes. “I learned that I’m very interested in making automations. I don’t care about just pressing buttons and writing code on the backend, I want to improve the experience at the front.”
As his interest grew, Illia focused increasingly on mathematics and computer science. “I changed schools because I needed more maths.” At university, he became an IT Olympic Champion in his city and began building complete systems. “I was taught PHP and several other backend languages, but PHP is my favourite. I have worked as a developer ever since.”
Three years ago, Illia and his wife came to the Netherlands for what was meant to be a holiday. When the war in Ukraine broke out, they stayed and eventually settled in Maarssen. “What really attracted me to Awareways is the blend of creativity, technology and purpose – using tech to positively influence awareness and behaviour.” He sees information security as an important mission. “We see a lot of scammers and cybercrime, and I think it is a good mission to do something about it.”
Since joining, he has felt welcomed – “The onboarding has been excellent. There is a lot of freedom in the work, but also team effort and a true collaborative spirit.”
