Ruud graduated with a BSc Diploma from HAN University of Applied Science in August 2018. During his studies, he conducted an internship at Radboud University (Nijmegen) working with Solanum dulcamara accessions to investigate the genetic background of genes involved in glycoalkaloid biosynthesis, and their involvement in slug and snail deterrence. Ruud also spent six months at the James Hutton Institute (Dundee, Scotland) in Dr. Edgar Huitema’s Group, using CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene knockout in Phytophthora capsici. Prior to his undergraduate studies, Ruud conducted a 6-month internship at Wageningen University with Professor Gert Kema where he screened Zymoseptoria tritici isolates over a panel of durum wheat cultivars and identified a gene conferring resistance to this disease. Ruud has also investigated protein extraction from spent yeast biomass from bioreactors, and conducted quantitative PCR analysis of aquatic pathogens at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Kuopio, Finland.