Persons
Optimism is an important frame of mind to have for anyone, and for students that learn about societal transitions in particular. Reframing is a matter of practice, and we benefit greatly from optimistic thinking. It is good to start practising this as we can transform our basic interpretational habits into more optimistic ones.
As a social anthropologist, I am interested in people’s daily behavior, including their community engagement and relationship with the government. My experience with ethnographic projects in water management and community building is input for collaboration with colleagues from other disciplines and partners with various backgrounds. Curiosity, open mind and learning are the focus points of my tool, stimulating thinking about knowledge and the contribution of multiple bodies of knowledge.
In these times of conflict, there is a high appeal for us as teachers to find a way to create space for a dialogue with our students. Many teachers avoid the topic, fearing escalation. We developed a tool to support teachers who consider opening the dialogue in class to reflect on and learn from hot moments collectively. We imagine a world where reflecting on ourselves and how we impact others is something we do naturally. To make a real difference, we need to start with ourselves. When we bring our inner and outer worlds together, that's where the learning happens.
The education we develop and teach focuses on transdisciplinary teaching initiatives, closing the gap between science and society. We are also conducting evaluative education research on students’ experiences and skills gained during transdisciplinary education. Our Onboarding tool is based on the need to facilitate transdisciplinary collaboration in the Bachelor’s programme in Computational Social Sciences.