Learning & research design
As more analytical and mechanical work is automated, what becomes most valuable is the capacity to clarify what truly matters. That capacity is relational, perceptual, and embodied: sensing what a situation actually requires, holding complexity without collapsing it, acting from something more than a model.
In the Collective Futures MSc programme at the University of Amsterdam, which I co-design and co-lead, students, researchers, and societal partners collaborate across disciplines on issues such as democratic resilience, climate adaptation, and PFAS pollution. The program doubles as a testing field. I currently lead funded projects on reimagining assessment and on the role of emotions in learning, and I'm developing workshop formats that help students meet the existential dimension of our time.
This is the kind of environment I work to create more broadly. I work with universities and organisations to design curricula, workshops, and research processes that bring together systems thinking, problem framing, prioritisation, and embodied dialogical practices. So that people can draw on both careful analysis and lived experience to make grounded decisions in ambiguous, value-laden situations.
I take on a small number of outside engagements each year:
- Designing courses, curricula and workshop sequences, especially where complex systems meet Embodied Thinking
- Training and coaching teams that want to work this way
- Advising programs and institutions on student wellbeing and learning design