Meet our presenters for the first timeslot of the day

Turning Pages, Turning Minds

Hanneke van Lieshout / Presentation

Description

What happens when students dive into a novel about poverty, social exclusion, and misrecognition? This session explores how Édouard Louis’ Who Killed My Father became a powerful tool for dialogue within the Social Work Theory course. Students engaged deeply with theoretical concepts like symbolic violence and recognition. The novel sparked both emotional and intellectual responses, encouraging students to question assumptions and reflect on their future roles as social workers. Join to discover how literature can challenge perspectives and create space for meaningful theory-informed conversations about social justice.

Biography

Hanneke van Lieshout teaches Sociology in social work education, where she explores the structural dimensions of poverty with her students. She researches homelessness and social exclusion, and developed an educational project in which students learn directly from people with lived experience of homelessness. With a background in Social Sciences and Cultural and Social Education, Hanneke combines academic insight with creative, practice-based learning. Her work fosters critical thinking and social awareness, helping future professionals reflect on their role in addressing complex social issues.

Empathy at Stake: Theater in the Classroom

Paul de Regt / Workshop

Description

Can theater foster students' empathy and bridge the gap between student groups? That was the central question during a theater project last June at The Hague University of Applied Sciences' HRM program. This presentation includes a video that provides a glimpse into the project. Afterwards, we will discuss with the attendees what theater in the classroom can contribute to education and how.

Biography

Paul de Regt, the initiator of this project, is a lecturer in the HRM program and a researcher in the Change Management research group. Since 2020, he has been working to establish a permanent place for theater in the program's curriculum. His efforts were rewarded in 2024 with a grant from the NRO, which led to the project in this video.

Cinematic Arguments: Teaching Critical Thinking Through Film

Vladimir Ignjatovic and Bojana Petrova / Workshop

Description

Film can persuade as powerfully as it can entertain. In this workshop, we’ll analyze short clips to uncover how framing, editing, and imagery work together to shape meaning and argument. You’ll see how film can be used to engage students with complex, real-world questions—inviting them to question not only what they see, but why they see it that way. Expect to leave with concrete strategies and creative exercises to enrich critical inquiry in your teaching.

Biography

Bojana Petrova, a Business Communications & Critical Thinking Lecturer, and Vladimir Ignjatovic, a Senior Lecturer in International Business, both at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, are key members of the FlickThink team.

Bojana’s focus is on inspiring curiosity and creativity in her students by implementing novel educational methods that extend beyond traditional teaching boundaries. She envisions FlickThink’s tools and ideas being adapted to various educational settings, allowing for a broader impact.

Vladimir, drawing on his background in a society that valued knowledge but often limited critical inquiry, is committed to helping students link factual knowledge with critical analysis. He emphasizes the importance of diverse perspectives and encourages his business students—future managers, entrepreneurs, and leaders—to challenge assumptions and develop independent thinking.

On the Verge: Kaleidoscoping Reasoning for Critical Thinking 

Anne Marleen Olthof / Lecture-Performance

Description

On the Verge: Kaleidoscopic Reasoning for Critical Thinking invites everyone to explore their own perspectives, logic, and imagination, as well as those of others. Much like a kaleidoscope constantly shifting its patterns, this lecture-performance celebrates the beauty of diverse orientations and reveals how reasoning evolves in relationships, in embodied action, in assumptions, and in reflections.

Biography

Anne Marleen works from the integrative power of mind, body, spirit, and emotion to discover how embodied knowledge can be studied at the intersection of artistic practice and academic research. Her PhD investigates how to design with the body, in particular when computational technology resonates, trembles, and attunes to the intimate, fragile, and delicate qualities that make us human. Anne Marleen regularly works with performers and artists of diverse abilities, including musicians, dancers, and disability artists, to create alternative understandings of health and well-being.