Meet our presenters

“Look again, please”: Reading for Uneasy Enlightenment.

NANNA FREEMAN/WORKSHOP

Description

What is reading? All too often, reading is seen as an act of moving one’s eyes from left to right (when using the 26-letter Latin alphabet) and decoding the words written. This is a type of reading that comes with very little true understanding of what is being read. The real magic of reading happens in close reading, substantive reading, which requires “a particular engagement of the mind” (Paul & Elder, 2004). In this session, we will close read an excerpt from Anna Burns’ Milkman, to experience the power of close reading in connection to critical thinking.

Biography

Nanna Freeman never thought she’d become a teacher – let alone an award-winning one – but swiftly found her passion substitute teaching while completing her Master’s degree in Art & Literature. She has made it her mission to continuously improve the quality and engagement of her teaching through innovation and creativity.  In her teaching, she draws from education research, her own foundations in business and literature, a broad interest in pop culture, and a tendency to go against the grain. She is a founding member of the team behind Fragments.

How can you apply intuitive critical thinking in higher education?

MARJOLIJN ZWAKMAN & ZHOUR VAN NOORT/ WORKSHOP

Description

Whether you're a lecturer, a board member at an alliance table, or an advisor, you'll probably find that critical thinking requires more than just clever analysis. In this workshop, you'll experience two forms of intuitive critical thinking. We'll explore how you can apply these in your daily practice, especially within complex issues. The emphasis is on direct experience. Your intuitive abilities will be stimulated through art and energetic work.

Biography

With her interactive performances, video installations, and workshops, Marjolijn Zwakman opens a space where she and her client temporarily let go of the system's rules and protocols. What kind of tension does this evoke, and what kind of space does it create? What can we learn from each other when we encounter each other and challenge our ideas? Marjolijn is a researcher affiliated with the Change Management research group at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. She regularly collaborates with various artist collectives.

Zhour van Noort (Higher Education Practitioner, researcher, and energy coach) – Works within higher education and the Master’s programme Human Capital Innovation, guiding bachelor HRM students and professionals in addressing complex challenges and exploring the role of intuition in sensing underlying dynamics within alliances.

I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens: The rise of pseudohistory documentaries

JOSHUA LEVINE / PRESENTATION

Description

Silly shows about ancient aliens presented as history seem low on the hierarchy of the world’s problems. But the circumstances that produce these documentaries – pervasive misinformation, anti-intellectualism, nationalist and autocratic shifts in countries around the world, the enshittification of the internet and media, and capitalist greed and cost-cutting – are the drivers of those larger problems, and sometimes they are the problems themselves. We’ll be looking at these issues using The History Channel (Europe and US) as a case study of a current cultural revival of superstition, myth, and magical thinking. The truth is out there – and it was definitely aliens.

Biography

Joshua Levine is an American researcher/journalist/THUAS student living in The Hague. He's conducted extensive research on disinformation and media literacy for THUAS. He is currently completing an internship at Flick Think, creating educational guidelines and materials for those subjects, and will finish his International Public Policy degree in 2026. 

Socratic self-portrait

RUBEN SINKELDAM / WORKSHOP

Description

During the session, I will engage in a Socratic conversation with one or more participants. While we talk, participants will create a collage representing themselves from a specific perspective (to be determined). Throughout the session, I will provide information on the workshop's purpose and background.

Biography

“I am a fine artist working in higher education. I use my background as an artist to design education and coaching that contributes to the Bildung of my students.  The aspect of art I use in my education focuses on the process of making art—the product is a byproduct that initiates the learning process. To work with students from all kinds of studies, I prefer collage as an art form since it requires no training in skills or materials. A Socratic approach contributes to the student being in the lead of their learning process.”

Age of Rage

MARTINE ZEEMAN & STUDENTS / PERFORMANCE-REHEARSAL

Description

Age of Rage is a new collaborative theater project between second-year students from the Human Resource Management and Social Work programs. With the performance "The Age of Rage," Aan Zee Theaterproducties takes another bold step in the tradition of socially engaged theater, with a special focus on current themes that affect young people and young adults. This session will be an open-to-the-public rehearsal with the students.

Biography

Martine Zeeman is a theater director, teacher, writer, and actress. Her work is distinguished by her discovery of new paths and fields to explore. In Coronatime she started working in South Afrika. As a director, she made the performance 'Swart Wyn" (2023) on the international festival in Cape Town and 'In the Name of Peace' (Oct. 2025) in Stellenbosch. She wants the audience to discover the story and its characters, and bring them to life with courage, authenticity, and humor. Driven by her creativity and curiosity, she is always looking for cross-over cultural connections with other disciplines based on social themes in society.