How to educate financials with a novel?

Marleen van Beek/workshop

Description

Did you ever use a novel to have students experience in practice how an organizational crisis, a fundamental organizational change, including financial issues, and managing the personal work-life balance, work out? We do that in our program for Finance & Control with the novel ‘The Goal’ by Eliyahu Goldratt. Although students sometimes don’t feel comfortable reading, especially at the start, in hindsight, they tell us they learned a lot, both professionally and personally. Overall, they appreciated the book. During this workshop, we introduce the exercises for students that we offer to inspire them to read and enjoy the book. 

Biography

My name is Marleen van Beek. I have a bachelor's in Mining Technology at TU Delft and a master's in Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam.  I had different roles like project manager, maintenance manager, and trainer in IT over a period of 20 years before I decided to be a THUAS lecturer. I have always loved to find ways to inspire and activate students through creative teaching methods like gaming, reading, doing exercises, and discussing. Working with students on the novel ‘The Goal/ Het Doel’ is like a dream come true.

Reading Theater: An embodied encounter with great theaterminds from the past

Pauline Warrenaar & Melissa van der Heijden/workshop

Description

Step into the world of Greek tragedy and experience the power of reading theater together. In this 45-minute workshop, we’ll read scenes from 'Women in Troy', a 2023 adaptation by theatergroup Dood Paard.

We’ll dive into scenes from 'Women in Troy' (in English). This theatrical text isn’t just a story from the past; it’s a mirror for our own time. What can we learn from the Women of Troy? How do they confront their fate, and what does that tell us about how we face our own challenges today?

During the workshop, we’ll step into the shoes of these women in Troy. By reading and experiencing the scenes together, you’ll feel their emotions, doubts, and strength. As you take on their roles, you’ll become part of the story yourself. Can this experience offer us new insights? Can it help us understand our own world?

Come and discover how the stories of characters from 2,500 years ago still resonate, connect, and inspire.

Biography

Pauline Warrenaar is an educator in communication skills (writing and conversation), theater, and research by design at the faculty of Social Work and Education (THUAS) & dramaturg. With a background in Dutch language and literature and Theaterstudies, dramaturgy, and the international class at the Eastside Institute, NY, she loves to guide people in creative processes and step into this process together. To co-create spaces for growth and development via play and performance: creating together, bringing about critical thinking, and engaging with and reflecting on the society we live in. This way supports the students in becoming professionals with their own personal style.

Melissa van der Heijden is a theater educator and director. I am passionate about creating ‘open air’ community-based theater performances with people in their neighborhood. Theater has such power and can be used as a tool for expression, connection, and social change. I teach at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where I contribute to both the Social Work and Primary Teacher Education (PABO) programs. I believe in the power of imagination and storytelling to inspire our students to be the best professionals they can be.

How close is close? An interactive workshop on the close reading of images

Andries Hiskes/workshop

Description

This workshop invites participants to explore how the form of a story—its structure, rhythm, and material presentation—shapes what it means. Using the Apple TV+ series Calls (2021), which tells stories through fragmented phone calls and abstract visuals, we will practice close reading as a critical, collaborative method. Via guided exercises and group analysis, participants learn to interpret how voice, silence, and visual shape construct meaning from fragments. The session shows how sustained attention to form enhances critical thinking across disciplines, transforming the act of interpretation into an active, creative process.

Biography

Andries Hiskes is an Assistant Professor at the University of Humanistic Studies (Netherlands), where he teaches in the MA Care Ethics and Policy program. He received his PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies from Leiden University (2024), and his research focuses on disability aesthetics, politics, and how physical and mental capacities achieve social and cultural status as ‘abilities’.

Learning from vulnerability: working with resistance in embodied learning

Arthur Kok/workshop

Description

Teachers and coaches who use embodied and sensuous methods outside the arts often encounter significant resistance—both from groups and individuals—when attempting to shift from cognitive to embodied perspectives. This workshop explores how to work with such resistance thoughtfully. Rather than offering tricks to manipulate participants into compliance, we'll reassess the workshop leader's role through the lenses of honesty, insecurity, and vulnerability.

Biography

Arthur Kok (PhD) is head of the research group Transforming the Economy at Fontys Academy of Applied Sciences, where he has worked since 2016. He previously held a position at Tilburg University and worked as business director in the cultural industries. Kok earned his PhD in 2012 with a dissertation on the metaphysics of Kant and Hegel. His current research centers on multiple value creation through the intersection of economy, ecology, and society, inspired by the economic and philosophical ideas of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Merleau-Ponty. Previously, he co-developed the master’s program in Strategic Communication, which addresses the future role of strategic communication in economic contexts amid ecological transformation. Kok's research expertise spans the history of modern philosophy, philosophy of economy, eco-philosophy, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, communication theory, action research, and systemic inquiry.