Our team

Jeroen Janssen

I work as an Associate Professor at the Department of Education of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. I am the project coordinator of this project. My personal aim with this project is to contribute to the development of inclusive university curricula that stimulate the success and development of as much students as possible. As an Educational Scientist, I am also interested in the question how we can support university lecturers to create inclusive curricula and learning environments.

You can contact me at j.j.h.m.janssen@uu.nl.
Also, I tweet about education (and other stuff), although mostly in Dutch. You can follow me at: https://twitter.com/j3ro3nj.
 

Gönül Dilaver

I obtained my Master’s degree in Medical Biology at the Radboud University of Nijmegen. During my Master’s training I stayed in the UK for an internship at the research and development department of Glaxo Smith Kline. After my Master’s degree, I worked as a PhD student at the Department of Cell Biology of UMC Radboud. In 2005, I started working as a Programme Advisor of the Biomedical Sciences degree at the Radboud University Nijmegen. In 2007 I became Degree Coordinator of the Master’s programmes Biomedical Sciences at Utrecht University. I am chair of the Expertise Group Education Life Sciences in which they design educational innovations for the Graduate School of Life Sciences. In 2006 I was appointed as Associate Professor in Biomedical education. Currently, I work as Senior Fellow at the Utrecht University on the topic of inclusive Education and leads the Diversity & Inclusion programme of UMC Utrecht.
 

Brianne McGonigle Leyh

I am an Associate Professor with the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) and Montaigne Centre on Rule of Law at Utrecht University’s School of Law. I specialize in human rights law and am especially interested in issues of diversity and inclusion. I am responsible for the Law School’s contribution to this project. Together with Dr. Julie Fraser, Semra Altuntas, and Masja Zweers, I aim to motivate and equip teachers in the Law School to become more interested and invested in inclusive teaching practices. We want our students to develop and thrive while studying at Utrecht University and having an inclusive classroom is one step among many to help ensure that is the case.

You can contact me at b.n.mcgonigle@uu.nl and follow me on twitter @brianneleyh.

Ulviye Isik

I studied Health Sciences at VU University in Amsterdam. In 2019 I finished my PHD research on motivation of ethnic minority students in medical education. During my PhD I also worked as a tutor for bachelor 1 medical students at Amsterdam UMC. Because of my interest in education, I continued working as a staff member at the department Quality, Policiy and Innovation and Research in Education. I coordinated the Student Teaching Qualification course for master medical students. Now I work as a researcher on the USO project at UMC Utrecht focusing on diversity and inclusiveness among students in order to create a safe and inclusive learning environment. I work on this project from the Medical faculty. I am a member of the USO-project team working on the development of the reflection tool for students and teachers (for reflecting on the inclusiveness of the education). I am also involved in the development of a toolbox, which will contain materials that can be used by teachers/course coordinators and program leaders to make their education/curriculum more inclusive.

Julie Fraser

I am an assistant professor with Netherlands Institute of Human Rights in the Law School at Utrecht University, where I have worked for around 7 years. Due to its focus on the principle of equality, I was motivated to become a lawyer and specialise in human rights. Originally from Australia, I moved for post-graduate study to The Netherlands - a country renowned as a global centre for international law. I am pleased to be part of this USO project developing the reflection tool for diverse curricula, and representing the Law School in particular. I have worked on issues related to diversity for over a decade, including promoting women’s rights and those of aboriginal Australians.

Semra Altuntas

Hello everyone! My name is Semra Altuntas and I teach European and Public International law at UU. Since August 2020, together with Julie Fraser, Brianne McGonigle and Masja Zweers, I represent the Law faculty for the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) project. My special interest for this project lies in making UU a place that both students and teachers can call home where they can be fully and authentically themselves.

Masja Zweers

My name is Masja and I am a student-assistant to the law group of this project. Everyone in this project is very involved and engaged, so my tasks are definitely not limited to assisting the law team only! My tasks vary a lot which I find great. I help out during focus group sessions, course meetings and I assist in developing the reflection tool. As we are all still learning, I also spend my time on studying and summarizing the literature on inclusivity, education and decolonization. Every now and then our team writes a blog on these topics, so make sure to check that out if you are interested!

Pam de Vries

I am working on this project as a student assistant for the faculty of social and behavioral sciences while doing a research master educational sciences. I am mostly involved in the development and implementation of the Reflection Tool which involves among other things doing focus groups with students, looking into literature about diversity and inclusion, developing a manual, and piloting the tool among students and teachers. Besides working on the Reflection Tool, I am also working on developing the Toolbox on inclusion and diversity.

Gemma Corbalan Perez

I work as an educational consultant and trainer at the department Educational Consultancy and Professional Development at Utrecht University. I advise teachers on different educational curriculum aspects (e.g., curriculum development, motivation, assessment, ICT in education, etc.). Additionally, I am a trainer of different courses for teachers in Higher Education, from didactical trainings to more specific training including the courses Teaching in an International Classroom, Developing Intercultural competences (basic and advanced courses) and the BKO module Diversity in Education. I am especially interested and have experience on projects where the development of intercultural competences and diversity & inclusion play an important role. In the project Developing an Inclusive Curriculum and Learning environment, I work together with other teams members on the development of a reflection tool and a toolbox to support teachers realizing an inclusive curriculum and learning environment at UU.

Miriam de Boer

I am Miriam, working on this project as an educational consultant and trainer at the department of Educational Consultancy and Professional Development (O&T). As educational consultant, I am involved in various project related to improving Inclusion, Diversity and Equality (IDE), e.g. tailoring an IDE (inclusion Diversity and Equality) training for lecturers at the science faculty specifically or training students so that they can become buddies for fellow first-generation-students. I am involved in the development of the reflection tool, the toolbox and the dissemination of both, keeping a bird’s eye view of the project. My aim with this project is to provide lecturers and programme directors with knowledge, skills and tools to make their education more inclusive as I believe that ultimately, this will benefit the quality of education for all.

Aitana Bilinski

I am an education and research officer at the Department of Education of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and at the Freudenthal Institute. I am involved in multiple projects related to inclusion, diversity and equality and help to teach the course Educational Psychology. My role within this project is to collaboratively develop a toolbox for teachers and coordinators to use and to ensure the dissemination of the various projects’ activities. My goal in this project is to help sow one more seed in making education more inclusive and accessible for all.