International Community Engaged Learning (ICEL)

• What is Community Engaged Learning?
• Through which 5 steps can you develop Community Engaged Learning?
• How do you develop and maintain relationships with societal partners?
• How do you stimulate students to reflect?
• How do you formulate learning goals?
• How to assess and evaluate CEL education?
• How to design an online CEL course?

For UU employees, more information about the CEL toolkit is available on intranet.

Under the supervision of Dr Brianne McGonigle Leyh, selected students in the Public International Law Legal Clinic, part of the Honours Programme at Utrecht University’s Law School, are working closely with an international human rights NGO analysing human rights implications of the so-called ‘LGBT-ideology free zones’ that have been declared in several Polish counties since 2019. The research explores the wider context of rule of law backsliding in Poland, as well as the anti-EU and anti-gender rhetoric of Polish political actors. The final report comprehensively addresses the legal and political avenues available to victims in order to address and challenge the so-called ‘LGBT-ideology free zones’ in Poland. It further provides an overview and assessment of the effectiveness and accessibility of the different mechanisms available and recommends avenues of action and advocacy to societal partner. The broad setup of the research allowed the students to gain a wealth of theoretical knowledge about the functioning of various legal systems, apply their knowledge to a real-life situation, and work closely with partners in developing strategic advocacy plans.

In 2022, Contesting Governance's ‘Intimacies of Remote Warfare programme’ is running the Prototype Warfare Community Engaged Learning (CEL) project. Prototype Warfare is a collaborative research project with the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam’s Deadly Design that explores the development and deployment of algorithmic technologies by advanced militaries. Advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have begun to radically reshape war. From the deployment of pocket-sized ‘Black Hornet’ surveillance drones in Afghanistan to the use of computer vision algorithms to automate the extraction of ‘objects of interests’ across surveillance footage, algorithmic and increasingly autonomous technologies are changing fundamental aspects of how we understand and act to achieve ‘security’.

These developments raise a range of questions: How are these technologies being made? Where and how are they developed, by whom and for what purposes? How do such technologies ‘work’ in detail? How do they determine ‘objects of interest’ and enable and justify lethal decisions? And how do these technologies ultimately transform our understandings of how war can be, or should be, fought?

Coordinated by dr. Lauren Gould and Jack Davies, the CEL students will embark on an in-depth mapping of the machine learning algorithmic technologies currently being developed, acquired and deployed by the Dutch Ministry of Defence. The research phase will focus on three technologies with various levels of autonomy and map the entire developmental assemblage, including the military decision-makers, technical developers (both commercial start-ups and computer scientists), and political decision-makers. Their research report will be used to inform a public panel, bringing together representatives of various actors (MoD, HCSS, and Killer Robot Campaign) to debate the topic of algorithmic technologies and autonomous systems in warfare. The recent Adviesraad Internationale Vraagstukken (AIV) Report on Lethal Autonomous Weapons will be the central object to orient debate, with the intention of cutting through the powerful imaginaries surrounding these technologies to bring out the realities of their development and deployment.

Hawija. The name of the town continues to cause controversy in Dutch public debates. On June 3, 2015, Dutch F-16s bombed an IS ammunition factory in Hawija, Iraq, as part of the fight against IS by the International Coalition for Operation Inherent Resolve. The airstrike had immense consequences: over 18.000 kilograms of munition detonated, causing an estimated minimum of 70 civilian deaths, hundreds more injured, and damaging a reported 1.200 shops and businesses, and 6.000 houses.  

The lingering effects of the bombing on the people of Hawija, as well as the Dutch government's politics of denial, secrecy, and ignorance vis-a-vis these victims, are being studied by different organisations, from PAX and affiliated organization Al-Ghad League for Women and Child Care, to Airwars and the Intimacies of Remote Warfare at Utrecht University. To contribute to the body of knowledge being created on the aftermath of the event and the experiences of the victims, an interdisciplinary team of conflict studies students from Utrecht University teamed up in a Community Engaged Learning (CEL) project led by dr. Lauren Gould to research how this event was interpreted on social media. How did people trie to make sense of this disruptive and harmful event by sharing their different ideas about the identity of the perpetrator, the victims, and the reason for the bombing on social media? What are the narratives and images that circulate about this event on social media, and which broader themes can be discerned from the various posts?  

For a more detailed and illustrated analysis, download the full report. 

In the university-wide TIC to TIC project, which stands for Thematic Interdisciplinary Challenge to Teach, Inspire and Change, students and professionals work together on innovative solutions to problems identified within the strategic themes. The TIC to TIC programme offers multi-level and multidisciplinary learning where Bachelor’s- and Master’s students work together with professionals from a variety of disciplines. The course allows you to experience how your knowledge and specific skills can be used in the search and implementation of solutions for pressing social issues.

From February 8 until April 18 (period 3) we will offer TICs in collaboration with three societal partners from which you can choose: Drowning Deltas, Contesting Governance and Green Teens.

The Da Vinci project is an interdisciplinary honours programme combining CEL and Design Thinking around sustainability for 2nd- and 3rd-year Bachelor's students who are looking for an extra challenge. Student from across disciplines work together on teams, using Design Thinking methods, to provide solutions for societal partners. From the Centre for Global Challenges, Dr Brianne McGonigle Leyh is involved with the project. To learn more, visit the Da Vinci Project.

In this course, students are taught impact evaluation methods and their applications to address global challenges. Early in the course, students indicate their preference for a topic and are placed in small groups (3 or 4 students). Specifically, each group prepares a scientific impact evaluation proposal for a program addressing a global challenge that is run by a societal partner organization abroad. Students will meet twice (online) with the societal partner, and each group will also prepare a presentation of the final proposal to be given to the societal partner at the end of the course during an online symposium.

There are three main learning elements for the students in this iCEL component: a) students learn about creating social impact, b) learn about designing experimental evaluations to measure that social impact and c) they support the organizations in designing such evaluations.

During the 2021-2022 academic year, the students have collaborated with Reach A Hand Uganda, a youth-centered organization that fosters youth empowerment in Sexual Rights and Reproductive Health, Skills Development, and Behavioral Change, and impactMarket, an organization that implements poverty mechanisms using blockchain technologies or REDi – an NGO that builds and strengthens the connections between Roma entrepreneurs and their communities. 

With a seed fund awarded by the Alliance education steering group, a new Community Engaged Learning (CEL) course is currently being developed. Its focus will lie on the intersection of health care systems, health equity & justice and climate resilience. The course will run in academic year 2022-2023 and will be open to students from all alliance partners (Eindhoven University of Technology, Wageningen University, Utrecht University and University Medical Centre Utrecht). For more information, visit TU/e Sustainability and Healthcare.