In my current position at Utrecht University, I teach and coordinate several courses in English and Dutch in the field of education and qualitative research methods. The scope of these courses is to explore participatory methods in qualitative research, as well as issues related to social justice, equity, equality, diversity and inclusion, global sustainability, and the use of new digital technologies in research and education. I have a co-leading role in developing courses in community-engaged learning, coaching and training, and comparative and international education. I am keen to create a learning experience for students in which they learn not only hard skills but intercultural competencies, and qualitative research skills with the opportunity to actively engage with the world around them and make a positive social change. 

My doctoral study in educational research at Lancaster University is in the area of cultural identity formation, postcolonial studies, and social justice in higher education. This interdisciplinary study that combines cultural anthropology, cultural psychology, sociology, and educational research applies a critical approach and compares study experiences between Western students and students living in the Global South. Through their voices, it reveals an existing contradiction: on the one hand, it illustrates how online, transnational education enforces the social inequalities existing in our societies, and on the other hand, empowers non-traditional learners to become game changers in their local societies. The qualitative research aims to demonstrate the multidimensional nature of inequality varied by geographical/national context, age, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and gender and how these inequalities become visible and intersect through student voices from different parts of the world. The research project is informed by several theoretical frameworks such as critical pedagogy, critical race theory, intersectionality, and postcolonial feminism. In this study I experiment also with new and creative methodologies in which the head (thinking), the hand (doing), and the heart (feeling) come together in harmony by fusing arts and sciences in the research design to represent both, cognitive and emotional knowledge about non-traditional students’ life worlds through diverse channels of communication (narratives, literature, music, and visual arts). It has a strong contribution to research in illustrating the situated nature of learning and the various barriers to access education predominantly for female, non-traditional learners in the analyzed countries. 

As a qualitative researcher and advocate of critical pedagogy, I find it important not only to observe and emphasize, but assume also an advocacy role and foster positive social change and emancipatory impact. Therefore, I am also active in research in community-engaged learning (CEL) as well as inter-and transdisciplinary research. I am experimenting with new ways of experiential learning in which students, teachers, and societal partners create a safe, democratic, and empowering space for learning by appreciating different perspectives and co-learning how to make a positive social change in their environment. In my research, I explore what kinds of transdisciplinary partnerships work in CEL, how we can make them sustainable, how the different stakeholders engage in learning together in the long run and what are the qualities of the co-creation in this learning practice.