Sylvia Brugman’s passion is the complex cross talk between the host and the intestinal microbiota. After a PhD at the UMCG and two postdoc periods at the Erasmus MC and WKZ-UMCU, Sylvia is now an associate professor at the Host Microbe Interactomics Group at Wageningen University and Research. In her research Sylvia makes use of the zebrafish as a model organism. Excitingly, in zebrafish you can follow immune cells and microbes in vivo live under the microscope. At Wageningen University and Research, Sylvia and her team study feed/food-induced inflammation (NWO-TTW) and fundamental processes underlying host control of pathobiont species in the intestines (NWO-ENW). Sylvia loves to connect people and feels ‘like a fish in the water’ at CUCo. In her spare time, Sylvia loves to watch and photograph birds and dragonflies all over the world.

My research is about understanding and enabling contemporary transformations towards sustainability, and I am very committed to inter and transdisciplinarity. I have focused on urban, policy and societal experimentation with sustainability, novel approaches for transformative innovation, and on the role of transdisciplinarity in supporting these processes. Increasingly, I am interested in the intersection between personal and societal transformations, considering how we can prepare students with knowledge and wisdom to navigate turbulent times as engaged change agents. The Spark course is unique. It is a creative and profound process that helped consolidate my competencies for interdisciplinary research and hone into promising new ideas. It’s a breath of fresh air!

My research is located at the crossroads of (animal) welfare, sensor-based and precision livestock farming (PLF), and ethics. I studied veterinary medicine and obtained a PhD at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (DE). Before moving to Utrecht University, I worked as an animal scientist at WUR (NL). At UU, I joined the Centre for Sustainable Animal Stewardship (CenSAS), which brings together science and society in a dialogue on animal related issues. Among other projects, I investigated the concept of animal resilience, the socio-ethical dimensions of PLF, the systematics of responsibilities for animal welfare, and the behaviour of poultry and pigs. I am very excited to be part of CUCo’s Spark programme in which interdisciplinarity is the goal (and not a means), where I get to know researchers I would probably never have sought collaboration with in the first place, and where we create something new and unusual together.

Martine Veldhuizen is Assistant Professor at the Department of Languages, Literature and Communication at Utrecht University and was the chair of the Utrecht Young Academy from 2020 until 2022. She is fascinated by the power of words in historical perspective and has published on premodern perceptions of speech in the Low Countries in European context from a legal, ecclesiastical and secular-ethical perspective (1300 -1550). She taught and designed courses on various subjects of cultural and literary history at Utrecht University, William & Mary College, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Amsterdam and Radboud University. Martine was awarded the Gerard Brom CRM Humanities Grant at Radboud University, a grant of Fonds Doctor Catharine van Tussenbroek for research at the Huntington Library (USA) and a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. The history of free speech is currently her focus, mainly after the invention of the printing press (1450-1500). She holds a 3-year grant of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO Veni), of which the project title is ‘Truth-tellers: The Mentality behind Subversive Speech Behaviour in Narratives in the First Printed books in Dutch’. She also received a NWO Internationalisation Grant to set up the research network Free speech in Europe 1400-1750 with partner institutions in Belgium and the United Kingdom.

More information soon!

DEEP
I deeply believe that collaborations thrive best when people involved are in genuine contact with themselves, the people around them, and the larger context their project is part of. Whenever working with teams, I do my best to create opportunities for deep conversations that spark this kind of connection. 

FUN 
What’s the point of doing anything if it’s not fun? I like to bring playful techniques to get people’s creative juices flowing. Engaging our heads, hearts, and hands. 

DONE
Building a bridge between research and reality is on a high-priority list. Working together will result in intentionally crafted actions to bring your collaborations forward. 

Neža through numbers: 
1 big (professional) love: facilitation of group processes, 1 business, 1 podcast, 2 homelands, 3 books coauthored, 3 boys birthed, 7 languages spoken, 2800 people facilitated in 10+years as a facilitator and a learning designer, endless fun through what she does.

It is an honour and a pleasure to introduce myself as a coach affiliated with the Centre for Unusual Collaborations. My entire professional life is marked by unusual collaborations. As a playwright and storyteller I am involved with the National Police. As a coach I draw upon art and theatre as windows for a different view. I see the classes that I teach at the University of Arts as a field of study in themselves.
At the heart of all my work is growth by doing, through questioning and reflection. When I work with you, we will be curious together about what interdisciplinary research has to offer in general, and for you as a group. We will address collective and individual questions of learning. Through play, writing and reflection we will develop thoughtful perspectives for action. With care and dare I will guide you and your process.

Rick Steggerda (1977) writes for theatre and radio. He has a masters degree in Humans and Organizational Behaviour, teaches Storytelling at ArtEZ, coaches on a bike and works at the National Police. Loves to tell you about his biketrip to Rome.