Avans and BUas Students Collaborate for an Optimistic Vision

Avans students of ‘Integrale Veiligheidskunde’ (Integral Security Studies) worked with BUas students of the Master Imagineering, Bachelor of Science Leisure Studies and Master Strategic Event Management. Bringing students together of different universities and educational programmes lead to interesting outcomes. 

The students presented their ideas during an event in the BUas Chapel on Thursday, November 23rd. Some groups presented concrete projects, intended as positive examples for future developments in the leisure sector. Examples include leadership programmes for women in professional football, or support programmes for young people growing up in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Other student groups came up with more artistic ideas, having the audience ruminate on calmness as a professional attitude in both leisure and safety, or giving a spoken word performance on the value of optimistic collaboration in a volatile world. 

Multatuli Student Award
After the presentations of the outcomes of the student collaboration project, the event continued with an award ceremony: Avans student Vera Piessens was awarded the Multatuli Student Award for her outstanding thesis, "Wat hebben zij nodig?" (What do they need?). The thesis explores care offerings for young individuals seeking to escape criminal exploitation, emphasising the prevention of recidivism and revictimisation. 

A distinguished jury, consisting of Anton van Kalmthout (professor emeritus, Tilburg University), Hilda Vliegenthart (Nieuwe Veste), and Arjen van Drunen (Education Alderman for the municipality of Breda), praised Piessens for her meticulous and methodologically well-executed study.

The final element of the event was a lecture by Marnix Provoost, researcher at the NLDA (Netherlands Defense Academy). He discussion the role of misinformation and disinformation in current conflicts.

Multatuli Lecture Foundation 
The Multatuli Lecture Foundation, known for promoting Multatuli's work and philosophy, organised the event. This year's theme, 'Het woord als wapen' (The word as a weapon), facilitated collaboration between the students of Avans and BUas. Marco van Leeuwen (ALE) represents BUas in the board of this foundation, and he co-organized the event and the student collaboration between Avans and BUas.

More pictures can be found here.