Hi!

I am a lover, a mother, a writer, a reader, a mentor to my students and team members, a creative maker, a citizen, a traveller, a curious mind, an ethnographer, a rock climber, and a meditation teacher. I believe in soft and slow living, human kindness, and changing your mind after gaining more knowledge.

I am also a futures-anthropologist with a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Free University Amsterdam), a Master’s degree in Research Journalism (Utrecht University & Aarhus University), and professional training in Future Foresighting (Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, Utrecht University). I am the President of the Dutch Future Society and a research fellow of the Next Nature Network.

My academic work has received funding from the European Research Committee (Starting Grant, 1.5 million Euros for my project HEALTH-AI), the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (20,500 Euros for the development of my ‘Futures-In-The-Now methodology), Media Studies UvA (50,000 Euros for
collaboration and research with indigenous leaders on the future of technology), the Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (15,000 Euros for international research on digitising healthcare), as well as a Seed Grant by the Catharina van Tussenbroeck Fund. I obtained my PhD position (from 2010-2014, with honours/cum laude) through a Personal Grant for my solo-proposal in the Open Round of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and was selected by the Foundation for Dutch Scientific Research Institutes (NOW) for an Aspasia scholarship in 2023.

My research focuses on current and foreseeable transformations in human society, concerning the protection of ‘sustainable humanity’ (how do we stay humane?), and exploring what is gained and lost by individuals and groups in different future scenarios. The ‘Future-In-the-Now’ Method, which I have developed, is known for its applied and interdisciplinary character: I mix science with art and regularly collaborate with artists, software engineers, poets, photographers, and actors. The results of our work have ended up in theatre plays at the Lowlands festival, art installations in museums, poetry slam dinners, traveling photo exhibitions, and digital meeting spaces. You can also read about my work in my books and academic articles.

As an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam, I teach courses in Qualitative and Multimodal Methods, Ethnography, Applied Anthropology, Creative Writing, Slow Academia, Futurism, and Sustainable Humanity. I supervise PhD students, Master’s students, and Postdoctoral researchers. I conduct research through fieldwork in various countries, including Greenland, Indonesia, Haiti, the USA, the Brazilian Amazon, the Netherlands, and the international digital world.

Last but not least, I have founded The Emic. It’s a community as well as an experiment, of people who are interested in seeing what happens if we no longer play the game of social media, but instead, connect in a digital place that is safe and kind, and allows us to learn from people outside of our own Filter Bubbles.