Fostering Inclusive Engagement 2026

With this event, we aim to inspire participants to critically reflect on whose knowledge and perspectives are included in engaged practices and how to practice inclusive engagement across research, education, and the organisation.

After the successful 2025-edition, IDEA Center (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access Center) of EUR is organising a new event on fostering inclusive engagement. IDEA Center/EUR is teaming up with TU Delft and Leiden University - as part of the LDE (Leiden-Delft-Erasmus) Alliance.

Programme

• 14:00 Walk-in
• 14:10 Welcome and opening by Prof. Jacco van Sterkenburg, Chief Diversity Officer and Professor racism, inclusion and communication at EUR, and Prof. Arwin van Buuren, Strategic Dean Impact & Engagement at EUR
• 14:15 Keynote by Dr. Rachel Gillett (Universiteit Utrecht) and Sherlock Telgt (ATANA Noord-Nederland): Diversity, Inclusion - these words are often criticised as trendy slogans that do nothing for genuine social impact and societal change. Rachel Gillett and Sherlock Telgt debate how to get from slogan to impact, using examples from hip hop, high school education, and healthcare. They showcase successes, failures, and co-creative strategies from the project Re/Presenting Europe
• 14:40 Reflection on keynote and sharing good practices of inclusive engaged research by LDE panel of engaged researchers of Leiden, Delft, Erasmus: Dr. Tanachia Ashikali (Universiteit Leiden), Dr. Dirk van den Heuvel (TU Delft) and Dr. Daudi van Veen (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam)
• 15:05 Walk to break-out sessions
• 15:15 Start break-out sessions
  • Inclusive research - Who is invited to the table? Doing inclusive engaged research with small-scale funding - Dr. Helen Tibboel (IDEA Center EUR) and Chiara Stenico (Engagement & Research Services EUR) - How do you build genuine community engagement when time and resources are limited? In this panel, researchers working with small-scale grants discuss how they conduct inclusive, community-engaged research within tight constraints. Together we explore strategies for meaningful and equitable participation, attention to positionality, and overcoming barriers to inclusion - and what funders and institutions could do to support this work.
  • Inclusive education -Engaging every learner: universal design for learning in practice - Dr. Yumna Asaf (IDEA Center EUR) and Angelique Verhoef (Community for Learning & Innovation EUR) - How can we design courses that work for a wider range of students from the outset, rather than making adjustments afterwards? This interactive session introduces the core ideas and principles of universal design for learning (UDL) and explores how proactive and flexible course design can reduce unnecessary barriers and discuss practical ways to make teaching, learning activities and assessment more inclusive.
  • Inclusive organisation - Beyond Diversity: Whose voices shape the conversation? - Dagmar Heemskerk (Dialogue, Process and Deep Democracy Trainer and Facilitator at Perspectivity) - Power, ranking and group dynamics shape who feels able to speak up and whose voices are heard - often without us being aware of it. In this interactive session using Deep Democracy, we will explore how these dynamics influence our inclusive organisation, reflect on how we can better hear and value all voices, and experience how Deep Democracy can help create space for different perspectives to emerge and shape the conversation.
• 16:45 Reflective closure by Amalia Deekman (Kenniscentrum Ongelijkheid (Centre of Expertise on Inequality)) and Jacco van Sterkenburg (EUR)
• 17:00 Drinks and bites at Paviljoen

Host and moderator for this event is Telisiën Windster, project officer learning and development at EUR.