In a society with increasingly unequal access to opportunities and an expanding pressure on youngsters to perform, safe spaces where socially vulnerable youngsters are allowed to learn and develop valuable skills are highly important. In the Youngsterdam project, professional youth workers support these youngsters in organizing their own activities through applying the method Youth Organizing. This youth work method invites and motivates youngsters to organize activities initiated by themselves. Through these non-formal learning experiences, youngsters experience positive encounters with peers and others from their neighbourhood – increasing their social participation – have the opportunity to develop their talents, and gain insights into their future. In addition, they could learn to bear responsibility and gain useful communication and organization skills. Innovative in this approach is the application of Open Badges: a digital system for the (international) recognition of non-formal learning experiences. This tool can enhance youngsters’ learning process by continuously motivating them to learn and allowing for (self-)recognition of skills and experiences.In a learning community of youth workers, researchers, students and social work educators we aim to co-create knowledge focused on the following question: To what extent does Youth Organizing in combination with Open Badges motivate youngsters to gain new learning experiences in a voluntary, non-formal learning environment? Under supervision of researchers, Social Work students will obtain empirical data through structured observations and in-depth interviews with youngsters and youth workers. Additionally, through this learning community, youth workers can reflect on their own actions and methods. Results are expected in Winter 2022.
Social work in the Netherlands is attracting an increasing number of Turkish and Moroccan Dutch professionals, mostly second-generation migrant women from a Muslim background. Inspired by Amartya Sen’s capability approach, this article presents the findings of a qualitative content analysis of 40 interviews with professionals by peers from the same background. The question is, what kind of professionals do these newly started social workers desire to be and what hindrances do they encounter? The professionals challenge the dominance of Western beliefs and values. This becomes tangible in their desires and constraints and especially in the process of choice.
The online lifeworld gives adolescents various opportunities to meet their developmental needs. Not all young people benefit from these opportunities. They encounter negative experiences, have difficulties fulfilling their needs and engage in risky and harmful behaviours in the online lifeworld. This poses challenges for Dutch youth work professionals, as little is known about the digital lives of Dutch adolescents and the challenges they encounter when meeting their developmental needs in the online lifeworld. In this qualitative study, a photovoice method was used to collect screenshots from adolescents (N = 175) concerning their experiences and needs in the online lifeworld. Six types of developmental needs in the online lifeworld were distinguished. The article concludes that understanding how adolescents use online affordances to fulfil their developmental needs is a starting point for all youth work professionals in providing adequate support to adolescents in the online lifeworld.
Digital transformation has been recognized for its potential to contribute to sustainability goals. It requires companies to develop their Data Analytic Capability (DAC), defined as their ability to collect, manage and analyze data effectively. Despite the governmental efforts to promote digitalization, there seems to be a knowledge gap on how to proceed, with 37% of Dutch SMEs reporting a lack of knowledge, and 33% reporting a lack of support in developing DAC. Participants in the interviews that we organized preparing this proposal indicated a need for guidance on how to develop DAC within their organization given their unique context (e.g. age and experience of the workforce, presence of legacy systems, high daily workload, lack of knowledge of digitalization). While a lot of attention has been given to the technological aspects of DAC, the people, process, and organizational culture aspects are as important, requiring a comprehensive approach and thus a bundling of knowledge from different expertise. Therefore, the objective of this KIEM proposal is to identify organizational enablers and inhibitors of DAC through a series of interviews and case studies, and use these to formulate a preliminary roadmap to DAC. From a structure perspective, the objective of the KIEM proposal will be to explore and solidify the partnership between Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), Avans University of Applied Sciences (Avans), Logistics Community Brabant (LCB), van Berkel Logistics BV, Smink Group BV, and iValueImprovement BV. This partnership will be used to develop the preliminary roadmap and pre-test it using action methodology. The action research protocol and preliminary roadmap thereby developed in this KIEM project will form the basis for a subsequent RAAK proposal.
In the context of global efforts to increase sustainability and reduce CO2 emissions in the chemical industry, bio-based materials are receiving increasing attention as renewable alternatives to petroleum-based polymers. In this regard, Visolis has developed a bio-based platform centered around the efficient conversion of plant-derived sugars to mevalonolactone (MVL) via microbial fermentation. Subsequently, MVL is thermochemically converted to bio-monomers such as isoprene and 3-methyl-1,5-pentane diol, which are ultimately used in the production of polymer materials. Currently, the Visolis process has been optimized to use high-purity, industrial dextrose (glucose) as feedstock for their fermentation process. Dutch Sustainable Development (DSD) has developed a direct processing technology in which sugar beets are used for fermentation without first having to go through sugar extraction and refinery. The main exponent of this technology is their patented Betaprocess, in which the sugar beet is essentially exposed to heat and a mild vacuum explosion, opening the cell walls and releasing the sugar content. This Betaprocess has the potential to speed up current fermentation processes and lower feedstock-related costs. The aim of this project is to combine aforementioned technologies to enable the production of mevalonolactone using sucrose, present in crude sugar beet bray after Betaprocessing. To this end, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (Zuyd) intends to collaborate with Visolis and DSD. Zuyd will utilize its experience in both (bio)chemical engineering and fermentation to optimize the process from sugar beet (pre)treatment to product recovery. Visolis and DSD will contribute their expertise in microbial engineering and low-cost sugar production. During this collaboration, students and professionals will work together at the Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs (CHILL) on the Brightlands campus in Geleen. This collaboration will not only stimulate innovation and sustainable chemistry, but also provides starting professionals with valuable experience in this expanding field.
Dutch society faces major future challenges putting populations’ health and wellbeing at risk. An ageing population, increase of chronic diseases, multimorbidity and loneliness lead to more complex healthcare demands and needs and costs are increasing rapidly. Urban areas like Amsterdam have to meet specific challenges of a growing and super divers population often with a migration background. The bachelor programs and the relating research groups of social work and occupational therapy at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences innovate their curricula and practice-oriented research by multidisciplinary and cross-domain approaches. Their Centres of Expertise foster interprofessional research and educational innovation on the topics of healthy ageing, participation, daily occupations, positive health, proximity, community connectedness and urban innovation in a social context. By focusing on senior citizens’ lives and by organizing care in peoples own living environment. Together with their networks, this project aims to develop an innovative health promotion program and contribute to the government missions to promote a healthy and inclusive society. Collaboration with stakeholders in practice based on their urgent needs has priority in the context of increasing responsibilities of local governments and communities. Moreover, the government has recently defined social base as being the combination of citizen initiatives, volunteer organizations , caregivers support, professional organizations and support of vulnerable groups. Kraktie Foundations is a community based ethno-cultural organization in south east Amsterdam that seeks to research and expand their informal services to connect with and build with professional care organizations. Their aim coincides with this project proposal: promoting health and wellbeing of senior citizens by combining intervention, participatory research and educational perspectives from social work, occupational therapy and hidden voluntary social work. With a boundary crossing innovation of participatory health research, education and Kraktie’s work in the community we co-create, change and innovate towards sustainable interventions with impact.
