Where do you get your educational passion from?
My field, conflict studies, deals with a fierce subject: how can we explain the emergence and persistence of armed conflict? In doing so, my teaching irrevocably touches on the darker sides of current events and responds to very fundamental social and political questions. It really is about something and that also means that students are often very engaged.
I taught and teach several Bachelor electives for the Centre for Conflict Analysis and Management (CICAM) on the framing of security policy and conflict; on conflict and governance I Africa; on terrorism; and on the war in Syria. What inspires me in these is the chance to give students the opportunity not to avoid those difficult questions, but to answer them systematically. How we analyse, interpret and discuss conflict is not only of scientific interest, but also has direct social relevance because it plays a role in public opinion and policy-making. When it comes to war or politics, everyone has an opinion. This only increases the importance of critical and scientific conflict analysis - a responsibility that students take very seriously.
What teaching moment has always stayed with you?
The first teaching I did at Radboud University was during the corona pandemic. And although that wasn't too bad (there were still plenty of students enthusiastically participating even online), it did impress upon me the value of ‘real life’ teaching. When I stood in front of a group for the first time in a lecture hall - often the same halls where I myself had once sat in the benches as a bachelor student - I realised again how important it is to cherish that interpersonal aspect of education: the conversations before and after lecture and during breaks; being able to ‘read’ the dynamics in the room; the room for deviation from the agenda and discussion. Especially with topics that are heated, that finger on the pulse is crucial. At the risk of being a bit pedantic, this is what I try to pass on to students: be present, participate; you don't have an obligation to attend, but an opportunity to attend: take it!
What do you hope to pass on to students?
Besides offering multidisciplinary conflict analysis skills, I also try to impart to students that it is important not only to apply the theories of power and violence we discuss to wars elsewhere, but that they can also be used to interrogate politics and conflict closer to home. That we should also be aware of the role of our own representatives and rulers in global conflict dynamics. I hope students will continue to use their analytical mindset outside the lecture hall when reading the newspaper or discussing the state of the world with friends or family.
I therefore found it a huge compliment that some students who voted (anonymously) for me when I was nominated for the Woman in Media Award 2024 stated that they found it inspiring to see that the concepts they were familiar with from the lecture hall were also reflected in my media analyses.
What did you learn from your students?
Students keep you on your toes. Their questions ensure that you always need to have the basis or core of a certain approach, concept or theory at hand. Whereas scientific research can sometimes become hyper-specialistic, in education you must always be able to make the connection with other questions and fields of study and have the bigger picture at hand - all the more so because the electives I teach involve students from many different programmes. Always explaining why a certain terminology or approach is appropriate (and sometimes recognising that it might not be) ensures that you don't go on autopilot, which is essential as a scientist.
What would you like to try out again in your teaching?
Conflict studies is an inherently multidisciplinary field - the analysis of conflict comprises political science, history, sociology, psychology, anthropology and economics. Through my membership of the Radboud Young Academy, where I collaborated with scholars from really ALL disciplines - and interesting guest lectures by conflict analysts working on technological and hybrid warfare, I did become curious about the possibilities of integrating disciplines from outside the social sciences and humanities into our analyses.