Keynote VU Education Day 2025: Mieke Lopes Cardozo & Koen Wessels

About the speakers

Mieke Lopes Cardozo is Associate Professor in Regenerative Education in the Governance and Inclusive Development Research Group at the Institute for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam. She is co-founder and director of the School of Regenerative Educators, with Bas van den Berg and Koen Wessels. Mieke's transdisciplinary work focuses on the role of education in processes of regeneration, peacebuilding and inclusive development. She is chair of the Fair, Resilient and Inclusive Societies (FRIS) education innovation  scholarship programme  at UvA. She lives in Amsterdam, is a mother of twins, partner of an architect and is a committed reiki and yoga practitioner/educator.

Koen Wessels works as a regenerative practitioner engaging in a variety of projects in the educational field, with a focus on growing capacities for regeneration in educational professionals and teams. He is co-founder and director of the School of Regenerative Educators, with Bas van den Berg and Mieke Lopes Cardozo. He is also a co-founder of De Bildung Academie and holds a PhD in relational pedagogy. He lives in Utrecht, with Irish Setter Papyon and his partner, and is a committed TaiChi practitioner.