Lifelong Development Day
09/09/2022
Lifelong Development Day
The ‘Lifelong Development Day’ organised by Maastricht University is for everyone who realises that acquiring new knowledge and skills is essential to create meaningful impact. With inspiring panel discussions and interactive break-out sessions, we offer you an entertaining and informal afternoon where you will learn more about what the university has to offer for professionals.
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Lifelong Development Day
The ‘Lifelong Development Day’ organised by Maastricht University is for everyone who realises that acquiring new knowledge and skills is essential to create meaningful impact. With inspiring panel discussions and interactive break-out sessions, we offer you an entertaining and informal afternoon where you will learn more about what the university has to offer for professionals.
Look back
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Riding the Waves
We are going through turbulent times. From the war in Ukraine to the ongoing coronapandemic, from shortages on the labour market to rising energy prices, from (too) ambitious climate goals to a far-reaching digital transformation with corresponding concerns about data privacy and cyber security…
It is a small selection from a complex landscape in which you, as a professional, are expected to be flexible, decisive and proactive. How can you keep an overview and make the best choices for yourself and your organisation? How can you move from ‘dealing with threats’ to ‘seizing opportunities’? Or in other words: how do you optimally ride the waves of change around you?
This Lifelong Development day was for everyone who realises that acquiring new knowledge and skills is essential to create meaningful impact. With inspiring panel discussions and interactive break-out sessions, we offered an entertaining and informal afternoon where participants learned more about what Maastricht University has to offer for professionals.
Programme
We started the afternoon with a panel discussion on the question:
“What does it take to ride the waves?”.
Prof. Dr. Rianne Letschert (UM President) and Prof. Dr. Mariëlle Heijltjes (Dean School of Business and Economics) together with some seasoned professionals answered this question from their own expertise and experiences.
After the plenary part, attendees participated in three interactive break-out sessions with a choice of themes and speakers from various UM faculties and centres. Afterwards we all came together for drinks, there was room for networking and one could find out more about what Maastricht University has to offer for professionals and organisations.
Break-out sessions
As a participant, you could attend up to three break-out sessions of 45 minutes each. Below you will find an overview of the sessions we organised.
1. The Changing Role of a Leader
We have defined a role for the way in which we think we should behave within an organisation. This isn’t always a very human approach. We look at things too instrumentally and often judge too quickly. It is important to make people aware of this dynamic. How do we talk to each other and what is the impact of what we say? It’s those basic, interpersonal processes that are at the core.
During this interactive session, Mariëlle Heijltjes will share her view on leadership behaviour in organisations and what is needed to properly address the changing role of leaders. Peter Lemmens and Thecla van Hoogstraten (Executive Board) will participate on behalf of Stichting Kindante and highlight some of the changes they have made in their organisation to address their leadership challenges head on.
This session is hosted by UMIO and will be facilitated by Mariëlle Heijltjes in collaboration with Stichting Kindante.
2. From Data Management to Responsible Use of Personal Data
Some Social, Legal and Ethical Reflections
In today’s digital data-driven world, big data, technological developments in the area of machine learning, and artificial intelligence have changed the way we live. Technology nowadays is facilitating people’s everyday life, but it also leads to large amounts of personal data being collected and processed in a small amount of time. Decisions and processes concerning people’s lives are increasingly being automated, based on data. This affects fundamental rights in various ways. How to find an appropriate balance between what is technically possible, what is legally permissible, and what is societally acceptable?
This session is hosted by Law.Next and the Maastricht European Centre on Privacy and Cybersecurity (ECPC), and will be facilitated by Cosimo Monda.
– THE LANGUAGE OF THIS SESSION IS ENGLISH –
3. Intercultural Communication in the Workplace
“Why didn’t someone prepare me for this?”
Don’t let this be the question you find yourself or anyone in your organisation asking when working cross-culturally or cross-generationally. An interactive, discussion-based workshop to encourage reflection on the challenges and opportunities of intercultural communication in the workplace.
This session aims to:
- explore our own culture (national, regional and personal) and its influence on the way we communicate;
- raise awareness of how communications can be affected by culture, especially with regard to concepts such as communication styles, politeness and giving feedback;
- identify strategies for improving intercultural communication in the workplace.
This session is hosted by Maastricht University’s Language Centre and will be facilitated by Katie Lindley and Claire Noonan.
– THE LANGUAGE OF THIS SESSION IS ENGLISH –
4. Digitally Enhanced Learning Experiences
New digital technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Robotics are increasingly employed across diverse business contexts to facilitate training, improve hybrid working environments, and offer richer and more immersive experiences overall. Beyond these benefits to businesses, these technologies are uniquely suited for enhancing business education and training various professional skills. During this session, you will gain hands-on experience with the ways in which we employ these technologies within our classrooms at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. Specifically, you will get the chance to experience how service robots facilitate hybrid working, practice your public speaking and presentation skills in VR, and engage in remote teamwork in AR.
This session is hosted by DEXlab and will be facilitated by Dominik Mahr, Tim Hilken, and Roberta di Palma.
– THE LANGUAGE OF THIS SESSION IS ENGLISH –
5. Preparing Employees for the Future of Work
AI and automation will fundamentally change the nature of work in many sectors and shake up the labour market. Maximising potential gains and minimising skills shortages often requires training and retraining workers. Maastricht University was one of the driving forces of a national initiative that offers the infrastructure that can help firms to reskill and upskill their labour force to prepare for the future of work. In this session, professor Mark Levels of the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market discusses how automation will likely affect work and workers, which reskilling and upskilling strategies are most effective, which challenges lie ahead, and how these challenges can be overcome.
This session is hosted by the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) and will be facilitated by Mark Levels.
6. Move the Elephant: Inspirations about Change via Design Thinking
Herbert A. Simon, an influential scientist, once said:
“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”
But we must also acknowledge that in reality, not all design efforts lead to the desired change. Especially when we are talking about the complexity of designing organisational change. During this engaging session three authors of the book ‘Move the Elephant’ will share their joys and struggles on how they’ve applied design thinking in various ways within the academic context of a university. A context that is highly influenced by both scientific, business as well as political thinking. They will furthermore touch upon the theoretical foundations of design thinking and engage with you on how it can be leveraged to address the challenges and ambitions within your personal (professional) context. If you participate in this interactive session, it could be the start of a collaborative journey to drive wider change by design!
This session is hosted by UMIO and will be facilitated by Damien Nunes, Dominik Mahr, and Ellen Bastiaens.
7. The History and Future of Tapijn
With ‘learning’ as the connecting theme, Maastricht University, the Municipality of Maastricht and the Province of Limburg have worked together to breathe new life into the former Tapijn Barracks in Maastricht. The area has now been transformed into a place where students, businesses and residents meet. The renovated three characteristic pavilion buildings that have been in use by the university for the past two years are located around the former marshalling area and are connected by a new plinth.
The Tapijnkazerne has now been registered for the WELL Building Standard. This contributes to the health and well-being of building users and combines best practices in design and construction with evidence-based health and wellness interventions.
During this 45 mins session, guests will take a short walking tour around the new campus grounds and get some special insights in the history, current architecture and future building plans.
This session is hosted by Maastricht University Facility Services and will be facilitated by project leader Ralph Herben.
8. The Mieke Telkamp Dimension of the Dutch Administrative Justice System
The Dutch administrative justice system is in the spotlight. That could be a very good thing. The point is, however, that this recent interest does not also mean appreciation and understanding. Think of the ‘Toeslagenaffaire’, for example. What exactly is wrong, why is that and what can be done about it? Where should they go with the administration of justice? Where to and for what? Sander Jansen will guide you through these questions, sometimes with a helicopter view, sometimes in the depths of the administration of justice.
This session is hosted by Law.Next and will be facilitated by Sander Jansen.
– THE LANGUAGE OF THIS SESSION IS DUTCH –
9. Why Should the Private Sector Care about Poverty & Inequality?
The global pandemic has undone a lot of the progress made in reducing poverty globally. With increasing food and energy prices, more and more people find it difficult to make ends meet not only in the global South, but also in Europe and the Netherlands. Moreover, the disparities in income and wealth are growing both within and between countries. Yet, poverty and the lack of prospects to move ahead are not just problems for those experiencing them, but they affects us all. We know that being poor impacts the quality of life of households, as they struggle to pay their bills and ensure basic needs of their families are met. This has long-term consequences for the economic prosperity of a country and the social cohesion between citizens. However, are these developments also problematic for companies? Should the private sector care? What can it do?
In this session we will give you insights into the state of poverty and inequality in Europe and beyond and discuss what the costs of inaction are going to be. We will then spend time exploring responsibilities of governments and the private sector in how to deal with the situation and contribution to solutions.
This session is hosted by Maastricht Graduate School of Governance and UNU-MERIT, and will be facilitated by Franziska Gassmann, Mindel van de Laar and Cristina Mancigotti.
– THE LANGUAGE OF THIS SESSION IS ENGLISH –
10. What you Should Know when Investing in Emerging Markets
Despite recent setbacks regarding globalisation, due to rising protectionism and great power rivalry, the business case for outsourcing near Europe (‘nearshoring’) or further away (mainly Asia), can still be very strong in many value chains, such as apparel, electronics and all sorts of consumer goods. For foreign investors, much information on markets, business climate conditions and regulations, is available via different sources, e.g. government websites, regional administrative bodies, and commercial advisory companies such as McKinsey, Ernst and Young, KPMG. In this session, we will focus on what the official bodies don’t tell you.
Based upon the practical field experience of the MSM Expert Centre on Emerging Economies (ECEE), we will take you through some hard lessons learnt by people who invested in emerging markets and found out that theory and practice are often miles apart. This doesn’t mean that a Dutch company shouldn’t invest in foreign countries, but they better know what they are getting into. To give an idea, we will touch upon basic issues such as the business climate, local government and community relations, rule of law, access to finance, human resources management, access to land and utilities, procurement, quality assurance and standards, transport and logistics, and other topics that may be relevant. The presentation will be followed by an interactive Q&A to further discuss the tips and issues as described in the presentation.
The session is hosted by Maastricht School of Management (MSM) and will be facilitated by Andre Dellevoet of the MSM MSM Expert Centre on Emerging Economies (ECEE).
– THE LANGUAGE OF THIS SESSION IS ENGLISH –
11. Moving Out of the Comfort Zone
What is it like to work in a very different setting than what you are used to on a daily basis? To apply your expertise in a completely different social cultural context? What do you have to offer in such environment? Moreover, what unique experiences can you gain in trying to contribute?
To delve deeper into these questions, SHE Collaborates (SHEC) will host a presentation about one of their worldwide projects, in which Mrs. Geerie Winnubst – Musculoskeletal Medicine and Rehabilitation doctor – visited Sierra Leone this August as an expert in physical therapy education. She will share her experiences and insights with the audience. In addition, a question and answer session will be held at the end.
This session is hosted by SHE Collaborates and will be facilitated by Geraldine Beaujean, Tchitula Teuns and Geerie Winnubst.
– THE LANGUAGE OF THIS SESSION IS ENGLISH –
In addition… UM Alumni Day ‘Meeting Minds’
This Lifelong Development Day was combined with the UM Alumni Day: same day, same place! This means alumni from Maastricht University could opt to extend their programme to include both afternoon and evening activities when visiting the Tapijn campus in Maastricht.
The theme of the evening programme was ‘Meeting Minds’ and for this year’s edition, the University had put together a special interactive programme to learn from each other in the field of current themes such as Career Development, Lifelong Development, Sustainability and Entrepreneurship. For more information, click here.
Practical info
Event contact
Eveline Arts
Events Coordinator
Registration
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With a free UMIO Prime membership you gain access to all our network contacts and activities. As a bonus, our UMIO Prime app helps you sign up for live events with just one tap and stay connected to all people you meet.
