Trainings & workshops

Intercultural training

From 2020–2022, the Maastricht Young Academy offered a series of practical intercultural training for UM staff. Anyone working with people from different cultural backgrounds will notice that they have particular preferences when it comes styles of communication, timekeeping, giving negative feedback, and hierarchy. The training explored these differences and helped participants navigate different cultural styles in order to facilitate harmonious interaction and smoother productivity.

These small group workshops were led by Nava Hinrichs-Passuto, the Head of Executive Education and Capacity Building in Migration at the UNU-MERIT and the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance.

Active Bystander Training

Imagine witnessing unacceptable behaviour. Think of bullying, (sexual) harassment, belittling, discrimination etc. It’s hard to be the one to speak up. You might be afraid, or you don’t want to be the first to speak up, or maybe others may say you are overreacting. Yet, you know that matters like this can very well contribute to a toxic culture in the workplace and lead to socially unsafe work circumstances.

In collaboration with the Staff Career Center and Female Empowerment Maastricht, the Maastricht Young Academy offered a series of trainings for staff members wishing to contribute to a socially safe work and study environment by becoming an active bystander.

​​​​​​​Maastricht Migration Lecture series: Cross-nationally comparative research on racial and ethnic skill disparities: questions, findings, and pitfalls

The third lecture of the Maastricht Migration Lecture series, entitled "Cross-nationally comparative research on racial and ethnic skill disparities: questions, findings, and pitfalls" was given by Prof. Mark Levels on November 25th 2020. 

The lecture focussed on the racial and ethnic inequalities in skills and attitudes of children in primary and secondary education between 2000 and 2017, where it is seen that the successful participation of immigrant children and the children of immigrants in societies and labour market of western countries depends largely on their childhood experiences.

Prof. Mark Levels is a Professor of Health, Education and Work at Maastricht University. He is program director of the research program Health, Skills, and Inequality at the Research Centre for Education and the Labor Market (ROA) of Maastricht University, member of the ROA management team, a fellow of the Berlin Social Science Centre (WZB), a fellow of the Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE)of Maastricht University, and is a fellow of the Amsterdam Centre for Learning Analytics (ACLA). He teaches macrosociology at University College Maastricht (UCM).

Mark uses quantitative, qualitative and experimental sociological methods to study how individuals’ lives are shaped by government. He leads a large international research consortium that studies how governments can mediate the impact of AI and robotization on work, education, inequality, and welfare in Europe (TECHNEQUALITY). He is also one of the principal architects of the Nationaal Cohortonderzoek Onderwijs (NCO) and was appointed as one of the first national coordinators of the NCO with the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The NCO is one of the largest and most comprehensive research efforts on education in the world. He also currently coordinates an international research group that studies individual and institutional determinants of youth inactivity in various countries (NEET).

Maastricht Migration Lecture series: Does Citizenship Matter?

The second lecture of the Maastricht Migration Lecture series, entitled "Does Citizenship Matter?’ was given by Prof. Maarten Vink on October 28th 2020. 

Does holding citizenship affect migrants’ life experience and, if so, how? In the lecture ‘Does Citizenship Matter?’, we discussed the controversial and complex relation between immigrant naturalization and life experiences within the host society. 

Maarten Vink is Professor of Political Sociology at the Department of Political Science, Maastricht University, the Netherlands. He leads the research project “Migrant Life Course and Legal Status Transition (MiLifeStatus)” funded by a Consolidator Grant of the European Research Council (2016-2021). He is one of the founders and was previously a Co-Director of the Maastricht Center for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE).

Maastricht Migration Lecture series: Migration in Libya: From transit route to containment

The first lecture of the Maastricht Migration Lecture series, entitled "Migration in Libya: From transit route to containment" was given by Dr Katie Kuschminder on September 30th 2020.

The lecture focussed on African and Middle Eastern migration flows to Libya and how the country’s posture toward these migrants have changed dramatically since the 2011 fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. While Libya once was a destination for foreign workers drawn by a strong economy, post-civil war, migrants have used the country as a transit point to set off for Europe—though as European borders have hardened since the 2015-16 migration crisis, many have been stranded and contained in Libya through the EU's external action policies. At present, a human rights crisis is enduring in Libya for migrants. This presentation contextualized the changing situation in Libya for migrants from 2011 to the present. The presentation was informed by original interviews conducted with Nigerian and Eritrean migrants that travelled through Libya from 2014-2016 and demonstrated the different situations faced by migrants in Libya.

Dr Katie Kuschminder is an Assistant Professor at UNU-MERIT / Maastricht University. Katie's main research interests are in the areas of return and reintegration, irregular migrants journeys and migration governance. Katie has led migration projects for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, German Development Cooperation, ILO, IOM, NWO and WODC. Currently, she is a Work-Package Lead on the H2020 Admigov project. In 2016 she was awarded a Rubicon Grant from the NWO and completed a two-year fellowship at the European University Institute.