What is your role on the European Digital Education Hub?  

I'm considered an 'expert' on interoperability for education at SURF, the Dutch National Research and Education Network, and we're part of the consortium for the interoperability working group. The workgroup’s main focus? Developing a draft interoperability framework. It's all about aiding the European University Alliances with their digital challenges. We're hands-on, dealing with cool stuff like sharing educational resources, and streamlining processes for joint enrollment and learning opportunities. It's a great blend of theory and practical application! 

What is your experience in digital education?  

It's been a thrilling journey! Started at Radboud University in 2016, right when the Erasmus Without Paper project kicked off. I dove into digital internationalisation processes like student mobility and later shifted to information management. For the past two years, I've been immersed in international collaboration for digital education at SURF. It's been a ride full of learning and growing in the digital education realm. 

Which topic on digital education are you most invested in?  

Interoperability is my buzzword. I thrive on aligning complex business processes and IT systems, especially when it involves bridging the gap between stakeholders from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. The challenge of making information flow seamlessly between systems, institutions, and national borders is just exhilarating. And the best part? Discovering common challenges across thousands of institutions in Europe and collaboratively finding solutions – it's incredibly rewarding and heartwarming! 

Tell us your biggest highlight working on the Hub so far.  

Oh, there are so many, but let me tell you about a recent one! The design thinking workshop in Potsdam last week (January 2024) was a game-changer. With coaches facilitating the interoperability experts, we imagined how we could achieve interoperability for eight concrete use cases for European University Alliances. Imagine the impact – achieving interoperability at an organisational level for over 500 universities across nearly 60 Alliances. It's a monumental step forward, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!