In a Dream Team, you’ll use each other’s knowledge and skills to take on a social challenge for a year. You’ll be part of a team consisting of 8-14 Bachelor’s and Master’s students from various study programmes, with a wide range of skills. That means you’ll complement each other, strengthen each other, push your boundaries and grow not only academically, but also on a personal and social level. In short: you’ll develop A Broader Mind.
The Dream Teams have been active since 2021-2022 and have already led to several great initiatives and successes. And now you, too, have the opportunity to work on ideas and solutions to challenging social issues in the upcoming academic year. These are as follows:
Burning Lowlands Dream Team
Across the globe, we’re seeing more and more large-scale wildfires. Due to climate change, we expect such fires to become increasingly common in the Netherlands as well. But our country is so densely populated and highly developed that we’re neither equipped nor prepared for it. Together, we need to think about how to prevent these devastating fires. And that’s complex, because there are many interests at stake. How can we protect nature, farm agriculture, ensure recreation and increase biodiversity while at the same time guaranteeing our safety against destructive fires? As part of this Dream Team, you’ll look for ideas and solutions that a wide range of stakeholders can get on board with. Join Burning Lowlands!
VU ProFit! Dream Team
We all know that exercising more, reducing stress, eating healthier and getting enough sleep is good for our health. Yet for many of us it’s tough to actually do this, let alone to sustain it. In this Dream Team, you’ll challenge VU Amsterdam employees and fellow students to measure and improve their biological age. How old are you really? And how can we get healthier? You’ll develop interventions and put together a series of measuring tools. Because to measure is to know. By doing so, you’ll investigate what works and what doesn’t when it comes to reducing the biological age, and you’ll help to improve the physical and mental health of both students and staff. Take action and make the campus fit!
Reduce Food Waste Dream Team
All over the world, we’re throwing away food while part of the population goes hungry. It’s also bad for the environment because the food has already been “produced”. In the Netherlands, too, we waste around 33 kilograms of food and 65 litres of drinks per person every year. We should be more sustainable, including on the university campus! In this Dream Team, you’ll investigate how to make students and employees more aware of food waste and encourage them to make better choices. For example, how can caterers better match supply and demand at VU Amsterdam? How can we ensure that we actually eat and drink all the food we’ve ordered, taken away or brought from home? And how can we give any leftovers a good home? How much do you think we can reduce food waste?
PULSE Racing Dream Team
PULSE Racing is dedicated to improving the mobility and vitality of individuals with spinal cord injuries (the athletes) through the use of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES). With FES, muscles contract as pulses are sent through the skin to the nerves. In this way, PULSE Racing enables athletes with spinal cord injuries to cycle again. PULSE Racing participates in national and international competitions and has even won gold at the Cybathlon, a competition where talented para-athletes compete for the gold medal using advanced robotics. PULSE Racing combines sports, rehabilitation, and technology, aiming to increase awareness of FES and allow even more athletes to experience the possibilities and benefits of FES.
Why take part?
- You’ll develop skills that contribute to your personal and professional growth.
- You’ll work on issues involving stakeholders with different perspectives and interests – a useful experience that you can apply in many situations in practice.
- Together, you’ll look for interesting partners, inside or outside VU Amsterdam. You’ll learn to network, maintain relationships with stakeholders and pitch creative ideas in a professional context.
- Your team will be assisted by researchers (ambassadors) who share their knowledge, skills and professional networks.
- You’ll receive 6 extracurricular ECTS if you meet certain conditions. In some cases, you can earn 6 intracurricular ECTS. See the FAQs at the bottom of this page.
- Your team will be supervised by the Demonstrator Lab, where you’ll meet the other Dream Teams and can ask practical questions. You’ll also receive a training programme in which you’ll learn to draw up objectives and priorities, to make and meet collaboration agreements, and to make adjustments based on progress and results.
Ready to join? Register no later than 22 June!
Interested? Sign up for one of the teams by June 22, 2023, using this registration link. Selection interviews will take place during the first week of July.
