Contact and Meet the team

Curious to find out who we are?

The team consists of Bianca as the VU Graduate Winter School coordinator, alongside Celia and Helena as the school’s International Officers, and Mark as Digital Marketer. As your team, we’re here to answer any questions you may have before, during, or even after the programme. Our job is to make your experience at the school as comfortable as possible! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out via e-mail.

This year marks the fifth term of VU Graduate Winter School. Until now, we have welcomed participants from over 70 different countries, and we hope you too will join us this January!

On this page, you can learn more about the Quality Assurance Board, Certificate Board and the Winter School team. You can find contact information at the bottom of the page.

Stay up to date

Subscribe to our newsletter

Information Session

Bianca

During her International Business study Bianca had the chance to study abroad and learn the importance of internationalisation. After travelling for several month per year her mind was set on working for the International Office of VU Amsterdam where she has happily been working since October 2017.

“In my opinion internationalisation is truly important for an individual’s personal development, global cooperation, and solidarity. Moving our winter school online makes the programme even more accessible. The programme does not only provide life long learning but it also brings people together from all over the world. It is my utmost pleasure to be a part of this''
Celia

During her Erasmus Mundus Master's Degree in Euroculture Celia studied in Germany, France and Mexico, where she discovered the value of intercultural exchange. After graduation Celia did a traineeship at the Academic Cooperation Association in Brussels and developed her curiosity for internationalization. In 2021 she started to work for the VU as a Summer and Winter School Officer.
“From my own experiences I have learned that studying abroad can be a life changing experience. That is why I always encourage students to go abroad and challenge themselves in a new environment, making new friends and learning from all different kinds of people and cultures”
Helena

During her bachelor degree in English literature and linguistics, she developed her curiosity for culture and people. She went on to complete an exchange in Edinburgh University where she spent a year studying amongst many other international students and discovered firsthand the value of working in an international environment. After graduation Helena became interested in education and worked as an English teacher for a few years before completing her master’s in Education. She has managed to combine her two passions: education and internationalisation, and is thrilled to be involved in the VU Summer and Winter School team.

Silvester Draaijer

Dr Silvester Draaijer holds the position of programme manager at the VU Education Lab, part of the VU Centre for Teaching & Learning at VU Amsterdam. Before taking on this role, he has more than 20 years of experience as a teacher, consultant and educational researcher. He holds a PhD in the field of testing in higher education. Silvester Draaijer has over 20 years of experience in advising on educational innovation.
Helena Style Munoz

Helena has been working for the summer and winter school programmes for the last two years and holds a Master's degree in education. Her role in the quality board is to review the course proposals and to ensure that the courses are up to standard and that they are dynamic and inclusive.
Meike Morren

Meike Morren is an Assistant Professor in Marketing at VU since 2012, after she obtained her PhD in Method and Statistics from Tilburg University. Her research evolves around sustainability issues in which she likes to use advanced modelling approaches to discover patterns in environmentally friendly behaviour. Recently, she has synthesized survey findings in cross-cultural meta-analysis, and conducted an intervention on food choices. At the moment, she applies Natural Language Processing methods to analyse text data.
Dr. Sanchayan Banerjee

Dr. Sanchayan Banerjee is an Assistant Professor of Environmental and Behavioural Economics at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) in VU Amsterdam. Sanchayan obtained his MS and PhD from the London School of Economics and teaches in areas of environmental economics, applied quantitative methods and behavioural science and public policy. He is a fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.

Role

The Certificate Board assesses courses and handles extraordinary cases including student complaints, exam fraud, and is called upon in case assessment re-evaluation is necessary. It also analyses data from evaluation surveys completed by students.
Members

- Frans van der Wel (Chair): on behalf of STOK (former president)
-André Ran: on behalf of the exam board (former member)
-Wouter ten Have: on behalf of Raad van Toezicht
-Bianca van Putten (secretary): on behalf of summer/winter team