![Een luchtfoto van de BUas campus](https://www.buas.nl/sites/default/files/styles/header_slider_wide_desktop/public/2022-10/campus%20header.png?h=cbd1efc8&itok=fn44u6HU) # Education & Research Day 2026 The future of hospitality education and research does not arrive as a prediction, it arrives as a possibility. On 8 October 2026, lecturers, researchers, and staff of the Dutch hotel schools gather in the former monastery of Hotel School Breda to explore exactly that. 08 Oct 2026 10:00 - 17:00 uur BUas campus, Breda [Click for route & details](https://www.buas.nl/en/contact-and-locations) ### Think in possibilities Technology, geopolitics, and shifting economic thinking are changing the landscape of hospitality faster than our curricula can follow. The Education & Research Day 2026 is a space to pause, look ahead, and ask the questions that matter: what might hospitality education look like? How do we teach students to navigate uncertainty through scenario modelling, systems thinking, and experience design? ### A day to dream and do The programme includes two keynote speakers, two workshop rounds, carousel sessions, and time to connect with colleagues from across the Dutch hotel school network. At the end of the day, we return to the present with one question: how do we move from dream to deed? ### Programme **09:00-10:00 Registration and welcome** **10:15-10:25 Welcome by hosts** **10.25-10.40 Welcome speech - warm welcome by Gienke Osinga** **10:45-11:30 Keynote Speaker Stefaan Vandist (part 1)** **12:00-13:00 Workshop round 1** Combining Artificial Intelligence and Appreciative Inquiry to Enhance Authentic LearningCan AI actually enhance authentic learning when intentionally and critically integrated into teaching and assessment? Much of the current conversation focuses on AI's risks and shortcomings, but this workshop asks a different question: how can we build on what already works to create more authentic, AI-enabled learning experiences? Using an Appreciative Inquiry lens, we move away from treating AI as a problem to be solved, and instead ask educators to identify what is already working well, why it works, and how these practices can be expanded. Through guided appreciative reflection, participants will unpack the seven principles of authentic learning and together explore where AI has strengthened dialogue, reflection, knowledge construction, personalization and critical thinking in their own teaching, and what more could be built from there. **Yoy Bergs & Celiane Camargo Borges** Breda University of Applied Sciences Wine Tasting Like a ProYou will taste 2 white wines and write a tasting note for each. We will then discuss to what extent you taste, or rather write tasting notes like a PRO. Pros that is, like Robert Parker, Jasper Morris, the reviewers of famous wine guides. Expect a mix of sensory hedonism, a soupçon of science and some fun. **Rob van Ginneken** Breda University of Applied Sciences Hospitality in UniformWhat happens when hospitality moves beyond hotels, restaurants and tourism? In this interactive workshop, participants explore how hospitality skills can support communities during crises, emergencies and periods of disruption. Through a practical scenario, we will examine how hospitality professionals, educators and organisations could contribute through care, coordination, shelter, food provision and human connection. The session invites participants to rethink the role of hospitality in civic resilience and consider what this could mean for education, research and collaboration with partners beyond the traditional hospitality sector. **Georges El Hajal & Prof. Dr. Hanneke Assen** NHL Stenden, Hotel Management School Leeuwarden Hosting the learning landscape: Connecting education, enterprise and enquiry in communities of learningIn a world disrupted by artificial intelligence and ecological deterioration, educators may feel overwhelmed, and wonder how to stay on top of things. Bridging the gap between (rapid but ambiguous) innovation and (slow but meaningful) education can be daunting. We used to think that we had the time to prepare students for future jobs, telling ourselves we had been properly educated for the job of teaching others. In other words, we felt comfortable teaching them. That frame no longer holds: we need to rethink concepts of teaching and learning if we want to educate students and ourselves for the dynamics of innovation. Imagine: What would happen if we joined them in the same learning space? This question forms the basis of the concept of learning communities: groups established to do just that: work, learn and innovate to address complex questions, in places where they emerge. Learning communities take collective ownership for building ideas, combining practical experience and scientific evidence. They are facilitated by knowledge institutes in landscapes of learning. In this workshop we will address evidence-informed design principles for impactful learning communities, using the hostmanship that is in our DNA. I will share examples of best practice communities across the ecosystem. You will walk away with a model and tools to spark collective activity in your own network, rediscovering your unique talent for impactful learning. **Bastienne Bernasco** Saxion The Hospitality Professional We Haven't Met YetWhat kind of hospitality professional are we educating for a future we cannot fully predict? In this hands-on LEGO® Serious Play® workshop, participants will imagine and build the hospitality professional of the future, exploring the capabilities, values and ways of thinking they may need. From there, we consider what this means for the innovation of our current educational programmes. What might need to change, and what obstacles could we encounter when trying to prepare students for a future that is still taking shape? **Marc Vink & Shira Godfried** Saxion University of Applied Sciences The Future Is Not Decided Yet: Reclaiming Agency in Hospitality EducationThis interactive 45 minute workshop offers lecturers and researchers from Hotel Schools a moment to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the role they can play in shaping the future of hospitality education. Together, we will explore how change in higher education can sometimes leave people feeling distant, unheard, or unsure of their influence. Through short reflective exercises, peer conversation, and a future focused scenario, participants will consider where their voice matters most, whether in teaching, research, curriculum development, student engagement, or collaboration with industry. The session is designed to be thoughtful and energizing. Participants will leave with one small but meaningful action they can take to contribute to the future of their institution and the wider hospitality education community. This workshop is inspired by ideas published by Harvard Business Publishing Education on academic agency and leadership in higher education. **Macmillion Braz Fernandes** NHL Stenden Hotel Management School Dream On: Co-Designing XR/AI in Hospitality EducationPicture a hotelschool classroom where a Cave Automated Virtual Environment and a VR headset are as ordinary as a flipchart and powerpoint are now, where students and lecturers are AI-literate and immersive experiences are common tools towards learning. Hard to imagine? The Limburg Immersive Technology (LIT) Network would like to support hotelschools to make this a reality, by creating and offering a session catered towards the successful introduction of immersive technology in hospitality management education. But what should an introduction to XR and AI in hospitality education actually contain? What elements should feature in order to be valuable for the hotelschools to integrate? Through structured small-group work, we co-design the session LIT will build and offer to every Dutch hotelschool, shaped by what you decide matters most, whether that's guest experience, branding, ethics, or something else entirely. Dream with us, then help turn it into a deed. **Danny Han, Malu Boerwinkel, Tim Hilken, Dominik Mahr** LIT Network, in collaboration with Hotel Management School Maastricht and Universiteit Maastricht Imag(e)-ining Collaborative Futures: Stakeholder voices from CELTH-CORENDON pilot-projectA qualitative study, 'Learning across the boundaries in CELTH projects: Stakeholder Voices', explores a pilot collaboration between 4 hotel schools, CELTH and Corendon Hotels & Resorts. In a dialogue, drawing on research insights, lecturers are invited to imagine new forms of collaboration between educational institutions and industry for lifelong learning. **Mandy Wen, dr Marte Rinck de Boer, dr. Hanneke Assen** Hotel Management School Leeuwarden The changing role of the lecturer in higher professional educationWhen being the subject expert is no longer enough? With Generative AI reshaping how students learn and access knowledge, the role of the lecturer is changing rapidly. In this interactive workshop, we will explore how lecturers should move from being primarily content experts to becoming learning designers, coaches, and facilitators of meaningful learning. Together, we will reflect on the growing importance of educational expertise, interdisciplinary thinking, and AI literacy, and discuss what these developments mean for our professional identity and daily practice. Participants will leave with fresh perspectives and practical ideas to help shape the future of their teaching. **Aaron Talbot & Wendy Smeets** Hotelschool The Hague When Jules Verne meets GenAILong before many technologies were real, Jules Verne was already using fiction to test-drive possible futures. In this interactive Verne-style workshop, we’ll take a short look at what recent AI developments could mean for hospitality education, and then collaboratively explore possible futures through narrative, conversation, and creative exchange. Rather than making predictions, the focus is on reflection, surprising connections, and new angles. Take-aways: thought-provoking scenarios and practical insights that can help start meaningful conversations within your own institution. **Geoff Marée** Hotel Management School Maastricht The Taste Lab: Beyond the PlateThis workshop invites hospitality educators and researchers to step inside a live experiment. Together we will design a short food experience, collect data using a combination of simple observation, physiological sensors, and AI-assisted analysis; together we will explore what that data can and cannot tell us about how people actually experience food. Results will be shared later in the day, giving participants the fun experience of being both researcher and subject, while simultaneously opening a conversation about what this can mean for hospitality education. **Peter Warner** Breda University of Applied Sciences **13:00-14:00 Lunch, posters & Taste Lab demo** **14:00-15:00 Workshops round 2 / Carousels** Reimagining Food Education: Connecting Food, Culture and SustainabilityFood is home, identity, culture and place-based experience. Food choice can support sustainability transitions. This workshop introduces the Erasmus+ Food Eco-Culture Edu project and explores how food can serve as a lens to address sustainability, culture and societal challenges. Participants will engage with the project's interdisciplinary approach, educational innovations and Living Labs, while discussing opportunities for research collaboration and the role of higher education in supporting sustainable food systems. **Lucia Tomassini** Hotel Management School Leeuwarden (NHL Stenden) Sensing the FutureWhat if the future of hospitality education is something you sense before you can name it? In this workshop, you move through three sensory stations, scent, colour and texture, that trigger unconscious associations with what lies ahead for our field. We work towards a short sensory manifest, a claim about hotel education's future, generated through intuition rather than argument. **Ruth Pijls, Senior Researcher Sensory experience & hospitality** Saxion University of Applied Sciences From Dream to Deed: Motivating Students in the Classroom through Behavioral ScienceIn this workshop, we explore student motivation through the lens of behavioral science. Why do students engage, hesitate, resist, or withdraw, and what can educators do to support movement and motivation? Drawing on practical behavioral tools and insights, participants will be invited to reflect on student behavior in a new way. The session is designed to spark imagination and discussion about how we can move from understanding motivation to actively shaping it in educational practice. **Kimberley van der Heijden** Hotel Management School Maastricht From Research to Real-World ImpactAcademic research generates valuable insights, but how do these findings reach industry and create tangible change? In this interactive workshop, we will use my deposit return system research as a practical example to explore the journey from scientific evidence to business application. Participants will gain insights into successful academia-industry collaboration, discuss challenges and opportunities that they have experienced themselves and we will work together to see how we can increase the impact from academia on the industry. **Marie Hartmann-Meester** Hotel Management School Leeuwarden Trash or Treasure? The Future of Ocean PlasticWe will explore a fundamental question: should ocean plastic (plastic collected from seas and a resource for recycling) be seen as a valuable resource to be reused, or as a waste stream that society should ultimately phase out? Rather than jumping straight to solutions, participants will first reflect on the values, principles, and assumptions that shape our vision of a desirable future. Together we will imagine life in a society free from plastic pollution and consider what place, if any, ocean plastic has within it. We will explore perspectives and translate these into opportunities for the hospitality industry. **Judith Ogink** NHL Stenden How to assess group work individually?Group work is valuable in hospitality education, but assessing individual contributions fairly, remains a challenge. This workshop invites participants to explore practical ways of combining the benefits of collaborative learning with meaningful individual assessment. Together, we will map different methods, discuss where they work well, and weigh their pros and cons. The session is designed as an active exchange of ideas and experiences, rather than a one-way presentation. I will also share the approach we use at HMSM, including its strengths and limitations, and provide it as a take-home resource. The goal is to leave with fresh ideas, a clearer overview of available options, and inspiration to make individual assessment in group work more transparent, fair, and effective. **Dr. Jérôme Gijselaers, senior lecturer and module coordinator** Hotel Management School Maastricht Missed Connection? Hotels and AviationMany Hotel Management students show a growing interest in the world of aviation, often seeing the two as naturally intertwined. This workshop opens a discussion on where these worlds genuinely connect, where they diverge, and what that might mean going forward — it will also introduce TAAM (Transformative Airlines and Airport Management), Breda University of Applied Sciences' new aviation specialization. **Laura Hill Cabrera** Breda University of Applied Sciences Dream job, real barriers: Rewriting the career story in hospitalityHotel management students dream big, but industry data shows only 26–32% of Dutch hotel General Managers are women. What happens between the dream and the desk? Drawing on research with students and industry professionals (Accor, Minor Hotels, IHG and others), this workshop confronts the gendered career perceptions that quietly shape ambition long before graduation, and the structural barriers (like the F&B-to-GM pipeline and "clubculture") that reinforce them in practice. Together we'll imagine concrete interventions education and industry can act on, turning the dream of an inclusive leadership pipeline into deed. **Samantha Boom** Breda University of Applied Sciences DEIBuild your DreamWe dream of a study and work environment where everyone feels they belong, and where we are all part of an inclusive culture. In this workshop, we will explore what is needed to make that dream come true. Together, we will work with the DEIBuild method, developed in cooperation with Penn State University (US), and use mini-figures to visualise and discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion in an interactive and accessible way. Join us to reflect, exchange perspectives, and help imagine what inclusive change can look like in practice. **Dr. Tom Kuypers** Hotel Management School Maastricht **15:00-15:15 Break** **15:30-16:00 Keynote Speaker Stefaan Vandist (Part 2)** **Thank you & closing hosts (Chapel)** **16:00-17:30 Drinks and bites (Small atrium)** **17:30 Small refreshments available for your travel back home** ![Portretfoto van Stefaan Vandist](https://www.buas.nl/sites/default/files/styles/max_650x650/public/2026-09/stefaan-vanbist.jpg?h=fead0295&itok=GEEpZepn) ## Keynote speaker Stefaan Vandist: From stay to story What happens when running clubs replace dating apps, nightclubs become wellness resorts, and international festival brands start opening hotels and retreats? New demographics, shifting behaviours and unexpected business model collisions are giving rise to a new generation of hospitality concepts: less predictable, less functional and far more experiential. A lecture by Stefaan Vandist is always a journey of discovery. Together with his audience, he explores different innovation boulevards — in this case, the future of hospitality — uncovering emerging ideas, surprising crossovers and new narratives that can inspire the industry. More about Stefaan VandistStefaan Vandist is an author, keynote speaker and founder of Narrative Nexus. After a career as a strategic planner at the acclaimed advertising agency Duval Guillaume, he has spent the past 20 years exploring one central question: how can organisations shape a better future by telling better stories? He is the author of We, Myself & A.I., Pretopia and Provotyping the Future, which was named Management Book of the Year 2025. Through Narrative Nexus, he helps organisations such as AB InBev, Arcadis, Tomorrowland, The Ocean Cleanup, Agristo and PWN strengthen their narrative capabilities. In 2026, he co-founded the Love Tomorrow Speakers Academy with Tomorrowland, supporting international speakers in turning ideas into stories that resonate, inspire and move people to action. ### Registration for the event Please register for the event of the Education & Research Day **before 1 October**. [Register]() Once you have registered, you will shortly receive a confirmation of your participation, including additional information. If you have indicated that you would like to host a workshop, you will receive a separate email from the organizing team shortly. ### Contact and location Email: Phone: +31 (0)76 533 22 03 Contactperson: Stephanie Verhoeven **Location:** Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) Horizon Building Mgr. 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