Events

UNESCO Symposium Be the Change

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 - Wednesday, May 14, 2025

The international symposium 'Be the Change', 14 May 2025, 12:30-18:00 at VU campus, aligns with UNESCO’s mission to promote peace, human dignity and sustainability.

hbo-festival - For the future of the Netherlands

Friday, May 9, 2025 - Friday, May 9, 2025

What is the role of higher education in the future of the Netherlands? This question takes centre stage at the Hbo-festival - For the Future of the Netherlands on 9 May at the NBC in Nieuwegein. And you are cordially invited to attend. Together with 36 universities of applied sciences, we are not only celebrating the power of higher education, but also the 50th anniversary of our association. This will be a day not soon to be forgotten! John Johnston will gave 15 minute talk on the UNESCO chair and practice based research

Podium for impact - Congress on cultural participation and education for and by difference makers

Monday, January 20, 2025 - Monday, January 20, 2025

‘Not all Culture is Good.' I was honoured to give a keynote presentation at the 'Podium for Impact' conference organised by the Fonds Voor Cultuurparticipatie in the Netherlands in Apeldoorn.

Conversations about possible collaborations

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

UNESCO Chair John Johnston meets with the minister of education of the Seychelles, Dr. Justin Valentin, together with the source of Issues Based Arts Education, Mr. Martin Kennedy, who lives and works on the Islands.

Dutch Unesco chairs: working together on shared challenges

Friday, November 22, 2024

On 22 November, the Dutch part of the Unesco chairs network met. The chair holders, also known as chairs, discussed ways in which they can make more impact during a dialogue session at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU).

ELIA Biennial Conference 2024 Arts Plural

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 - Saturday, November 23, 2024

Theme: Arts Plural Artists and designers possess a particular form of intelligence. Although considered powerful in certain circles, artistic intelligence is frequently ill-defined or misread. However, as a system of capacities for perception, insight, sensing, creating, and decision-making, it has been driving human evolution beyond boundaries for centuries. But how do we define artistic intelligence and its possibilities in a contemporary context?   

NSEAD Peace | iJADE conference 2024

Thursday, November 7, 2024 - Saturday, November 9, 2024

This year’s conference theme offers a particular focus on the peace agenda as it has become more prominent in all forms, levels and dimensions of education. We are pleased that this theme has stimulated such a diverse range of engaging interpretations from our presenters. In response to UNESCO’s recently published peace education strategy (UNESCO, 2024), we might consider the extent to which art and design education play an active role in the promotion of forms of peace that expose the roots of inequality and oppression, or for imagining a just ‘new world’ (Darder, 2009)? With this, what are the implications for art and design educators offering spaces to critically examine the conditions in which peace either thrives or diminishes? What role can art and design play in actionable, socially-just peace

International UNESCO Chairs Conference in Germany

Monday, October 7, 2024 - Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Transforming knowledge for Africa's future

Monday, September 30, 2024 - Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Organised by the African Union Commission and UNESCO At this turning point in global development, humanity must react urgently and has only two possible choices for its future. For its future: ‘decay or a salutary awakening’. The ‘choices we make - or fail to make today will be decisive: either we sink into decay and face repeated crises face repeated crises in the future, or we can pull ourselves together to create the conditions for a better, more sustainable and peaceful future for the people of Europe.