Senior Researcher and Program Lead in Cultural Diversity at Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing
I became part of the ENIEC community through my work at Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing, where ageing is approached from an interdisciplinary perspective, as a biological, social, and cultural phenomenon. At first, I was a quiet observer, curious, but not yet involved. That changed when Jan Booij invited me to deliver the opening speech at the ENIEC Annual Meeting in 2022, where I spoke about migration from East to West. In fact, I cannot come up with a better introduction to myself than I did then, so I invite you all to have a look at it!
That moment turned out to be a turning point. It was the first time I experienced ENIEC not just as a network, but as a safe space where personal stories and professional missions meet. Since then, I have been actively engaged, sometimes more reflectively, through learning from you; other times more expressively, by sharing my knowledge and experiences. My contribution to the ENIEC family is partly through my ‘ageing as a migrant’ background and partly through my work as a researcher, dealing with the intersection of ageing, migration, and wellbeing.
My work is varied! With one foot I stay in pure scientific research and with the other in practice. For example, I am involved in the NWA project Doing Diversity, where, together with Lara Fizaine and others, we research diversity policies in care and welfare. On the practice side, together with Foundations RCOAK and Al-Amal, we have co-designed and evaluated three social interventions —including Samen tegen Eenzaamheid (Together Against Loneliness), Het Domino-Effect (The Domino-Effect), and Bruggen Bouwen tussen Generaties (Building Bridges Between Generations). What I most love about my job is that I can combine my passions: scientific research and developing practice-oriented solutions that improve the well-being of older migrants and their loved ones. A good example of this is my participation in the NWA project PROMISE, which neatly combines research and practice on a national level.
I am driven by three important beliefs:
- Migration brings challenges and opportunities; every challenge can be turned into an opportunity, and every missed opportunity becomes a challenge.
- Listen to people, give them a voice, a place, and a sense of perspective, and the most incredible connections can emerge.
- Together we are stronger, together we go further.
ENIEC is a natural home for these beliefs. I value being part of a network that brings together committed professionals across Europe, all striving for more inclusive and culturally responsive approaches to ageing. And I am always happy to connect, collaborate, or simply exchange thoughts over coffee or across borders.
