#Visit us in Breda on Wednesday 23 April 25! #Participation is free.
SDG ACTION FESTIVAL
Thursday 24 April 2025. Follow the signposts in Breda.
Join students event management to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
Some 150 students event management from 5 international partner programmes assemble each year in a different European city. Their goal? To make the citizens aware of the sustainable development goals launched by the United Nations. How? Via live communication experiences.
Those students are involved in an event-related study programme at VIVES, University of Applied Sciences, Belgium, at Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Finland, at Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Finland, at Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands and at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands.
Become a conscious citizen and help to improve your city.
Learn about the SDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals launched by the United Nations. Choose and strive for the goal that suits you the most. Fight against poverty and hunger. Fight for good health and wellbeing, quality education, decent work and economic growth, to name only a few of the goals each city should meet by 2030. Our international teams with event management students will show you the way in this year’s chosen city.
Your hosts and host institutions
Programme Leader Event Management
Organizer STRETCH/SDG Action Festival
In 2004, Bart Derolez was a pioneer in Flanders, when he created Events Management for VIVES University and he has been the programme leader ever since. With a core team of lecturers and events industry specialists he managed to shape a dedicated and challenging study programme. Next to his role as a team leader, he teaches event-related topics. In addition, he is involved in practical trainings and projects. It was Bart who, as first one, felt the need to reach out and stretch internationally, to launch a network of event studies key players. This resulted in STRETCH and the SDG Action Festival.
An Ostyn
Lecturer & Coach VIVES Event Management
Organizer STRETCH/SDG Action Festival
An Ostyn is a lecturer in corporate communications and Business English. She also coaches communications skills to students conducting a practical project. In doing so, she really focusses on stretching that playful part of the mind and prompting it to extend to the edgy shades of imagination and language. She is the presenter and host at many (VIVES) events and is involved in internationalization at VIVES. From her experience, she has been committed to setting up the STRETCH network and co-ordinating the first version of the international student project, the SDG Action Festival Kortrijk.
Dorothé Gerritsen
Dorothé Gerritsen has been a lecturer in Event Management, at the Academy for Leisure of Breda University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands, since 1995. In one of the specialist areas open to students, event management, she initiates and supervises research projects in the field of event marketing. She is the co-author of the book ‘The Event as a Strategic Marketing Tool’. She has also been a member of the Education Committee of the Centre of Live Communication, CLC-Vecta. She teaches at different levels and programmes such as the Master Strategic Event Management. She is also the coordinator of the minor Strategic Event Management and the bachelor programme Events for Business.
Ronald Van Olderen
Rowdy van den Nieuwenhuizen
Rowdy van den Nieuwenhuizen is a lecturer and coach at Breda University of Applied Sciences, specialized in Business Events. Currently, he works part time at the academy for Leisure. In addition to his specialization in events for Business, he is involved in the minor Co-creating Events and Designing Experiences and he supervises graduating students.
Outside of academia, Rowdy works as a freelance strategic event manager for Front Row, maintaining engagement with students and clients while primarily focusing on marketing conferences and business fairs.
Rutger Boxhoorn
Rutger is the coordinator and lecturer of the Event Experience module at the Inholland University of Applied Sciences in Rotterdam. An important aspect of this module is interdisciplinary work, so it hosts students from the programmes Creative Business, Tourism Management, Communication, Leisure & Event Management and Business Innovation. Rutger lectures on designing experience and executing events. Besides lecturing, Rutger is a part time event producer. He was Head of Production of the Amsterdam Grachtenfestival till 2023, works for the Zwarte Cross Festival (biggest paid outdoor festival in The Netherlands) and for several smaller clients.
David Winter
Inholland University of Applied Sciences
David Winter is a part-time lecturer in Leisure & Events Management at Inholland University of Applied Sciences, located in Diemen/Amsterdam. Specialized in events, he serves as both lecturer and coach and coordinates the Event Experience track. In addition to his academic role, David continues to bring his expertise to the industry through his own events agency called ‘Fijne Snuiters’. His agency is renowned for organizing B2C and B2B events, each crafted with a strong emphasis on enjoyment and engaging experiences.
Teresa Chen
Lapland University of Applied Sciences
Manager Digital Business Expertise Group | ICT business, art
Marika Saranne
Lapland University of Applied Sciences
Manager Digital Business Expertise Group | ICT business, art
Kaija Meriläinen
Laurea University of Applied Sciences
Certified Event Designer (CED), Event Design Mastermind By EDCO Global – happy to discuss event design, event establishing & management in different genres (festivals, BtoB, sporting etc). Background in tourism & restaurant business, master degrees both Education & Cultural anthropology. Interested in mixology, kayaking, cycling, community building & lifelong learning.
Heidi Vähänikkilä
Laurea University of Applied Sciences
With a strong background in the field of hospitality, I have been working in different companies for 18+ years before starting to work as a Senior Lecturer. My passion concerns everything in the domains of marketing and communications, hotel business, event management and customer experience all in all. Currently I am working on my PhD research project (on Business Model Innovation in the hospitality field) .
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