Meet the Crossing Boundaries Speakers!
Crossing Boundaries
This year’s edition of the TEDxWageningenUniversity conference will feature several speakers from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. We invite you to read more about them below!
Ton van der lee
Drs. Ton van der Lee is a writer and documentary maker specialising in Africa. He studied literature in Amsterdam, made more than 20 feature documentaries for television and published 16 books. He lived in Africa for 12 years.
He teaches at several film schools in the Netherlands and abroad.
His recent focus has been the relationship between African spirituality and nature. Currently working on a documentary about shamanism in Oman.
Frankie Turk (she/her)
Writer, facilitator and co-founder of the collective RE-PEAT.
Inspired by the transformative powers of both grief and peatlands, in 2023 Frankie took part in a 6-month peer-to-peer learning journey DeathxLife with HuddleCraft and later co-directed a short documentary In Death is Life with WaterBear.
In 2024 she is co-hosting a workshop series titled “Peatlands and grief: how to collectively honour decay?”
Anneke valk
Anneke is a biologist, talented public speaker, sports’ teacher and 5x nominated Teacher of the Year at WUR.
Anneke shatters taboos and shares essential knowledge about our brain, body and hormones; supporting her audiences in understanding themselves and others so much better.
She is well-known for her positive energy and emotional intelligence, and an often-requested speaker for corporate events, professional development tracks and national conferences.
Kim schomaker
Kim is a skilled cultural anthropologist and communication specialist who has founded her own impactful company, reaching hundreds with her mission to break down taboos and share essential insights into women’s health, including the menstrual cycle and menopause.
Kim brings expertise to sensitive topics that are often overlooked. Her work empowers individuals and communities, creating space for vital conversations that drive positive, inclusive change in society.
Amitangshu Acharya
An Indian academic, researcher, and writer. He teaches courses on political ecology, science and technology studies, and decolonisation, and coordinates a PhD course on Decolonising Science in the Netherlands.
In his writings and research, he explores the ruptured relationship between people and their environment while documenting sites and struggles where plural knowledge systems and practices reclaim hope for a sustainable future.
Michiel Voskamp
Social entrepreneur, community manager, and corporate activist focused on the Commons—water, nature, and housing. Together with friends, he is building a sustainable, affordable, and socially inclusive dream house: De Torteltuin. De Torteltuin is part of a pioneering movement within the Dutch cooperative housing sector.
Michiel is currently working on building a community of self-build housing initiatives and helping people with alternative housing dreams take their first steps toward realization.
Percy Cicilia Jr
Percy Cicilia Jr. is a Media and Reading Consultant passionate about libraries as spaces for learning, media literacy, and fostering inclusion.
With expertise in designing engaging interventions for media literacy applications and workflows, Percy focuses on empowering learners and communities to critically engage with information and challenge narratives in a rapidly changing world.
BERT KALLEN
Bert has been working as a physiotherapist in primary care for 43 years. He is the founder of the treatment and expertise center, Center for Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms, and developed a rehabilitation program, the SCER-program for people with Complex Persistent Complaints. He has always worked at the interface of physical and mental health care. In 2013, together with Monique Pennings (health and behavioral scientist|), he published the book 'Grip op SOLK'.