Tell us about your work

Currently, I am involved in the Bike Kitchen UvA project on the Roeterseiland Campus. This initiative is a do-it-yourself bike repair facility where visitors can acquire the skills to fix and maintain their bicycles, thereby extending their lifespan. The project is conducted under the supervision of professional bike mechanics and provides a well-equipped space. It aims to make sustainability tangible by encouraging people to alter their daily behaviors, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility for the value of their products. The project takes a transdisciplinary approach, merging academic, societal, and practical knowledge to create a communal space for shared learning. Collaborations with various initiatives and sponsors, both within and outside the UvA, are complemented by bachelor, master's, and PhD research projects linked to the Bike Kitchen. The research focuses on people's willingness to learn and serves as a practical example of the potential for systemic change. Thus, the Bike Kitchen acts as a stepping stone toward achieving a circular economy and a thriving community.

Since being part of the Opening of the Academic Year in September, the Bike Kitchen has been fully booked for 4 consecutive months, with over 600 visitors. We have already served 2% of the entire campus, and the numbers continue to grow!

What is your motivation?

My motivation is to establish a 'living lab' and a 'circular learning space on campus,' fostering the exchange of knowledge, skills, and stories among students, employees, neighbors, and business owners. To me, the bike serves as a symbol for making complex systems understandable, starting with individual actions and creating the potential for changing norms at the system level. Drawing on my personal experience as a student and my passion for bikes, I recognized the opportunity to create a meeting space on campus while making sustainability tangible, rather than solely learning about it within the university. What excites me is witnessing people arriving with practical problems, such as a flat tire, and leaving the Bike Kitchen with a newfound awareness of responsibility, pride, and confidence in their products, skills, and capacities. Starting conversations only requires an occasion and a space, and the Bike Kitchen provides precisely that, because its space functions as a central meeting point on a campus consisting of 3 different faculties and more than 26.000 students.

Your vision

I envision the Bike Kitchen as the catalyst for a broader sustainability movement within and outside the UvA, promoting self-repair of various products. The concept of self-repair can extend beyond bikes to encompass electronics, clothes, and other items, contributing to the circular economic ambitions of the municipality and the sustainability goals of the UvA. Collaborating with other sustainability initiatives and companies is crucial to fortify the transdisciplinary nature of the initiative. My passion lies in strengthening the connection between research and society and exploring the opportunities the UvA can offer in this regard. The Bike Kitchen has already proven its success within just four months, and my goal is to continue and expand this impact so that, within five years, self-sustaining bike kitchens or multifunctional self-repair places become a common sight on every campus and perhaps even at every train station.

Supporting factors

Crucial to achieving my impactful goals is my intrinsic motivation to explore the possibilities of building places from scratch, exemplified by placemaking, and my curiosity in navigating uncharted pathways. I firmly believe that exploration, curiosity, and social connection are core principles in challenging oneself and advancing one's career.