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Humanities Explore

The Explore programme by the Humanities Venture Lab provides participants with the opportunity to explore whether entrepreneurship excites them.

Do you ever think about making societal impact by developing your own venture, starting your own project, or working as a freelancer? The Explore programme allows you to find out whether social entrepreneurship is a good fit for you. Through various focused, hands-on workshops you will discover which steps and skills are needed to turn your idea or research results into an impactful venture. You can explore what kind of impact you can really want to make, how to communicate this effectively, and for which audience. Whatever your entrepreneurial idea, Humanities Explore helps you explore and develop it.

The Explore programme is developed by the Humanities Venture Lab. 

Workshops
  • The impact of your idea (9 April, 15:00–18:00)

    What is your personal drive, and what impact do you really want to make? In this workshop you will formulate clear intentions and explore your inner entrepreneur. Using the Theory of Change, you will map out what impact your idea aims to create, and for whom. Through Find Your Why, you will examine what truly motivates you. With Ecosystem Mapping, you will identify the key stakeholders, allies and contexts around your solution. We conclude with a reflection: why is this problem worth solving, and for whom?

    Register here
  • Discover your real target group (13 April, 15:00–18:00)

    An impactful venture focuses on a real problem faced by a clearly defined target group. In practice, however, the people you think you will be serving and the people you will actually serve often turn out to be different. In this workshop, we therefore explore who your user/client/commissioner really is. You will learn how to design user interviews and immediately test them in conversations with stakeholders.You will present your findings, identify patterns, and translate your observations into concrete opportunities for improvement.

    Register here
  • Communicate your unique value (16 April, 15:00–17:00)

    The value of your venture may feel obvious to you, but how do you ensure that stakeholders see it too? In this workshop, you will practise this skill by learning how to articulate your unique value clearly and convincingly. We work with storytelling: together, we develop narrative forms of communication that resonate with your audience and clearly highlight what makes your contribution distinctive. Along the way, you will also sharpen your idea and view it from the perspective of your prospective users and stakeholders.

    Register here
  • Business model canvas & pitch building (21 April, 15:00–18:00)

    To create lasting impact, you need more than a good idea: you need a clear and achievable venture plan. In this workshop, you will work on a plan that brings together who your customers or users are, what you offer and how you generate income, and who you collaborate with. This allows you to clearly distil the core of your idea, its impact and your revenue model. It forms the basis for a compelling pitch, which you can present to our partner network. We will end with a celebratory networking drinks.

    Register here

Practical matters

  • Who can participate: students, PhD candidates, staff members, researchers and alumni from the Faculty of Humanities. Are you affiliated with another university or faculty? If you have a humanities-minded idea, you can still register.

  • Registration deadline: 23 March.
  • Location: Humanities Venture Lab (Oudemanhuispoort E0.05). All workshops are in-person only.
  • Language: English.
  • Costs: free of charge.

The registration deadline is 23 March. If we receive more applications than we can accommodate, we will select participants based on their fit with the programme. You will receive confirmation of your participation by 30 March at latest.

Register here
Only 37 days left!

Is this programme a fit for you?

  1. You have a concept or research but are unsure if entrepreneurship is the right path for you.
  2. You are open to discovering what entrepreneurship is all about, regardless of your prior experience.
  3. You want to test the potential of your idea or research in a low-pressure, supportive environment.

Do you have a clear idea or research outcomes that you’re eager to develop and test? In that case our Create programme might be a better fit!