Alumni Week: What if a safe digital world for young people was possible?
Thursday 9 October | 19:30-21:00 | University Theatre
- Date
- 9 October 2025
- Time
- 19:30 -21:00
- Location
- University Theatre
Please note: this session is in Dutch.
How can science, the creative industries and social organisations work together effectively? The Space Teen project explores how young people can be involved not just as a target group, but as co-designers in addressing questions about the online world.
Sindy Sumter (UvA), Marcel Schouwenaar (designer) and Anouk Wieleman (Municipality of Amsterdam) discuss the opportunities and challenges of purposeful collaboration on creating a digital environment in which young people feel represented and empowered.
Speakers
Sindy Sumter received her PhD in Developmental Psychology (Leiden University, 2010). She is Associate Professor at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (University of Amsterdam). Her research focuses on the interaction between digital media and socio-emotional functioning among adolescents and young adults. She is particularly interested in how digital (mobile) technologies and entertainment media can influence teenagers’ and young adults’ social interactions and identity formation. By combining theory and practice, and collaborating with a range of partners outside the university, she hopes her work will have greater impact.
Marcel Schouwenaar is a designer, researcher and inventor. In 2024 he founded the design collective ScrollScrollScroll, with the mission of helping young people regain control over their time and attention. In his work he combines science, technology, creativity and a healthy dose of humour to create solutions that young people themselves are eager to embrace.
In 2012, Marcel co-founded the design studio The Incredible Machine, where he served as Creative Director for 12 years, working with clients such as LEGO, Festool, the Municipality of Amsterdam, NEMO and the MIT Media Lab.
Anouk Wieleman is Project Leader for Innovation at the Municipality of Amsterdam.
‘Overflowing with enthusiasm and never one to mince her words’: that is how a journalist once described her. As a moderator, Schipper is energetic, approachable and personable, always seeking interaction between the audience and the speaker(s).
Her background is in Dutch and European (youth) politics, where she began at the age of eighteen and later became chair of the youth organisation of the CDA. She now combines her work as a moderator and consultant with various board positions, including at the newspaper Trouw and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.What drives her? Optimistic conversations about social issues that matter.
