LECTORAAT CHANGE MANAGEMENT – De Haagse Hogeschool

Fragments 2025 Symposium: Now Calling for Contributions!

Fragments Symposium is opening a Call for Contributions for its 2025 edition. Please join us on Friday, November 28th for the annual symposium, that explores how the arts can help develop critical thinking in universities of applied sciences. 

Critical thinking is often named as a core goal of higher education, but how well are we really creating the conditions it needs to flourish? In today’s higher education, space for questioning, reflection, and open-ended dialogue is under pressure. Performance metrics, tightly scripted curricula, and job-market logic narrow the scope of thinking to what’s measurable and marketable, leaving less room for doubt, nuance, and open-ended exploration. Add to this the influence of social media, political polarization, and the rise of AI tools that offer quick answers, and it’s clear that critical thinking is not something we can take for granted. 

In this context, the arts offer something different: complexity without closure, ambiguity without paralysis, and imagination as a mode of inquiry. Whether through the layered narratives of literature, the embodied tension of performance and theatre, or the ethical dilemmas of cinema, the arts invite us to think again- critically, creatively, and collectively. 

But how? And what does or could it look like?

Care to join? We’d love to hear from you! 

Send us your (rough) idea for a presentation, discussion, workshop, performance, or any other format you’d like to bring. You can reach us at: fragments@hhs.nl 
Deadline: Friday, 5. September

On Contributions & Fees

The Fragments 2025 Symposium is a gathering of peers — professionals who meet at the intersection of critical thinking, higher education, and the arts. The symposium is not a for-profit event. Registration is free of charge, and participation includes complimentary lunch and drinks. Think of the Fragments 2025 Symposium as an academic conference — just without the usual registration fee.

As we are among like-minded individuals, we do not typically offer payment for contributions. However, we recognize that not all potential contributors have the privilege of being on a payroll. For that reason, we offer financial compensation to self-employed contributors (including artists) whose proposals are accepted. The compensation is €250 (including VAT), and covers all associated costs — such as preparation time, workshop materials, and travel expenses. 

If you are self-employed and would like to make use of this option, please indicate this when submitting your proposal. We have budget for 8 self-employed contributors (2k in total)

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If you are curious to know what Fragments is all about, visit FlickThink’s website to browse last year’s edition and stay up to date with the latest news about Fragments 2025: https://www.flickthink.org/fragments