What does the Empowered Minds Project entail?

We use affective learning to enhance students' personal development. The Inner Development Goals (IDGs) framework acts as a framework to teach our students the skills and attitudes needed to make a valuable contribution to future society. The IDGs were recently developed by a Swedish NGO in collaboration with an international group of renowned researchers, experts and practitioners in the fields of leadership development and sustainability.

The overarching IDG framework consists of 23 skills and attitudes divided into five different categories, including, for example, ‘complexity awareness’, ‘perseverance’ and ‘co-creation’. This approach enables students to connect and apply a number of individual IDGs while engaging with societal challenges. By addressing these aspects from the beginning of their studies, students can use these skills to keep developing themselves throughout their lives.

How do we get started?

February 2025 will see the start of the UvA-wide elective ‘Verkeerd Verbonden’, where students will develop further using the IDGs: ‘Courage’, ‘Trust’ and ‘Empathy’. We will then start developing an Empowered Minds learning line within three study programmes at the UvA, through the Zichtbare Leerlijnen Programma (ZLP). You can apply to participate with your study programme. To do so, contact the Empowered Minds project team at empoweredminds-idg@uva.nl. 

Expected impact and results

By the end of this project, we will have integrated cognitive and affective learning in 14 programmes, developed new teaching materials, professionalised teacher teams and established a community of practice for teachers. In addition, we are drafting a handbook for university teachers on affective learning and sharing our findings with other universities at home and abroad.

Want to know more?

Want to know more about the Empowered Minds project? Contact Empowered Minds project leaders Linda de Greef and Ilja Boor at empoweredminds-idg@uva.nl.