transforming collaboration

My work is grounded in a simple belief: well-designed structures can dramatically improve how people collaborate – and with that, unleash the level of energy, purpose, and joy they experience at work.

As a researcher and trainer, I work directly with teams and organisations – in longer-term collaborations, through workshops, or as a visiting facilitator.

By creating spaces where professionals can share their experiences and work with their different perspective -on roles, relationships, and ways forward- I support teams in navigating complex challenges together. Drawing on their collective resources, they learn to unlock ideas and solutions they wouldn’t reach on their own.

The approach I take documents challenges people face as well as strategies that help them reconnect with their own resourcefulness. The emerging rich library of concrete examples deepens the work – for me, and for the teams I support. It also anchors my understanding in relevant real-life contexts.

My background is in cognitive neuroscience. Since 2025, I joined Wageningen University and the AMS Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions as a postdoctoral researcher, where I explore the personal challenges of professionals seeking to accelerate innovation in the construction sector.

Alongside this, I work as a freelance trainer, supporting scientists (via hfp-consulting) and other professionals to strengthen how they communicate, collaborate and take action in complex work environments (see my portfolio – coming soon).

My work and curiosity for social learning are sustained by a wonderful web of people – among them the enactive research group, with whom I meet regularly to reflect, exchange and learn together, as well as networks of research-and-practice focused on collective creativity, embodied learning and the important role of mediators of innovation.

In Sanskrit, my name means constant change (Anicca) and fearless force (Anika) – I resonate very well with that.

In my life, I move a lot – cycling, climbing, dancing, exploring. I’m drawn to the outdoors and to building things: from mornings by the water to weeks spent cycling across Europe with a hammock, to crafting the spaces I call home.

If all goes well, my next step is a small, beautiful house in south-west France.

I love lying on the floor, entering cold water, and getting in touch with people.

I am grateful for my current roles at WUR / ELS and the AMS Institute – they continue to challenge and support me in growing as an independent, yet deeply situated, researcher and trainer.

This website is a window into my work: it provides recent ideas and activities, core principles, fragments from my notes, and glimpses of the projects and collaborations that shape it.

Take your time exploring.

As a PhD student of relational (participatory) and embodied approaches to social cognition, I used interactive games to investigate social behaviour at multiple levels: can we predict participants’ experience from their personality differences, performance levels and interpersonal movement coordination? During my PhD, I realised I care a lot about application: how can I use what I learn to curate spaces for meaningful social encounter? I thus embarked on several collaborative initiatives to bring relational and embodied cognition into our everyday life as researchers: the playful academic presents possibilities to bring embodied exploration and playfulness into academic collaboration, and the enactive research group offers a weekly online meeting space to people interested in a more generous and collaborative research culture. I was also centrally involved in organising 2022’s ESRI, a yearly conference hosted by Mind and Life Europe that brings together western science and buddhist practitioners.

Now in the Netherlands, I want to conduct research that strengthens relationships. Specifically, between the diverse professionals involved in making urban development more sustainable. How does a collaboration between diverse professionals look like that works ‘at eye level’? What do we need to express, listen to, and act on what matters? ..to all parties involved and affected by our work? My ambition is that this focus on interpersonal development not only empowers individuals but also helps us rethink organisations – towards working cultures and social structures that best support us in our work.

The TBL infra project is a wonderful opportunity to integrate my research and training backgrounds. I will use it to ask: how can a research attitude (the commitment to keep on relaxing / questioning the certainty of one’s assumptions) lead to better training outcomes? How can a training attitude (enhancing our ability to face challenges – introduce useful tools, create a learning environment, authentically share from our experience, facilitate practice, learn from and with each other) lead to more insightful research?