The Regeneration Lab

Bas van den Berg
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Welcome to The Regeneration Lab. The podcast of the Regenerative Thinking research group at the the Mission Zero centre of expertise at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where we conduct integrated research to come up with regenerative solutions for a more sustainable future. Each episode features a leading educator, activist, professor, or researcher who is already engaging in more regenerative forms of higher education. Join us on this journey as we discover how these educational innovations emerged, how they are practiced, and the beautiful futures that are envisioned for more regenerative higher education. Along the way we will explore the systemic and personal challenges, barriers and opportunities that our awesome guests are facing to do this. You can reach out through mission-zero@hhs.nl to respond or connect to any of the episodes! 

  1. What if it is the student's mountain to climb, not ours? A Conversation with Yolan van Gielen

    Jun 18

    What if it is the student's mountain to climb, not ours? A Conversation with Yolan van Gielen

    Yolan uses the metaphor of a mountain climbing expedition to describe teaching: students must learn to be responsible for themselves first, then work interdependently, and ultimately collaborate with non-humans—the circular economy, energy systems, and biodiversity itself. "It's not my mountain, it's their mountain," Yolan emphasizes, explaining why student ownership is central to learning. Drawing from cooperative education models and permaculture design principles, Yolan creates learning experiences where students work in teams, practice sociocratic decision-making, and track not just what they learn but how they view things differently. This episode explores the power of starting small, moving slow, and building resilient learning communities. Key themes: Student ownership, permaculture in education, cooperative models, working with non-humans, evolutionary change

    1h 33m

  2. Jun 18

    What if we taught like gardeners, not mechanics? - A conversation with Lucia Walsh

    "We are not mechanics, we are more like gardeners or stewards who plant seeds," Lucia tells us, describing her teaching philosophy organized around the four seasons. From winter's inner work to autumn's harvest, she guides students through natural cycles of growth that honor both head, heart, and hands. Driven by her children and a refusal to continue "education as usual," Lucia has embraced transformative education that moves students from "doing things better" to "seeing things differently." In this conversation, she shares how she uses embodied learning, the Doughnut Economics model, and Joanna Macy's "Work That Reconnects" to help students understand that entrepreneurship can contribute to the great turning away from extractive systems toward regenerative ones. Key themes: Seasonal learning, embodied education, head-heart-hands approach, gift economy, personal motivation

    50 min
  3. What If Love for People and Planet Guided Teaching? A Conversation with Eddy van Hemelrijk

    Jun 11

    What If Love for People and Planet Guided Teaching? A Conversation with Eddy van Hemelrijk

    The role of business should be to do good for society and the planet," Eddy declares. "Business and being a business person is not about individual wealth and fame." Having transformed from what he calls "a regular businessman trained in a very neoliberal way" into an educator, Eddy embodies the personal transformation that many in this series describe: reaching a point where "we couldn't continue the way we were doing." But what makes Eddy's approach distinctive is what he identifies as his driving force—"the major element for me is love for people and love for nature"—and how students feel it. Teaching business ethics, he provocatively asks students whether that's an oxymoron, helping them see the tension between conventional business paradigms and regenerative futures. Eddy emphasizes getting students back to nature, learning from biologists and biomimicry, discovering how energy can flow in a room, and understanding that sustainability - doing less harm - isn't enough. "We need a thriving society and flourishing society," he insists. From debating utopian versus dystopian futures to seeing rising inequality in cities as a call to action, Eddy demonstrates how personal values can fundamentally reshape what and how we teach. Key themes: Love as pedagogy, business for good, personal transformation, nature connection, beyond sustainability to thriving, intergenerational justice

    1h 12m
  4. How Do We Equip Students With Empathy for Non-Humans? A Conversation with Kristin Krebs

    Jun 4

    How Do We Equip Students With Empathy for Non-Humans? A Conversation with Kristin Krebs

    For Kristin, regeneration isn't just an add-on to entrepreneurship education—it's an invitation to fundamentally rethink what entrepreneurship even is. "I hope entrepreneurship education is opening up to rethink what entrepreneurship is, and it doesn't solely mean founding a start-up or exploiting a business opportunity," she explains. With a strong social-ecological justice awareness, Kristin sees entrepreneurship as potentially just the means to the end of achieving regeneration. Her teaching draws from design thinking, but adapted - focusing not just on users but on broader social-ecological systems. She emphasizes non-human actors, teaches basics from biology and ecology, and equips her students with empathy for all beings on the planet. Kristin creates spaces where transparency matters, where students address her informally, and where she actively reassures them that insecurity and mistakes are part of the process   - especially important given the mental health crisis at universities. From learning about holocracy to visiting nature for teaching, Kristin demonstrates that regeneration brings up the same tensions as sustainability, but more elevated. Key themes: Redefining entrepreneurship, social-ecological justice, non-human actors, design thinking adaptation, transparency and vulnerability, mental health awareness

    54 min
  5. Can we make the planet a stakeholder? A Conversation with Mirjam Pfenninger

    May 28

    Can we make the planet a stakeholder? A Conversation with Mirjam Pfenninger

    Mirjam sees herself as an incubator preparing caterpillars to become butterflies—holding a safe space where transformation can happen before students are ready to fly. Having grown up close to nature, she's evolved from human-centered design to planet-and-human-centered approaches, and she's not afraid to challenge conventional tools. When the Business Model Canvas wasn't enough, she and her colleagues created the Value Creation Canvas. But perhaps most radically, Mirjam forces her students to include an additional stakeholder in every project: the planet itself. What are the planet's jobs to be done? What are its pains and gains? In this episode, we explore what it means to call students "preneurs"—leaving space for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and commonpreneurs alike—and why having fun as an educator matters just as much as transformation. Key themes: Planet as stakeholder, transformation as metaphor, value creation canvas, preneurship, safe space for chang

    36 min

  6. May 21

    What If Nature Was Our Teacher? A Conversation with Trudie Murray

    Trudie's journey from humanitarian aid to entrepreneurship education was shaped by witnessing the limits of well-meaning interventions and the dangerous lack of systems thinking in development work. Fear for her children's future drove her to completely reimagine how she teaches - and biomimicry became the key. "When I started looking at entrepreneurial learning through the lens of nature, it really changed how I saw myself as an educator," she explains. Now her classroom is a living lab for regenerative thinking, where students use natural materials for prototypes, walk through parks for ecological awareness, and sometimes even write poetry after being among trees. As a fellow traveler on a forest path that changes with every season, Trudie emphasizes that teaching regeneration must begin with care - care for the planet, for learners, for ourselves, and for all the systems we're trying to change. Key themes: Biomimicry, nature-based learning, sensory pedagogy, care as foundation, living lab classroom

    57 min
  7. Can Unlearning Be the First Step to Regeneration? A Conversation with Ilona Klama

    May 14

    Can Unlearning Be the First Step to Regeneration? A Conversation with Ilona Klama

    "It is important not to jump straight into solutions but staying in the uncomfortable, not knowing, having to listen, understanding better, do it all over again - staying in the zone of discomfort," Ilona explains. As the guardian of winds who supports students to find their way of flying, Ilona understands that transformation requires unlearning before relearning - and unlearning means frustration, confusion, and irritation. Rather than protecting students from these feelings, Ilona creates spaces where they work together for entire days, going through the frustration in the room together. Having gone through her own studies feeling like something was missing - especially in business administration where "there was only one way of looking at things" - Ilona now emphasizes that innovation starts at the individual level, not just at the entrepreneurial society level. She's developed regenerative business model canvases that include stakeholders who don't benefit from the system, and she uses life-centered design thinking approaches that go beyond human users. For Ilona, regeneration is fundamentally "a way of thinking that leads to new ways of doing," and that thinking requires the courage to stay with not-knowing while discovering potential together with everyone in the room through deep listening. Key themes: Staying with discomfort, unlearning and relearning, listening as tool, life-centered design, including marginalized stakeholders, regeneration as thinking, individual transformation

    1h 1m
  8. How Do We Shift From Extraction to Contribution? A Conversation with Rob Lubberink

    May 7

    How Do We Shift From Extraction to Contribution? A Conversation with Rob Lubberink

    Rob's research in Malawi on material arrangements and entrepreneurial behavior led to a profound insight: it's not just entrepreneurs who have agency—the everyday materials and systems around us shape what's possible. Using the metaphor of a football coach with a new team every year, Rob describes the challenge of creating learning experiences where students understand systems thinking, recognize their multiple roles in society, and most importantly, shift from asking "what's in it for me?" to "what am I contributing?" This episode explores how Rob uses the Doughnut Economics model, biomimicry sensory experiences, and work with practice partners to help students see that regeneration isn't just about agriculture—it's about fundamentally changing our relationship with all actants, human and non-human alike. Key themes: Distributed agency, systems thinking, material arrangements, Doughnut Economics, shifting from extraction to contribution

    1h 1m
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Trailer

About

Welcome to The Regeneration Lab. The podcast of the Regenerative Thinking research group at the the Mission Zero centre of expertise at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where we conduct integrated research to come up with regenerative solutions for a more sustainable future. Each episode features a leading educator, activist, professor, or researcher who is already engaging in more regenerative forms of higher education. Join us on this journey as we discover how these educational innovations emerged, how they are practiced, and the beautiful futures that are envisioned for more regenerative higher education. Along the way we will explore the systemic and personal challenges, barriers and opportunities that our awesome guests are facing to do this. You can reach out through mission-zero@hhs.nl to respond or connect to any of the episodes! 

Information

  • Creator
    Bas van den Berg
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    75
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Regeneration Lab
  • Show Website
    The Regeneration Lab

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