We only work with experts. Those can be experts from university level to professional level to street level. People with knowledge, with experience and with skills to share that knowledge and experience in a fascinating way.
We have (and continuously invest in) an extensive nationwide network of experts. That gives us a broad range of study areas in which we can organize educational travels.
Below you will find some of the organisations that we have been working with.
Our team consists of passionate lecturers that guide students through real and sometimes gritty places in the Netherlands. We have a broad and dedicated network of correction officers, government officials and experience experts that opens doors that normally stay closed to the average visitor. We let the students interact with people and with society itself. We let them create their own personal story.
On this page some of our dedicated teammembers tell why they do what they do. By cliking the link ‘read more’ you will find the complete story. Enjoy reading!
I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, went to College in Chicago, and lived in Denver for 14 years where I was director of the...
I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, went to College in Chicago, and lived in Denver for 14 years where I was director of the Mile High Freedom Band, and was intensely involved in the Colorado gay & lesbian community.
Upon my first visit to Amsterdam in 1995 I was completely enchanted by its beauty, history, openness and gay culture. Feeling that I had discovered the true “land of the free”, I moved here for good in 1996 and started Rainboworld Tours, a company specializing in gay Amsterdam. I became a Dutch citizen in 2001, and married my husband Billy in 2005.
My gay history tour, as well as my business, has taken various forms over the last 20 years. I am a bartender by trade having worked in a variety of Amsterdam gay bars as well as a coffeeshop, though I continue to offer gay tours on the side, mostly because I enjoy it. My experience and knowledge of the city make it easy to make tour variations to suite your majors, subjects & special curiosities, which is why I especially enjoy student groups such as yours.
Gert Hekma teaches Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Sociology department of the University of Amsterdam. He wrote ext...
Gert Hekma teaches Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Sociology department of the University of Amsterdam. He wrote extensively on the history and sociology of (homo)sexualities since the 1980s, (co)edited The Pursuit of Sodomy (1989), Gay Men and the Sexual History of the Political Left (1995). Sexual Cultures in Europe (2 Vols, 1999), A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Modern Age (2011, 2014), Sexual Revolutions (2014) and authored an ABC of Perversions (Dutch 2009, English 2015) apart from books in Dutch and many articles in various languages.
Gert: “Since the early 1980s I teach on gay history and sociology, the making of modern sexualities since the Enlightenment and questions of sexual diversity. It always is a pleasure to do so and it never bored me. The world has enormously changed in those decades. While in 1980 we lived still in the shadow of a time when homosexuality was a sin, a crime and a disease, now accepting gays has become many countries’ national pride. Until my youth masturbation was seen as something unhealthy and vicious and it may have remained something silenced and second rate, nobody thinks anymore self-pleasuring endangers your physical or mental health. Much has changed for the better in those years, but at the same time ideas of young people’s sexual lives very much remained the same, and very unequal, of girls being sluts versus boys being players. To discuss very personal and sometimes controversial issues of sexuality has been highly interesting and sometimes difficult: not only teaching historical and cultural themes but also de-conditioning students and helping them to get rid of many prejudices. Teaching on (gender and) sexuality is one of the most interesting and richest parts of academic work that has a high relevance for the private and public life of students, and anyone else. And working and living in the centre of the city of Amsterdam with its gay and lesbian worlds and its Red Light District has certainly helped to develop my knowledge on sexualities.”
My name is Iris Lakerveld and I work as a department coordinator at Horizon, location Bergse Bos. At this location we re...
My name is Iris Lakerveld and I work as a department coordinator at Horizon, location Bergse Bos. At this location we regularly welcome Edu Travel, especially coming with American students and their professors. A young client (sometimes two) and a collegue and I talk about the work we do here at Horizon.
The vision and work of Haim Omer and Stephen Covey are an important basis in our professional agency. We are experts in behavioral change and we are focussed on restoring relationships of authority.
I am working for Horizon more than 10 years. Before that I was working in the USA at The Cove Center, Providence, Rhode Island. This was a daycare centre for adults with behavioral problems and disorders in the autism spectre. Working and living in a different society for a year has contributed much to my life. I have learnt to see and approach things differently. That is why I consider these visits of Edu Travel as more than a contribution for American guests, but surely for our location as well, for the youngsters that help with this visit and for myself. I will therefore always gladly help in organising visits to our organisation.
In september 2007 Jan Dirk de Jong, PhD, was accepted as an assistant professor Criminology at the Free University of Am...
In september 2007 Jan Dirk de Jong, PhD, was accepted as an assistant professor Criminology at the Free University of Amsterdam, faculty of Criminal Justice. His dissertation "Kapot Moeilijk" caused consternation and resulted in much attention from the media. Especially his findings that high profile delinquent behavior of "Moroccan" street kids can be best understood and explained from satisfaction of general human needs, the development of street culture and solidifying group dynamics (because of the stigma 'f...ing Moroccan') led to intense debates and criticism.
In the period after his dissertation Jan Dirk had to overcome health issues. In spite of these he managed to teach at the Free University of Amsterdam and published quite a few scientific articles (among other things a research to the phenomenon of peer pressure in collaboration with criminologist Frank van Gemert commissioned by the WODC). Luckily Jan Dirk fully recovered soon after. In good health and with renewed energy he decided to start his own research agency and in 2012 the research and consultancy agency Rebond was founded. Jan Dirk did not, however, give up being a guest professor at the Free University of Amsterdam (including lecturing, advising students and contributing to scientific discussions). After a short while the first requests and assignments came for research, lectures and workshops. At present Jan Dirk works on a broad research program and hopes to continue his work in many fields for which he established a foundation with his dissertation "Kapot Moeilijk".
From 2014 on Jan Dirk also works as a (voluntary) guest professor at the faculty of Criminology at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam.
Last but not least Jan Dirk holds the Chair "Approaches to Youth Crime" at the University of Applied Sciences of Leiden, cluster Social Work and Applied Psychology.
Frank van Gemert, PhD, studied Cultural Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. During and after his studies he con...
Frank van Gemert, PhD, studied Cultural Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. During and after his studies he conducted research on street dealers. He finished his dissertation in 1998. This was ethnographic research to crime of Moroccan boys, with a special interest in cultural factors.
After he worked at Regioplan, an agency for policy research, and in 2004 he started working at VU University, Amsterdam.
Besides researching youth gangs, Frank writes biographies and about topics related to cultural criminology. Frank is member of the committee of the Eurogang, a network that conducts international comparative research to youth gangs.
Eric Bervoets, PhD, has completed a dissertation in public administration and works as a criminologist. He is founder an...
Eric Bervoets, PhD, has completed a dissertation in public administration and works as a criminologist. He is founder and owner of Bureau Bervoets. Since 1997 he has been working as a researcher and finished his dissertation in 2006. His book is titled "Tussen Respect en Doorpakken" (Elsevier Overheid) and concerns police and Moroccan youngsters in Gouda, Utrecht and Amsterdam. For these (mainly ethnographic) studies he deepened his understanding of the life world of Moroccan Dutch and professionals in 'tough neighbourhoods'.
In 2012 he wrote 'Vlindermessen en Jonko's', with which he wanted to inform a broader audience about youth crime and youngsters. The book describes extensively the use of drugs amongst adolescents. Together with Balthazar Beke and Henk Ferwerda (nationally well known for their short list for youth groups), he conducted research commissioned by Police and Science regularly to youth groups (Youth groups and Violence, 2012; Youth Groups from Then, 2013) and a research commissioned by the WODC to the decrease of juvenile suspects in Amsterdam (2013). In all these studies the high risk behavior of youth was described, such as use of drugs. In 2013 an edited volume was published with Hans Moors about working in the front line of the Safety and Security domain, with contributions of amongst others Michael Lipsky and Archon Fung. In December 2013 he published a research report on Auxiliary Police commissioned by Police and Science (Gemeentelijk Blauw). In 2014 also the book Particulier Blauw was published, an ethnographic Police and Science study on security professionals.
Toon Molleman, PhD, works as a strategic management advisor for the Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency. He also publish...
Toon Molleman, PhD, works as a strategic management advisor for the Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency. He also published a wide range of scholarly articles on prison related topics and performance statistics. Last decade he gave lectures on these topics and received the annual research award of the International Corrections and Prisons Association.
The medieval Knights' Hall is the centre of the Parliament buildings in The Hague. The Counts of Holland had the Hal...
The medieval Knights' Hall is the centre of the Parliament buildings in The Hague. The Counts of Holland had the Hall built in the 13th century and since then The Hague is the centre of politics and public administration in the Low Lands. All those times parliament buildings have been built and rebuilt.
The buildings around the Binnenhof (“The Inside Court” - the central square inside the parliament buildings) tell us about the political history of The Netherlands, about the long road to our present political system. But still the Binnenhof is the very lively centre of the democracy.
Both chambers of Parliament are set there, the Prime Minister holds his office there and the King has his annual speech in The Knights’ Hall at the beginning of the parlementary year. Since the political centre is just small and overseeable, one runs into MP’s in the streets on a regular basis. This is a unique and very special place to work and a well suited environment to explain visitors the ways the democracy works in the Netherlands.
ProDemos, located at the opposite of the Parliamentary buildings, welcomes yearly more than 150.000 students, tourists and other visitors. Dozens of guides show people all over the world around and are the face of the organisation. But myself as well, I like to welcome groups once every while, especially foreign groups. This often leads to surprising questions and interesting comparisons with other political cultures and systems. And remember; the one who peeks across borders will get a deeper comprehension of his own surroundings.
Eddy is the executive director of Prodemos and has written the Dutch edition of Politics for dummies.
Petra Timmermans lectures on the subject of sex work, policy and sex worker activism in the Netherlands. Her talk draws ...
Petra Timmermans lectures on the subject of sex work, policy and sex worker activism in the Netherlands. Her talk draws from personal experience in sex work and involvement in sex worker activism. In the past Petra worked at the Prostitution Information Centre in Amsterdam's red light district and as Coordinator of the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe [www.sexworkeurope.org]. She has been living and working in the Netherlands since 2002. Petra has a Bachelors degree in Criminology, Society and law (University of Toronto) and has nearly finished her Masters in Sociology (University of Amsterdam) .
Dutch drug policies are weird –at least to most foreigners. We sell weed, but officially it's illegal. We can ...
Dutch drug policies are weird –at least to most foreigners. We sell weed, but officially it's illegal. We can sell fresh truffles that contain psilocybin. But selling their magic mushroom brothers is illegal, because they contain ... psilocybin! The Dutch state gives away free heroine and clean needles to addicts, so they can lead normal lives. If you get caught with low doses of illegal drugs there’s a fair chance that you’ll get off the hook with a simple warning. And, in total, our little liberal nation has four different drug markets: a cannabis market which is partly tolerated partly prosecuted; an alcohol, sugar, and tobacco market which is fully legal; a smartshop market selling the before mentioned magic truffles and other psychoactive herbs, also fully legal; and a black market!
So, how do we need to make sense of all of these different markets and various shades of legality? What is the effect of selling certain drugs ‘over the counter’, and giving away others to addicts? Are people here completely bonkers and super addicted? What is more important to the people who are selling drugs legally: making profit or the health of potential buyers? And come to think of it, aren’t drugs supposed to be bad? What does the scientific research actually say about all of this?
For the past eight years, all of these questions have deeply interested me. I’ve studied Dutch drug policies during my bachelor in sociology, I’ve worked in a smartshop for over six years, I’ve conducted scientific research into the motivations of drug user to take drugs, I’ve interviewed drug dealers to ask them why they sell illegal substances of which they don’t know the health risks, and I’ve worked for a harm reduction 'peer-to-peer' drug education organization.
EduTravel has asked me to share my knowledge and experiences with you, and provoke you into thinking independently about these issues. To do so I've tried to come up with some basic building blocks, some general ideas about drugs, drug policies, and drug effects, that can help you think critically and responsibly. I’m looking forward to hearing –and questioning- your ideas!
I first met Ruben around the time he was starting Edutravel. I remember it well. It was at our neighborhood bar. He had ...
I first met Ruben around the time he was starting Edutravel. I remember it well. It was at our neighborhood bar. He had just moved into the area and was full of stories. We hit it off right from the start and talked quite some nights away about all kinds of things. It turned out that we had a professional connection as well; whilst he had been interviewing (ex) prisoners in the field I had been concerned with prison staff policy at our ministry of Justice. It soon became involved with Edutravel as well, an enterprise I fully supported from the start. I first helped connecting with them with the ministry, then started hosting the traditional final debate. I went on to draw some cartoons and then gave lectures on Dutch history. I’m sure there will be more to come. In my opinion there are two great things about Edutravel. First: the content. I have never seen a programme so jam-packed full of goodies that are just, well, great to know. The speakers that they have lined up are right there, in the field, and can really give you that in-depth experience of “doing things the Dutch way”. I have often said that Dutch students would also benefit from these insights. Second: the over-all experience. All participants I ever spoke to seem to be unanimous in their enthusiasm about the friendly and relaxed hosting of the programme itself (all thanks to Ruben and Koos) as well as the chance to immerse yourself in different cultures. You will find that Holland is small and that places like Brussels, Paris, London and Berlin are relatively close by. To sum it up: Edutravel offers you a programme that is at the same time incredibly fun and extremely educational. I look forward to meeting you here!