English

Welcome to the website of the Listening Academy. The first Listening Academy of the Netherlands (De Luisteracademie) was founded in 2015.  The Listening Academy aims to create space for practicing the art and mobilizing the power of listening to explore and find new paths to deal with societal and professional challenges.  

Please take your time to browse through a selection of our work, focusing on international projects. We also included a piece in which we explain the motivation for founding the Listening Academy. Lastly, you can find more information on the professional background of Stefanie Schuddebeurs, co-founder and owner of the Listening Academy.

Set yellow no lines
Stefanie Schuddebeurs deelt inzichten als keynotelistener

Keynotelistening

I frequently work as a keynotelistener during conferences of government partners. Where keynotespeakers are invited to put forward a significant message, as a keynote listener, I listen out for the underlying themes and messages that a conference and its participants convey.

Together with a violinist, I present my discoveries and findings as a keynotelistener at the end of a conference in an interactive performance using word, music and silence.

Clients: Open Government Program,  JBLorenz Consultancy

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Office O.N.E.

Office O.N.E. is a mobile pop-up office, developed to activate and boost the European dimension of democracy and citizenship in local communities. We use innovative dialogue and listening techniques and artistic tools to stir up conversations and collect stories of (European) identity in local communities

Office O.N.E. stimulates people’s awareness of Europe and how they formulate their opinions and ideas on topics related to European Union.

Clients: The municipality of Amsterdam, Dutch Art foundation.

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Collaboration with Sociolab, Italy

Coming summer and winter, The Listening Acadamy will collaborate with Sociolab, a cooperative in the field of participatory design and research based in Florence, Italy.

In this collaboration, methodology and knowledge concerning listening, dialogue practice in the field of participation and social inclusion will be shared between Stefanie and colleagues of Sociolab. This partnerschip is supported by the Erasmus program for young entrepreneurs. During a six-months period, Stefanie will also investigate new forms of democratic innovation and participatory solutions in Europe that are used to counter polarization and foster social inclusion.

Follow our collaboration via social media feeds of The Listening Academy and Sociolab.

Reflecting on Faculty Public Governance

Democratic Challenge

The Listening Academy has developed an innovative and creative form of student participation to complement and challenge the formal institutionalized decisionmaking processes.

During the Democratic Challenge, students actively engage in dialogue with each other on elements they appreciate as well as wish to see changed in their learning environment. They formulated concrete ideas to improve their faculty and learning environment which were later discussed with managers. Students also practiced different forms of democratic decisionmaking, and principles as listening to the minority voices, and power distribution.

Clients: The Hague University, leading lectorate Public Governance

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About the founder

Stefanie Schuddebeurs co-founded the Listening Academy in 2015 after working as a projectleader for the national government for 5 years.

She has since invested her expertise of participatory processes and democratic innovation to mobilize the power of listening in professional and societal contexts. She believes listening beyond your own frame and mindset is the key to understanding and lasting fruitful cooperation between people.  

In her assignments, she consults on co-creative processes and participatory trajectories with different stakeholders for local and national government as well as NGO’s. Next to consultancy, she designs and facilitates dialogues between stakeholders, be they citizens, professionals, politicians but preferably a mixture of all. 

Before working as an advisor to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Safety and Justice, as well as the that of Integration, Stefanie finished her MA in Conflict Studies and Human Rights and a BA in social psychology, sociology and anthropology (awarded magna cum laude)

For more information, visit Stefanie’s LinkedIn profile or get in touch via stefanie@deluisteracademie.nl

Luisteren verbindt

About the Listening Academy 

The Listening Acadamy was founded in 2015 out of a fascination for the subtle yet strong impact that a listening attitude has on all facets of life. While personal interactions reach surprising depth with a generous listening attitude, creativity can flow when a listening space is offered that approaches the other with an open mind. Also, conflictuous situations are unraveled and its underlying needs exposed, when we are capable of listening beyond our own prejudice and fear.

While listening is an essential element of our daily life, it is anything but self-evident. The Listening Academy is founded to explore and understand the processes that facilitate or obstruct listening to yourself, the other and in group processes.

Area of expertise

We work specifically in the field of dialogue facilitation between stakeholders of diverse backgrounds as well as consultancy and design of participatory processes for public bodies such as local and national government and universities. Since listening is our core business, it is essential to us to develop an approach together with the actors involved and in congruence with the aims of the societal and/or professional needs at hand.