The Implementor
Everything you wanted to know about IPMB team
Imagine two Dutch students, one Italian student and just one coordinator managing no less than 5 (or more?) projects. They have so many tasks and so much work to do that it’s hard to imagine how they can handle all of it by themselves. However, this is the reality of Team Unicycle, whose learning path is based on the “Dutch approach” to education: learning by working and gaining knowledge through practice and project execution.
In this explainer we will provide you with more detailed information about each project that team Unicycle is working on, so you will have a better understanding of it.
In the spring semester of 2018-2019 academic year team Unicycle is working on creating a lasting and professional format for the Philosophical Science Café. This event is meant to be a monthly activity from WHC/IPMB where students and non-students come together and create a healthy discussion around a specific topic or problem from the fields of science and philosophy, facilitating a debate and conversation. Through this, they are given an opportunity to train their critical thinking skills and understand the issues discussed deeply. The main idea of the Phi/Sci Café is to create an environment where students can learn to discuss high level topics in a professional setting.
Read more about the first Philosophical Science Café here.
The second project is organizing the Shelter City Exposition and its official opening in the City Hall of Zwolle and then moving it to Windesheim University for SDG Generation festival. For this particular project team Unicycle is working in collaboration with Justice&Peace and Zwolle Municipality, which means the responsibilities and expectations are very high. This exposition presents a series of pictures of human right defenders, who try their best to make sure everybody has equal rights.
Read more about the Shelter City Exposition here.
IPMB members cannot be called “just students” as most others. They have different roles and responsibilities for each project they are working on. One of these roles is being a coach. Each IPMB student is matched with a Student Assistant for first year students coaching. Each coaching duo (1 IPMB member and 1 Student Assistant) coaches three teams, meeting them weekly and helping them in team dynamics, client interactions, project management skills and professional behavior.
Alumni policy research is another important task IPMB team is working on. The purpose of this is to conduct a research on alumni community and make a questionnaire to discover alumni preferences, wishes and needs. Based on all this team Unicycle will provide a marketing plan afterwards, in order to develop a stronger alumni community in WHC and improve alumni connection with the rest of community.
Being a part of IPMB also means working for a department which efficiency and – the most important – continuity depends on you. That is why team Unicycle has to update the IPMB Handbook (which is a living document) and prepare a presentation for future students, including advices, tips and lessons learnt while working in the IPMB office.
Is that it? Or there is something more?
Of course, there is always something more for IPMB students. Unexpected tasks cannot be planned beforehand, but they do exist and they do happen from time to time. It makes members of team Unicycle be always ready and stay in contact with WHC, the coordinator and other team mates.