Selected publications
This selection highlights some of our key books and peer-reviewed publications that have shaped the development of regenerative education and regenerative higher education within our collective work. It is not exhaustive, but curated to reflect the main conceptual and empirical contributions.
Books and reports
The Art of Regenerative Educatorship: A Developmental Guide (2025)
Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo, Koen Wessels & Bas van den Berg
Our SRE foundational book exploring regenerative educatorship as a relational, developmental, and practice-based approach to transforming education systems and pedagogical cultures.
Publisher: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003705321/art-regenerative-educatorship-mieke-lopes-cardozo-koen-wessels-bas-van-den-berg
Pedagogy of Entanglement: A Response to the Complex Societal Challenges that Permeate our Lives (2022)
Koen Wessels
A doctoral thesis on pedagogical exploration of complexity, interconnectedness, and emergence, offering conceptual and practical foundations for engaging with education in times of systemic uncertainty.
Publisher: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-15787-5
Design Principles for Regenerative Higher Education in Times of Sustainability Transitions (2023)
Bas van den Berg
A doctoral thesis developing design principles for regenerative higher education based on experimental educational practice, living labs, and learning ecologies. It provides a comprehensive framework for connecting universities with societal transition challenges through regenerative educational design.
Publisher (WUR Research Portal): https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/design-principles-for-regenerative-higher-education-in-times-of-s
Regenerative Guide for Co-Creating Education Innovation Communities: The Story of FRIS (Fair, Resilient & Inclusive Societies) (2024)
Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo & Sidsel Petersen
A practice-oriented guide documenting the FRIS innovation community at the University of Amsterdam. It shows how regenerative principles can be enacted through co-creation, reflection, and community-building in higher education.
Open access: https://dspace.library.uu.nl/server/api/core/bitstreams/7ce0bbaa-cbbf-4f1b-8234-0fbb3e602e4d/content
Articles
Learning to Become Smart Radicals: A Regenerative Lens on the Potential for Peace and Reconciliation through Youth and Education Systems
Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo (2022)
Explores how regenerative education can support youth agency, peacebuilding, and long-term societal transformation.
Publisher, Journal of Education in Emergencies: https://dare.uva.nl/id/a88d63cf-a6a4-41d0-93a2-baef5c522e05
Rethinking Pedagogy in the Face of Complex Societal Challenges: Helpful Perspectives for Teaching the Entangled Student
Koen R. Wessels, Cok Bakker, Arjen E.J. Wals & George Lengkeek (2022)
Explores what kind of pedagogy does justice to the experience and challenge of living in a complex world, drawing on notions like mutual flourishing, hopeful action, and collaborative inquiry.
Publisher: https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2022.2108125
Practises, Drivers and Barriers of an Emerging Regenerative Higher Education in The Netherlands—A Podcast-Based Inquiry
Bas van den Berg, Kim Poldner, Ellen Sjoer & Arjen Wals (2022)
One of the first empirical studies of regenerative higher education, identifying key practices, drivers, and barriers shaping its emergence.
Publisher: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9138
‘Sweet Acid’: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Students’ Navigating Regenerative Higher Education
Bas van den Berg, Kim Poldner, Ellen Sjoer & Arjen Wals (2022)
An exploration of students’ lived experiences within regenerative higher education, highlighting both transformative potential and experiential tension.
Publisher: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/15/9138
Walking the Talk: Autoethnographic Reflections on Co-Creating Regenerative Education within International Development Studies
Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo (2023)
A reflective account of implementing regenerative, relational, contemplative, and decolonial pedagogies in higher education practice.
Publisher: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2023.2197206
A Conversation on Becoming Agents for Transformation in Higher Education: Co-Creating a Regenerative Academic Developmental Learning Space
Anne Kragt, Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo & Catherine McDonnell (2023)
Explores how regenerative academic spaces can support transformative learning and educator development.
Publisher: https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/144486700/10.4324_9781003263111-10_chapterpdf.pdf
Fulfilling the Regenerative Potential of Higher Education: A Collaborative Auto-Ethnography
Koen Wessels & Lotte Grünwald (2023)
Examines how higher education can nurture emergence, vocation, and mutual flourishing through regenerative learning practices.
Publisher: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/10/1037
Learning as Ecosystems: Shifting Paradigms for More Holistic Programming in Education and Displacement
Ritesh Shah, Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo & J. Hjarrand (2024)
Presents an ecological understanding of learning that emphasizes systems thinking and holistic educational design.
Publisher: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059323002195?via%3Dihub
Regenerative Education Design: A Co-Creative Exploration of Online Academic Learning
Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo et al. (2025)
Explores how regenerative principles can inform the co-creation of relational and participatory online learning environments.
Publisher: https://www.mdpi.com/2813-4346/4/4/62
Rethinking Pedagogical Design in International Development Studies to Foster Epistemic Justice
Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo, Bas van den Berg, Koen Wessels et al. (2025)
Examines how higher education can foster epistemic justice through transformative pedagogical design and diverse ways of knowing.
Publisher: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14649934261417756