Israel/Palestine: Pain and Hope is a free exhibition and dialogue programme taking place in The Hague from 17 to 30 June 2026. Organised by the Dutch civil society network of the Anna Lindh Foundation, the exhibition presents photography and artworks reflecting the pain experienced by both Jews and Palestinians, while also looking for signs of hope and possibilities for a just and peaceful future.
The exhibition is open daily from 13:00 to 18:00 at Believe Together / Inn of Humanity, Weimarstraat 300, The Hague. Alongside the exhibition, a series of evening dialogue sessions will explore themes including compassion across differences, dialogue initiatives in Israel, the future of the two-state solution, peace initiatives, photojournalism from Gaza and Dutch political perspectives on Israel and Palestine. Some sessions are in English and others in Dutch.
Admission is free, but registration is required for the opening and dialogue evenings. Visitors are advised to come by public transport, as there is no parking near the venue. Please note that the exhibition and dialogue evenings take place on the first and second floors, and there is no lift in the building.
Students and professionals gathered at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) this week for the Talent for Good Forum, an event focussed on careers for social impact under the theme “Shaping Trust in The Future”.
Organised by The Hague Humanity Hub in partnership with THUAS, the event transformed the university’s Atrium into one of the Netherlands’ largest impact-driven career fairs. Students, young professionals and career changers had the opportunity to connect directly with organisations working in areas including peace and justice, human rights, sustainability, governance, humanitarian action and technology for good.
At the career fair, attendees could meet representatives from more than 60 organisations. NGOs, government bodies, educational institutions and mission-driven businesses were on hand to discuss internships, volunteering opportunities and future careers. Workshops throughout the day covered topics such as networking, negotiation skills, leadership, entrepreneurship and careers in emerging fields.
The keynote session explored the forum’s theme, “Shaping Trust in the Future”. Emma Wedner, Chairperson of the Council of Europe Advisory Council on Youth, shared a youth perspective on rebuilding trust in communities, institutions and international systems during a period of rapid technological and social change.
HRH Princess Laurentien van Oranje shared some of her extensive experience and challenged attendees to consider how they can contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable future.
The afternoon programme featured breakout sessions on topics including climate action, international law, artificial intelligence, governance, international trade and disinformation. Participants were encouraged to explore how trust can be strengthened within organisations, communities and society more broadly.
The event concluded with a networking reception, allowing attendees to continue conversations with employers, speakers and fellow participants.
The Talent for Good Forum reflects The Hague’s unique position as an international city of peace, justice and innovation. By bringing together students, professionals and organisations committed to positive change, the event offered both inspiration and practical opportunities for those looking to build careers with impact.
Photos and LinkedIn profile photography were provided by Holland Park Media, one of the event’s supporting partners, giving participants the opportunity to refresh their professional profiles while networking with potential employers.
This is an annual event and planning will be underway soon for a 2027 edition. For more information, visit:
Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant concept. It is already transforming the way we work, the skills we need, and the opportunities available to us. Automation, generative AI, decision support systems and robotics are making an impact across nearly every industry.
But what does this actually mean for your career?
In this meetup, we’ll move beyond the headlines and explore the real implications of AI for the job market. Rather than focusing on fear or hype, we’ll take a grounded, practical look at how roles are evolving, which new opportunities are emerging, and how you can position yourself to benefit from these changes.
We’ll discuss questions like:
Which jobs are most likely to change and how?
What new roles are being created because of AI?
What skills are becoming more valuable in an AI-driven world?
How can non-technical professionals stay relevant?
What does “working with AI” actually look like in practice?
This event is open to students, working professionals, and anyone who is curious or interested in how AI is transforming the job market. This session will give you a clearer picture of where things are heading and where you might fit in.
Where: The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Johanna Westerdijkplein 75, 2521 EN Den Haag
When: ⏱️ 17:30 – 20:00
Agenda
17:30: Doors open. Pie, dinner & refreshments served in the restaurant area.
18:30: Participants move to the “Speakers Corner”. Opening presentation by Vikram.
Renée Tentori: is a lecturer in Professional Skills and Internship Coordinator for Applied Computer Science at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, where she supports students in navigating the impact of AI on work and careers. She is also the Community Manager of the university’s AI Hub Community of Practice. She focuses on AI literacy, with a particular interest in the connection and collaboration between humans and technology. Renée brings a strong emphasis on inclusion into her work, such as though her volunteer role as Education Ambassador for the Neurodiversity Foundation. With decades of experience in communication, entrepreneurship, and community building, she helps people learn more about and engage with AI in practical, human-centred ways.
Rick Vink: is a Machine Learning Engineer currently working at Metriek and an AI Trainer, and founder of AI-Codex; an education and consulting platform for hands-on ML. With 8+ years of experience building end-to-end AI systems and teaching over 1,000 students across 8+ courses, he specializes in NLP, LLMs, and agentic AI engineering.
Alison Mooney : is a Senior Data Scientist based in Amsterdam with 6 years of experience building AI and ML products across e-commerce, pharma, and telecoms. Currently at ASICS, she leads end-to-end AI initiatives from discovery to deployment while mentoring data scientists and working cross-functionally with product, engineering, and design teams. She’s passionate about bridging the gap between technical complexity and business impact, and is currently focused on growing into people leadership.
A student from The Hague has received international recognition for raising awareness about one of the world’s most overlooked environmental ecosystems: wetlands and peatlands.
Anay Pradhan, a student at The International School of The Hague (ISH), recently won 2nd Place globally in the High School category of the international “World of 8 Billion” student video contest, organised by Population Education in Washington DC, USA. His winning project, “Breathing Under Pressure: Earth and 8 Billion,” was selected from student submissions around the world and received a $600 cash prize.
The annual competition encourages students to explore global sustainability challenges connected to population growth, climate change, environmental protection, and resource management through short educational videos.
For his project, Anay chose to focus on wetlands and peatlands after discovering how significant they are for climate regulation despite receiving relatively little public attention.
“You often think of forests as the major carbon sink,” he explained, “but one fact that really surprised me was that peatlands cover only 3% of the Earth’s land surface while storing nearly 30% of all soil carbon.”
The topic also carries particular relevance for the Netherlands, where water management, environmental protection, and climate resilience remain central national concerns.
Rather than relying entirely on online research, Anay incorporated fieldwork into the project. He visited peatland areas, collected and tested samples himself, and combined scientific investigation with storytelling and video production. One of the biggest challenges, he said, was fitting complex environmental concepts into a one-minute format while keeping the film engaging and understandable for viewers.
The final result blended climate science, visual storytelling, and practical sustainability ideas, including awareness around paludiculture – a method of farming on wet and rewetted peatlands without damaging the ecosystem.
The project has already been recognised within the school community. The International School of The Hague shared the achievement through its newsletter and social media platforms, highlighting the combination of research, creativity, and environmental awareness demonstrated in the film.
Beyond this award, Anay has also participated in multiple Model United Nations conferences, sustainability initiatives, and mathematics competitions, reflecting a broader interest in global issues and problem-solving.
As conversations around climate change increasingly involve younger generations, projects like this demonstrate how students are finding creative ways to make complex environmental topics more accessible and engaging.
Anay Pradhan is a student at The International School of The Hague with interests in sustainability, global affairs, science communication, and environmental awareness.Text & images provided by Ankit Pradhan.
Students at institutions across four continents, including The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS), will graduate ready to build the open financial systems the world needs.
The Interledger Foundation (ILF), an organization building and advocating for an interoperable payments network, has partnered with over 10 universities across North America, Europe, Australia and Africa to bring open payments curriculum into the classroom. The new initiative introduces programs designed to build the next generation of payments leaders who understand where today’s financial systems fall short and how to build something better with open finance.
Payments are fragmented today. Most merchants need to accept a mix of cash, credit cards, debit, buy now pay later options and other digital payment methods to ensure point of sale limitations aren’t a roadblock to customers, and each of these methods requires different technical capabilities and standalone integrations. Everything coexists separately, but nothing inherently works together and there are currently few incentives to opening up the silos that keep them apart. The result is a fragmented, costly and slow global payments ecosystem where money that could settle in seconds instead takes days.
The Interledger Foundation is addressing this challenge with a multi-country educational effort to promote interoperability by proliferating its Interledger Protocol (ILP). This open-source network enables any currency to move freely across institutions and borders without the limitations characteristic of the current patchwork financial system. When deployed at scale, ILP could serve as the foundation for digital public infrastructures (DPIs) similar to India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix – but with cross-border capabilities.
Payments issues are core to the new curriculum that the Interledger Foundation and universities are bringing to the next generation of entrepreneurs and technologists who will help shape the future of financial infrastructure and expand the talent pipeline. The goal is to make open payments the default rather than the exception through the following programs:
Alabama A&M University (Alabama, USA) is embedding open payments into credit-bearing business coursework through its Dollarcraft program, where students research financial inclusion challenges and build ILP-enabled digital banking prototypes alongside engineering students.
Atlanta University Center Consortium (Georgia, USA) — Comprised of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College — is uniting 25 HBCU students to design and prototype open payment solutions that address systemic financial inequities.
Benedict College (South Carolina, USA) is launching a new ILP Pathways program in which students complete a 150-hour internship, then mentor local youth and help minority-owned businesses adopt open payment solutions.
Bowie State University (Maryland, USA) built a multi-campus open payments program that engaged more than 700 students across four continents through integrated coursework, micro-internships, and hackathon-style events, expanding to seven additional HBCUs nationwide.
Covenant University (Nigeria) is launching two new courses dedicated to open payments and ILP, giving students hands-on experience building interoperable fintech solutions through innovation labs, hackathons, and community digital inclusion clinics.
The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands) is launching an interdisciplinary course bridging finance, law, and technology, which is the first effort to build a European talent pipeline in open payments education.
USIU-Africa (Kenya) is integrating the Interledger Protocol into entrepreneurship training and startup incubation in Nairobi, equipping 40 students to build financial inclusion solutions for Kenya’s underbanked communities.
University of Cape Town (South Africa) embedded open payments into its Master’s in Financial Technology program, requiring students to build fully operational payment applications as capstone projects. It also launched a dedicated Financial Innovation Hub for fintech research across Africa.
Western Sydney University (Australia) is integrating an eight-week ILP curriculum module into its cybersecurity and business programs, challenging students to design and stress-test secure, interoperable fintech applications.
“The next generation of leaders has the opportunity to build payment systems that improve the closed, siloed systems of the past,” said Briana Marbury, President and CEO at Interledger Foundation. “Working with these universities, we have the opportunity to instill in students the knowledge and tools they need to design for interoperability from day one, so open payments become the standard, rather than the exception.”
These university partnerships are one part of a broader effort by the Interledger Foundation to build an open financial system where sending money is as simple as sending an email. ILF continues to expand its ecosystem through partnerships with organizations and individuals to simplify open payments infrastructure, including People’s Clearinghouse, Paysys Labs, and Kanzu Finance. The Interledger Foundation has invested more than $21 million in over 200 projects across 42 countries, backing developers, entrepreneurs, artists, and innovators who are building solutions that remove barriers within outdated and restrictive financial systems.
For other schools interested in getting involved, the Interledger Foundation will open a new call for applications later in the year.
About Interledger Foundation
The Interledger Foundation is an organization that builds and advocates for an open, interoperable payment network where transactions are not limited to a particular bank, mobile money provider, or location. The organization works to increase access to digital financial services for the 1.4 billion people worldwide who are currently excluded from traditional banking systems through the Interledger Protocol (ILP). The organization works with partners to integrate its ILP into existing and emerging financial and payments infrastructures. It currently has large-scale projects underway with Wallet Guru, People’s Clearinghouse, and miPlata. Learn more at: www.interledger.org
Text and images provided by the Interledger Foundation
Featured image: executive leadership team at The Interledger Foundation, including Evan Schwartz (left), Briana Marbury (center), and Stefan Thomas (right).
Join the Talent for Good Forum, an immersive experience designed to give you the skills, the connections, and deeper insights to navigate the next steps in your career. Open to anyone interested in exploring impact-driven careers and the future of meaningful work.
Why the Forum?
The Talent for Good Forum is organised by The Hague Humanity Hub in partnership with The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and with the support of the major universities and higher education institutions in The Hague.
This year, we’re moving beyond the traditional career fair to create a knowledge-driven experience that combines direct career access with expert-led dialogue, interactive sessions, and meaningful networking. Hosted in the heart of The Hague, the International City of Peace and Justice, the Forum brings together student energy, professional expertise, and organisations working to shape a more just, sustainable, and resilient future.
