Ningna Xie (N.)

Ningna Xie researches topics related to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in light of growing societal 'polycrises' and how education practices address learning from various cultural worldview perspectives, with a focus on the competences of students/educators/co-learners, intercultural learning and boundary-crossing in inter- and transdisciplinary contexts, concrete pedagogical approaches and assessment systems for sustainability education. Her research interests sit at the intersection of Sustainability Science and Education Science, looking at how transboundary competences can be effectively operationalised into alternative learning environments in higher education. 

Ningna was initially educated in International Communication (with distinction), worked as a junior researcher and workshop facilitator. Since then, she has worked in the function of partnerships and communication management in both private and public sectors. After completing a master’s study in Sustainability Science, Policy and Society (with distinction) at Maastricht University, she contributed to an Interreg project by managing and facilitating game-based learning workshops for businesses and education institutes. Her current PhD work is dedicated to designing alternative learning environments that address diverse worldview perspectives and transboundary interactions between cultures, disciplines, professions, and personal lived experiences. 

In her free time, Ningna is a volunteer for ecological maintenance work at Limburgs Landschap , and contributes to open-source education initiatives such as climatescience.org.