Carolina Suransky

Profiel

Carolina Suransky (1961) is Professor of Education and Social Change with a focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Humanistic Studies (UvH) in Utrecht, where she also serves as Academic Director of the Master degree in Citizenship, Professionalism and Civil Society and as Chair of the Steering Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Since 2023, she is also Extraordinary Associate Professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Her teaching and research center on globalization, decolonial pedagogies, pluralism, and social change, with a particular focus on how higher education can advance social and climate justice. She is co-editor (with Doret de Ruyter) of the forthcoming Brill volume Education for Transformation: Humanistic Perspectives on Flourishing in the Anthropocene and has published on decoloniality, humanism and education in international journals and edited volumes. She recently co-authored articles on citizen science and decolonization, intercultural competence and epistemic justice in higher education.

Carolina studied Philosophy of Education and Curriculum Studies at Utrecht University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Alberta, and earned her PhD at the University of Durban-Westville (now UKZN) in South Africa in 1998. From 1989 to 1998 she lectured there in Curriculum Studies and co-founded the Master degree in Teacher Education. Since then, she has continued to collaborate with South African universities, including as Visiting Professor at the University of the Free State (2011–2023).

She has led multiple international and national projects, among them the Comenius Senior Fellowship project Wokeness and Resistance (2022–2024), which explored how universities can engage productively with polarization through curriculum renewal. She co-founded the International Summer School on Pluralism and Social Change (2004–2016), held in the Netherlands, India, Indonesia, and South Africa, and coordinated the UvH Graduate School for PhD course work (2010–2022). She also co-founded and facilitated the Leadership for Global Justice program at the University of the Free State in South Africa with 15 international partner universities.

As PhD supervisor, she mentors candidates worldwide on topics such as decoloniality in higher education, community resilience and social justice discourses. She is research associate and advisory committee member of the citizen science project Diamonds on the Soles of their Feet in Limpopo, South Africa, and collaborates with the French collective S-Composition with Chloe Latour and Jean-Pierre Seyvos on educational interventions at the intersection of ethics, philosophy and sustainability.

Her career has consistently bridged scholarship and institutional leadership, from serving on the UvH Executive Board (2004–2010) to her advisory roles with organizations such as the Dutch Humanist Association, Universities South Africa, and Hivos. Throughout, she has worked to strengthen pluralism, epistemic justice, and eco-humanism in education, committed to fostering inclusive futures in the Anthropocene.

On the 12^th of November, Carolina will give her inaugural address, titled Education at a Crossroads. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Anthropocene.