What if modern culture is only three days deep? A conversation with Koen Arts

What happens when academic learning moves outdoors for more than a few hours? In this conversation, Koen Arts explores outdoor relational education and the possibilities of reconnecting embodied, emotional and cognitive ways of learning. From everyday encounters with nature to multi-day experiences involving fire-making, shelter-building and living closely with the land, we discuss what sustained time outdoors can open up for students. Koen also reflects on vulnerability, intrinsic motivation, institutional barriers, and why nature-inclusive education should not remain the domain of specialists, but become part of learning across disciplines.

Key themes
Outdoor relational education · Embodied learning · Nature connectedness · Transformative learning · Everyday nature

About the guest
Dr. Koen Arts is a lecturer and researcher at Wageningen University & Research whose work explores human–nature relationships, conservation, rewilding and outdoor relational learning. His teaching brings academic inquiry together with embodied outdoor practices, exploring how experiences such as making fire, building shelter, working with natural materials and spending extended time outdoors can deepen reflection on our relationships with nature and ourselves.

Explore Koen’s work:
Wageningen University & Research profile
Personal website
Arts, K., Roncken, P., Buijs, A. & Wals, A. (2025). Embedding outdoor relational education in academia: Perceived barriers and opportunities at a Dutch university. Australian Journal of Environmental Education.