Maaike Aans

Maaike Aans joined the Clingendael Institute as an Academy Programme Fellow in January 2018. She organises, coordinates and implements trainings in the field of diplomatic practice and skills development. Her areas of expertise and interests include intercultural communication, intercultural mediation, consensus building and public diplomacy & nation branding. She trains people with varied backgrounds such as diplomats, mediators, civil servants, financial supervisory authorities and professionals from the security sector.

Before starting her work for the Clingendael Institute, she worked for the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), where she organised intercultural trainings for international professionals in the Netherlands.

Maaike completed her Master’s degree in intercultural communication Cum Laude (with honours). She performed research on intercultural differences in social work, commissioned by a Dutch NGO. Based on her research, Maaike contributed to the publication of the book ‘Enhancing Intercultural Communication in Organizations: Insights from Project Advisors’ (Routledge, 2020).

Prior to her Master, she studied International Business at the Faculté d’économie at Université de Montpellier in France, where she specialised in international marketing and branding.