PAC Projects

On the 4th of July 2023 the PAC opened a pop-up exhibition on the 8th floor of the Van de Goot Building. The exhibition zoomed in on good practices of courses provided within the Media and Communication department which connect course work to the professional field in inspiring ways. With this exhibition, the PAC aimed to highlight all the great work that is already being done and inspire colleagues to connect with the work field even more.

In September 2020 –the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) organized a live event of the independent student magazine IBCoMagazine in collaboration with the PAC. The first bit of the afternoon was devoted to a PAC Symposium, where Media & Communication (IBCoM) alumni Anna Le Guennec and Carlijn Oosthoek and former IBCoMagazine editor-in-chief Cecilia Arroyo spoke about their professional careers and study experiences. The Symposium was led and moderated by Dr. Yijing Wang.

On Thursday, the 27th of February 2020, four experts were invited for the PAC Symposium on Managing Corporate Communication in Digital Age 2020. Matthew Apperly (content strategist ABN AMRO), Nicoleta Anton (manager thought leadership TomTom), Laurens J. Ohlenroth (senior communications advisor Stedin) and Robert Smit (co-founder and visual designer at Flatland Agency) tackled communication management from different perspectives. These included corporate communication, content strategy, thought leadership and visual thinking. They shared their professional expertise, critical minds and personal learning points with IBCoM students through presentations and a panel discussion.

Trust and authority are challenged by fake news and misinformation in the post-trust era. What does the decline of trust mean for organizations and society at large? How do we make positive change through our expertise in media and communication? These questions and more were central in the discussions during the PAC Event of Friday 4 October 2019. The event was part of the programming for the IBCoM Lustrum Event, and was accessible to alumni from the IBCoM programme, IBCoM students, and Master Media Studies students. The speakers at the event were Mark Jansen (chief communications officer @ Google Northern Europe), Dennis Naaktgeboren (chief of news @ newspaper Algemeen Dagblad), Claudia Verhulp (spokesperson for the Rotterdam mayor Aboutaleb) and Christina Moreno (CEO at She Matters).

On 1 March 2019 the PAC organized a symposium on Managing Corporate Communication in the Digital Age. During this symposium, five professionals gave presentations on corporate communication strategy and afterwards participated in a Q&A session. The participating professionals were Hans Koeleman (chief corporate communication & CSR at KPN, and president of the European Association of Communication Directors), Nicoleta Anton (global thought leadership strategist at TomTom), Laurens J. Ohlenroth (communications manager at Nederlandse Spoorwegen), Anne Pleun van Eijsden (CEO of Paper on the Rocks) and Richard Spaans (head of communications and public affairs at Huawei Netherlands).

On 7 December 2018, the PAC hosted a World Café on “festivalisation and the city – a media and communication perspective” at Platform 21 in Rotterdam. This event was organized together with Dr. Arno van der Hoeven, Dr. Erik Hitters and Dr. Tonny Krijnen. It aimed at enhancing the link between our students and the experts in the work field, and included high-profile speakers, panel session and roundtable discussions. The participating speakers were Gerdine Kruik (marketing and communications at Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra), Gilles de Sitter (marketing manager of Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam and Circusstad Festival), Laurens van Wesep (co-founder of Creative Minds and organizer of the Jaws at the Kralingse Plas), Laurin Ivetic (front-end specialist and content manager at the International Film Festival Rotterdam), and David Kuiper (marketing manager of Baroeg Open Air).

On 1 June 2018, the first PAC World Café on the Power of Storytelling took place. During this World Café, the various aspects of storytelling were explored, and the importance of it for the media, communication and business field. A group of media and communication professionals discussed the importance of storytelling and discussed about several statements with students. The guests during this session were: Dewi Lammerding (Hearst Netherlands), Freek Staps (Dept), Mia McKenzie (IOM.nl), Rolf Harbers (Hill+Knowlton) and Shelley Barendregt (FITGIRLCODE)

The PAC was formally established as an immediate follow-up to the Media and Business Symposium, held on 8 December 2017 and hosted by the Master Media & Business. Industry professionals as well as interested MA and BA students and alumni were invited to join an inspiring event to explore what digitalisation means for the future of media and business. High-profile speakers Pascal Beucler (MSLGROUP) and Lara Ankersmit (NOS) dived into the topics of thought leadership, people’s relations, and digital communication strategies in their keynotes. In a plenary session, professionals with years of experience within the fields of communications and business discussed the changing communications landscape. Panelists for this discussion were Nanda Huizing (head of brand, communications & digital at Philips Benelux), Murli Poonath (director joint ventures at Air France-KLM), Truus Huisman (plastic maker hubs and former VP sustainable business and communications at Unilever Europe) and Pascal Beucler (senior vice president and chief strategy officer at MSLGROUP).