About me
The common thread in my life – and therefore also in my work as a speaker – is curiosity. I was certainly not a model student, but I always wanted to learn new things. That hunger for new things is still there to this day. Especially when it comes to making connections. While problems and challenges often seem unique to a domain, this is not always the case. More often than you think, there is a link with other domains.
Other common threads in my life and my interests are the fallibility of the human brain, the influence of technology on our lives and the illusion of predictability. I like to let you - as part of my audience - look at your own challenges through my eyes. So that you leave with inspiration, to also remain curious!
And not only do I hope that you go home with more inspiration at the end of an event; I want that too. I learn from other speakers, I learn from responses to my talks. Because the more you learn, the more you realize how little you actually know.
Hats and helmets
I am Bart van Leeuwen. I often introduce myself as someone wearing multiple hats or helmets.
- I am the owner of Netage B.V. where I have been carrying out data projects for national and international organizations for more than 25 years. I have been involved in developing various data standards from, among others, the W3C and OGC.
- At SAMatters! (Situational Awareness Matters!), I am a trainer in the field of human factors in high-risk, high-consequence professions. Do we actually understand how we make decisions?
- In the context of 'if you are the smartest in the room, you are in the wrong room', I am a guest lecturer/researcher at the VU in the Human Centric Data Science group. Here I surround myself with people who are so much smarter and who continue to arouse my curiosity.
- Every little boy wants to be a firefighter, so I never really grew up. I have been a firefighter for more than 25 years, including more than 20 years at the Amsterdam-Amstelland Fire Department. I am currently a commanding officer.
In my introduction, I talked about my curiosity about connections. All caps and helmets also have a connection. My fear.
My fear
I am afraid that if something happens to me or one of my colleagues, we will find out afterwards that this was not necessary. That all information needed to prevent this was present in our own organization or organizations that we collaborate with. That we simply were not able to get the right information, in the right way, to the right person, at the right time.
Reviews
Dit is wat een aantal deelnemers zeiden over mijn trainingen en presentaties:
“Het is de beste training die ik in jaren heb gehad”
“We besteden te weinig tijd aan praten over menselijke factoren bij de brandweer”
“Bedankt voor het geven van de presentatie. Het was veruit de beste die ik tijdens het hele evenement heb bijgewoond”
“Je bent de eerste persoon die de interactie tussen mens en technologie in ons vakgebied zo gedetailleerd bespreekt”