Holis School

Holis is an interdisciplinary school that fosters social innovation through collaboration and collective intelligence.

Holis is a place-based, interdisciplinary school that fosters social innovation through collaboration and collective intelligence.

Be the change that you wish to see

At Holis you will learn skills that will help you be a change agent, a champion for purpose-led organisations and a better team player in interdisciplinary teams while working on social impact projects.
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Holis School has a limited number of places. This is the main reason why you have to apply to be part of Holis. We also think that a limited size group helps establish meaningful and long lasting connections. We open the applications each year in March and the deadline is in May.
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Once you’ve been selected you will start your Online Preparatory Session in July that lasts for one month. After this you will travel to a remote place and spend 10 days with your team members learning and working on a social challenge. At the end you will be part of the Online Follow-up Session where you will learn how to make your project visible.

Summer Schools in 2020

POSTPONED!

Early Childhood Development

We will investigate what are the barriers of a well functioning early childhood development system in the Visegrad Region and will develop potential solutions.

Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia

postponed until further notice

€300–500

Application closed

POSTPONED!

Activate the Local Community

Apathy in remote rural areas is one of the biggest barriers to initiate any positive change. We will look into ways to activate the local community.

Sabóia, Portugal

postponed until further notice

€500–700

Application closed

Holis Coronavirus Update

170

participants

social innovation projects

years running educational programmes

“I warmly recommend the Holis summer schools. They are exactly the kind of educational programme next-generation professionals need — place-based, inter-disciplinary, collaborative.”

John Thackara
Writer, Advisor and Public Speaker

“Holis does an excellent job of creating an environment that fosters peer learning. With the guidance of remarkable team leaders and an incredibly dedicated and brilliant team, I left Holis equipped with tools and methods that I will continue to use in my design work.”

Collyn Cooper
Service Designer

“Now more than ever we need to foster cooperation across disciplines, cultures and geographies to support social innovation. I’m convinced of the value of place-specific, experiential learning, and the Holis summer schools create fantastic opportunities and benefits, not only for the talented (and lucky) participants but for the local partner enterprises and communities."

Dr John Stevens
Senior Lecturer
Royal College of Art, London

“It is priceless to have the level of expertise of these organizer, mentor and local experts who involved in the program, and be able to learn from them how to apply all the design theories into concrete actions and testing.”

Rara Larasati
Human Experience Designer

“Creative problem solving and empathy are fast becoming the top capacities necessary for our future lives. This means we need new models of education. Ones that mix different ways of thinking and doing things and equip us with collaborative know-how. Holis is part of this new generation of progressive and interdisciplinary learning programmes challenging disciplinary silos.”

Daniel Charny
Professor of Design
Kingston University London

“Holis was inspiring and exciting. I never thought I will learn so much in such a short period of time. Some of that will stick with me forever and I am very grateful for that.”

Tamara Lašič Jurković
Industrial Designer

“Holis is the future of education. Diverse groups of people coming together to learn new skills by solving real problems.”

Roland Harwood
Compulsive Connector
We Are Liminal

This happened last year

News

Alumni Story

Getting into Social Innovation — at Holis

Those were ten days that changed me for life. I know it sounds cheesy to say it that way, this text is not to convince you to join a religious experience.

Miguel Lobato

May 14, 2020

Alumni Story

A Safe Space for Creators

Living together on location made us really focused and the flow we were in was incredible. Even though we were working late in the evening every day, days just flew by very quickly.

Gábor Suhajda

May 14, 2020

Alumni Story

Dimensions of Holis School

Tackling societal challenges with interdisciplinarity, co-creation and rural immersion.

Dominika Majewska

March 25, 2020

Holis is an interdisciplinary school that fosters social innovation through collaboration and collective intelligence.

Holis is a place-based, interdisciplinary school that fosters social innovation through collaboration and collective intelligence.

Be the change that you wish to see