Ties van Daal Researcher and advisor

Ties van Daal (he/him) is a researcher and advisor at DRIFT. He moves between philosophy, action research, and the everyday practice of societal change. With a background in economics and philosophy, he explores how new possibilities emerge when we do not just think about change, but step into it and experiment with how things could be different.

Ties likes to work from concrete places, situations, and relationships. For him, practice is not simply where pre-developed ideas are put into action, but a source of knowledge: by doing, making, and experimenting, things that previously seemed unthinkable or impossible can emerge. In his work, he therefore seeks to create space for the unexpected. He works with artists on transition challenges, for example in the Bufferzone project on peatland restoration in the Peel and through the Tafel van Moedt. He is also interested in how financial logics and structures shape which futures come to be seen as realistic and desirable. In his teaching, he encourages students to experience that transitions do not take place somewhere outside of us, but are connected to the places where we live, work, and build our everyday lives.

Ties holds a BSc in Economics and a BA in Philosophy from Tilburg University, and an MA in Societal Transitions and an MA in Philosophy Now from Erasmus University Rotterdam. Before joining DRIFT, he worked as a teaching assistant at Tilburg University and Eindhoven University of Technology, and as a research assistant at the Design Impact Transition (DIT) Platform at Erasmus University Rotterdam. There, he worked on radical imagination and sustainable finance.

In his spare time, Ties can be found reading, outdoors, or around a table with friends and family.