About the Think Tank TRANSIT

The Think Tank TRANSIT is an interdisciplinary platform. It develops analyses, theories and scenarios related to the role of adult education in society.

About the Topics, Goals and the approach of the Think Tank

Thematically, the focus is on longer-term social developments that are or could become relevant to lifelong learning. The think tank’s findings are intended to provide organisations and experts in the field of adult learning with ideas and inspiration for their own ongoing development.
What distinguishes TRANSIT from other think tanks is its collaborative approach.

While TRANSIT – like other think tanks – bases its work on expertise and academic analyses, the themes, scenarios and perspectives it covers are not developed by a closed circle of experts but in participatory forums that are open to any interested party. As a result, a wide variety of perspectives and many aspects of practice-based knowledge are incorporated into the trend analyses it undertakes.

This process requires a good deal of time and a willingness to continuously reflect on processes and content and to adapt them where necessary. It also requires open platforms where topics and experiences can be discussed and concepts for the future of education can be tested.

The think tank was launched at the initiative of the Swiss Federation for Adult Learning in 2017 and started 2018. It is financially supported by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

The name TRANSIT symbolises the idea behind the think tank: on one hand, adult learning is in a state of flux, and on the other, we are living through a general situation of shifting boundaries, whether in terms of the boundaries between our private and professional lives or the boundaries between work, learning and leisure, to name just two examples.

Our Team

Helen Buchs
Director TRANSIT

helen.buchs@thinktank-transit.ch
Connect on LinkedIn
Posts on TRANSIT Website by Helen Buchs

Helen Buchs has been co-director of the Think Tank TRANSIT since January 2023. She has been working in the area of competences and education for many years. She also works at SVEB as a project manager in the Research, Development and Innovation team.

Irena Sgier
Advisor and former director TRANSIT

irena.sgier@thinktank-transit.ch
Connect on LinkedIn
Posts on TRANSIT Website by Irena Sgier

Irena Sgier co-founded the Think Tank TRANSIT in 2017. Since then, she has been passionately building a wide-ranging TRANSIT network and steering the development of the think tank. Irena Sgier is also Head of Research, Development and Innovation and Deputy Director at SVEB.

Ronald Schenkel
Freelance journalist

ronald.schenkel@thinktank-transit.ch
Posts on TRANSIT Website by Ronald Schenkel

Saambavi Poopalapillai
Scientific collaborator SVEB

saambavi.poopalapillai@alice.ch

About SVEB ( Swiss Federation for Adult Learning)

As a national umbrella organisation, the SVEB has been committed to the interests of continuing education in Switzerland since 1951. The SVEB represents the concerns of its members at political, social and professional level in all three language regions. It supports the continuing education sector in the current phase of change and contributes to the development of the continuing education system with innovative projects.

Editorial office
Think Tank TRANSIT
c/o SVEB
Swiss Federation of Adult Learning
Hardstrasse 235
8005 Zurich
T: +41 (0)44 319 71 59
M: info@thinktank-transit.ch