Born in Istanbul, Turkey and Raised in Berlin, where she obtained a degree in Business Economics, Cigdem Zantingh has been living and working in the Netherlands since 1996. She teaches Tourism and Leisure, Economics and German at both Stenden University of Applied Sciences and Alfa-college. She joined the Research Group of the Sustainable Innovation in the Regional Knowledge Economy Department in 2009, where her area of interest is new combinations of working and learning. Her objective is to connect the worlds of education and tourism through multidisciplinary cooperation. She has been a project leader in the Community of Practice Tourism since 2012, a group dedicated to sharing, expanding and developing knowledge in order to increase tourism in non-urban areas. This group is a partnership between the Department, students of Stenden University of Applied Sciences, the City of Emmen and four regional businesses.