# What if we gave it a try? ![Joost working at a laptop, with someone in the background](/media/joost-portret-blur-480.webp) Joost MF Liebregts Eindhoven I work as innovation partner for people working towards social change. - Shaping collaboration - Guiding change - Inventing, building and trying things out [See the practice → ](#praktijk) From conversations in Doesburg · shortened, translated from Dutch > “What if you drop out?” About the loss of a key person > “She already has such a key role.” About someone carrying a great deal already > “Then someone has left again.” About local initiatives whose contact people had stepped away Provisional reading with AI ⌄ In these conversations, a great deal seems to rest on a few people. When one of them leaves, it becomes clear how fragile that can be. Perhaps the question is how to protect their capacity, rather than ask even more of them. [About the work in Doesburg ↓ ](#doesburg) [](#visie) What I stand for ## New ways to move forward together. For me, lasting change starts with what the people concerned find important, see for themselves and are able to carry. I develop ways of working together in which they set the direction and help build what comes next. To support that, I design ways of working and build applications. Technology, including AI, helps us see what people contribute and build on it. Together, we explore what works and what needs to change. I work towards a society in which people are free, feel connected and know that they matter. Where change is shaped by the people it affects. That is where my work begins. Practice ## Two projects up close. Mental Health Networks · transformation plans ### People in a room first. Then bring in AI. At Mental Health Networks, people from different organisations came together to work on a transformation plan. Which questions would help them describe what they envisioned? And what could we give back during the session, so they could keep working on it together? The facilitators had already outlined the process. As it developed, I helped think through the session design. Together, we sharpened the purpose and worked backwards: what does that ask of the conversation, which questions do we put to people, and what do we give back to them? I shaped the use of AI around those questions. I worked out how participants’ own words could remain recognisable in a draft, so the group could respond, add to it and refine it. [About the questions, twelve rounds and the response](/en/work/mental-health/) A response from the session > “Wait... this is... yes, this is literally what we said. And now it’s in a draft. Wow, impressive.” Published in [Language as ownership](https://socialaiveldgids.nl/social-ai/en/preserving-language) ![Illustration: three people place different shapes on a shared table.](/media/doesburg-cutout.png) Doesburg · community care ### Care shaped by the neighbourhood itself. In Doesburg, I contribute to an ongoing process in which residents and professionals shape care and support in their own community. With the other facilitators, I design meetings around what people see, want and feel able to carry. I also explore how conversations across several meetings can inform the next step. I put source passages alongside provisional AI readings to prepare questions. What emerges remains something to investigate with people. [Read more about Doesburg](/en/work/doesburg/) ![dembrane](/media/dembrane.svg) Partnership Innovation partner at dembrane With dembrane, a platform for recording conversations and sessions and continuing to work with them, I explore and develop new ways for technology to support collaboration. I look at the shape of a process, what people get back from it and how they can build on that. [Explore dembrane → ](https://www.dembrane.com/) [All projects and organisations → ](/en/work/) Working together ## Another pair of hands. And a different perspective. I like to think alongside you about what you want to make possible and what it will take. Ideas people possibilities connect ### Designing, guiding and adapting processes You know where you want to go. The route takes shape along the way. What do we want to make possible? For whom? I help translate that purpose into who we bring together, which questions we ask and how the meetings build on each other. I also pay attention to which perspectives get room and how people themselves can influence the direction. As we go, we explore together what is needed and adjust the process, with the purpose in mind. [How that works in Doesburg → ](/en/work/doesburg/) ### Researching, designing and building You want to make something possible. What it will take is still open. I explore what helps people move forward and which new ways of working or technologies might play a part. From there, I imagine, design and build something we can try together. [How that went at the Mental Health Networks → ](/en/work/mental-health/) ### For people who keep asking Looking together at what you are working on. You are working on an issue, preparing a gathering or looking for direction in a design. Perhaps you notice that the usual approach gets stuck. How do you make room for people to help decide what is needed? I think along with professionals and coach students on their projects and development. We ask questions, explore possibilities and try things out. I also give talks, guest lectures and workshops on social design, Social AI and change from the ground up. [More about coaching, talks and teaching → ](/en/services/#sparring-and-coaching) Good things begin with a conversation. [Let’s talk → ](/en/contact/) Field Guide and Studio ## What I make and learn along the way. Joost MF Liebregts Social AI Field Guide Listening better with AI and moving forward together Independent work ### The Social AI Field Guide The Social AI Field Guide is about using AI thoughtfully when people work on change together: in workshops, co-creation and long-term change processes. With stories from practice, prompts and questions for your own work. Free to read in Dutch, English and German. [Open the Field Guide → ](https://socialaiveldgids.nl/social-ai/en)[Why I made the guide](/en/work/field-guide/) Concept in development ### Veldgids Studio How might increasingly capable AI help us guide change more effectively? With the Veldgids Studio, I explore how good facilitation and process guidance might become accessible to more people, and how experienced facilitators might gain stronger tools for discovering new possibilities. The continuing question is how to keep sight of what matters in a process of change. I want to develop a space that helps people design a process from its purpose, understand conversations and prepare the next meeting. [See what I am building](/en/workshop/) From a desired change to a meaningful meeting. The change What do people want to make possible? The process What will that take along the way? The meeting What is the next question to explore together? What happens can change the direction again. Field notes ## Exploring, making and looking again. [ ![Hands sanding a wooden spoon among wood shavings on a workbench.](/media/aandacht.webp) ](/en/notes/the-other-side-of-the-hill/)Making and attention ### [The other side of the hill](/en/notes/the-other-side-of-the-hill/) > “The effort you put into something is attention.” On making things with your hands, the speed of AI and our connection with the world beyond the screen. [Read the field note → ](/en/notes/the-other-side-of-the-hill/) Conversations #### [Why I use AI for real conversations](/en/notes/why-i-use-ai-for-real-conversations/) A personal exploration of what can emerge in a conversation with AI. [Read the field note → ](/en/notes/why-i-use-ai-for-real-conversations/) Ownership #### [Prompting our way to connection](/en/notes/prompting-our-way-to-connection/) Questions, prompts and reflections from working towards shared ownership. [Read the field note → ](/en/notes/prompting-our-way-to-connection/) Listening, with NotebookLM #### [Listening to a conversation again](/en/notes/live-dialogue-ai-crafted-podcast/) A workshop transcript turned into a podcast dialogue, to hear my session design from another perspective. AI-generated voices. [Read and listen → ](/en/notes/live-dialogue-ai-crafted-podcast/) [All field notes → ](/en/notes/) Contact ## What would you like to move forward? Tell me what you are working on, what you want to make possible and who is involved. Then we can explore together what I might contribute. [Email me joost@purposedesign.nl ](mailto:joost@purposedesign.nl?subject=Getting%20in%20touch) --- Joost MF Liebregts · joost@purposedesign.nl Last updated: 2026-09-22 Canonical: https://jmfl.nl/en/