Ilja Simons is a a Lecturer at the Academy for Leisure at Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands. She is a PhD candidate at Tilburg University, conducting a study about events as a means for creating social cohesion in the network society. This qualitative study includes three cases in which online and offline interaction rituals are analysed. Ilja holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Erasmus University Rotterdam, and her research interests include storytelling, rituals, events, and silent voices within the context of leisure and tourism.

Qualitative research, rituals, events, storytelling, silent voices, communities