Opening of the Academic Year 2021/22

This year's Opening of the Academic Year was a special anniversary edition, where NIAS celebrated turning fifty with colleagues from sister Institutes of Advanced Study, Robbert Dijkgraaf and Nadia Al-Bagdadi. 

With our fellows, we reflected on what academic freedom is, what it means, its implications and how Institutes of Advanced Studies were created to safeguard that freedom. In this spirit of unbound scholarship, we warmly welcome our new fellows. 

INSIGHTS

On Academic Freedom 

During the Opening of the Academic Year, Jan Willem Duyvendak spoke about the complimentary sides of academic freedom, to be free 'from'  in order to be free 'to'. 

INSIGHTS

What is Academic Freedom?

Fellow Lukas Verburgt questioned what academic freedom actually meant? Paraphrasing Augustine, he only knew what it meant what he wasn't asked about it, which gave understanding its essence even more importance. 

INSIGHTS

On Free Speech 

Speaking during the Opening, Fellow Rahul Rao explored the thin line when free speech is impeded and can be construed as hate speech.  

OPEN CALL

NIAS and the Instituut Gak invite scholars with expertise in the field of social security and labour market policy to apply for a 5-month fellowship in 2022/23.

OPEN CALL

Nominations for the Distinguished Lorentz Fellowship (DLF) are now open. The fellowship is awarded annually to a leading researcher working at the interface between the humanities and social sciences on the one hand and the natural and technological sciences on the other.

NIAS TALK

In this NIAS Talk, alumnus Ton Wilthagen discusses the aftermath of the Dutch Participation Law with Alderman Rutger Grootwassink. They will focus on strategies, and on how to move forward to include citizens who are unable to participate in the labour market.   

WRITTEN AT NIAS

Work is not a Solution

Marguerite van den Berg Fellow 2020/21

In this book (published in Dutch) Marguerite argues that work is not always a solution, but a problem. We try to anchor our livelihoods around the stability of work, but work is now extremely unreliable. It always asks more of us, constantly changes the conditions and prefers to be vague about the future. She shows that things can and must be done differently. She shares stories about uncertainty and about acts of resistance. How can we find new ways approaches? And how can we provide new certainties? 

WRITTEN AT NIAS

Conchophilia: Shells, Art, and Curiosity in Early Modern Europe

Marisa Anne Bass, Anne Goldgar, Hanneke Grootenboer, and Claudia Swan Fellows 2016/17 

This book was also born at NIAS where through serendipity four NIAS Fellows discovered their shared interest in the significance of shells in the early modern period. 
Why did Renaissance-era collectors braved maritime hazards to beachcomb? Conchophilia delves into the intimate relationship between shells and people, offering an unprecedented account of the early modern era when the influx of exotic shells to Europe fuelled their study and representation as never before. In this richly illustrated book, scholars reveal how the love of shells intersected not only with the rise of natural history and global trade but also with philosophical inquiry, issues of race and gender, and the ascent of art-historical connoisseurship.