On 4 September NIAS is hosting an all new public opening of the academic year 2019/2020 at the Trippenhuis, home of The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). During this event we herald the opening of the new academic year with speeches by KNAW president Wim van Saarloos and NIAS rector Jan Willem Duyvendak about slow science, introductions by our new fellows, a Q&A with co-sponsor L’Oréal-UNESCO of the For Woman in Science Fellowship and an alumnus, and a word of welcome to the new fellows by Caroline Nevejan, Chief Science Officer Amsterdam.
Celebrating Slow Science
“Celebrating slow science is more necessary than ever before: academics are stressed out by publication pressure, increasing teaching loads and the obligation to apply for research grants in competitions with less than 10% success chance. But slow science is more than a cure for a university system in crisis. It also raises the important point that the rhythm of science is fundamentally different from other, ‘faster’ cultures such as politics and business. The increasing pressure from politics regarding science does not respect academic autonomy and, more fundamentally, mixes different ‘speeds’. As Dutch sociologist Dick Pels famously framed it: “What we do require is a novel arrangement of time and space that promises a reflexive deceleration of action and the clearing of a ‘calm space’ where time may flow more relaxed, topics may be studied one at a time, conversation can be conducted in a more leisured and egalitarian fashion, and pressing decisions may be postponed” (D. Pels, Unhastening Science. Autonomy and reflexivity in the Social Theory of Knowledge, 2003, p. 180)”
Rector Jan Willem Duyvendak
Programme
Trippenhuis, 4 September 2019, 15:00 – 17:00
15:00 – 15:10 Welcoming words by Head of Academic Affairs, Fenneke Wekker
15:10 – 15:30 “Celebrating Slow Science”, opening speech by NIAS Rector Jan Willem Duyvendak
15:30 – 15:45 Presentations by fellows Sebnem Yardimci, Robert Glas and Henry Spiller
15:45 – 16:05 “Slow Science – A Perspective From the Natural Sciences”, speech by Wim van Saarloos, President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
16:05 – 16:25 Presentations by fellows Jaap Tielbeke, Wilco van Dijk and Ellen Rutten
16:25 – 16:35 Q&A with Hanneke Wigman (alumna) and Marike Bontebal (co-sponsor UNESCO) of the For-Women-in-Science Fellowship
16:35 – 16:50 “Science in the City”, speech by Caroline Nevejan, Chief Science Officer Amsterdam
16:50 – 17:00 Closing words by Fenneke Wekker, Head of Academic Affairs
17:00 – 18:00 Bites and drinks, with information stands NIAS and (co-)sponsors
Registration
You can sign up for this program for free via the top-left registration button. If you subscribe for the program we count on your presence. If you are unable to attend, please let us know via tim.visser@nias.knaw.nl | T: +31 (0)20 2246723
