What’s going on

Explore the stories behind our fellows’ ground-breaking research, the work in progress and the coming events at NIAS.

  • NIAS Opening of the Academic Year 2025-2026, with Claudine Gay
    Event 3 September 2025

    Academic Freedom Besieged: Whose Academy? (And Who Decides?)—NIAS Opening of the Academic Year 2025-2026, keynote by Claudine Gay

    We are honoured to welcome Claudine Gay—Professor of Government, of African and of African-American Studies & former president of Harvard University—for her address to NIAS' Opening of the Academic Year 2025-2026. With a welcome by NIAS director Jan Willem Duyvendak and contributions by Ingrid Robeyns, Maria Barnas, Jonathan Soeharno, Wendelmoet Boersema and (mod.) Marcia Luyten.

  • Photo of the NIAS staff in the garden of the Oost-Indisch Huis by Marieke de Bra
    News

    We are looking for a great Director!

    As of May 2026, Jan Willem Duyvendak will retire from his role as Director. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), of which NIAS is part, is now inviting applications to succeed him.

    • Photo of Philip Gorski
      Insights

      Intellectuals have confused their own worldview with the broader culture

    • ‘What world does AI create – and for whom?’
      Insights

      ‘What world does AI create – and for whom?’

    • What is recognition? 1
      Insights

      What is recognition?

    • Bullshit security?
      Insights

      Bullsh*t Security?

    • What is freedom without a place for yourself?
      Insights

      Moving Beyond Welfare Chauvinism

    • Listening as resistance
      Insights

      Listening as resistance

    • In Praise of Doing Nothing
      Insights

      In Praise of Doing Nothing by NIAS alum Costică Brădăţan

    • What is Academic Freedom? 1
      Insights

      Louisa Schneider on houselessness

    • NIAS-Wesseling series 1
      Insights

      The Danger of Conflation in Light of the Israel-Hamas War

    • Rethinking Human Relationships with the Sea
      Insights

      Rethinking Human Relationships with the Sea

    • Insights

      "An impressive amount of new thinking and exploration goes into fellowship proposals"

    • ‘When after two months of reading I finally start to write, I realize there are few finer places to do so than at NIAS.’
      Insights

      ‘When I finally start to write, I realize there are few finer places to do so than at NIAS.’

    • Historians for the Future / Toekomsthistorici
      Insights

      'Onze namen opschrijven' Column by Dan Afrifa

    • Urban Farming 3
      Insights

      'Harvesting Care' column by Anna Kooi

    • Practices of Interdisciplinarity
      Insights

      Practices of Interdisciplinarity

    • Looking Back at the Academic Year 2021/22
      Insights

      Looking Back at the Academic Year 2021/22

    • Contested Objects and their Complex Social Meanings 1
      Insights

      Contested Objects: The Material Aspects of Colonial Narratives

    • Contested Objects and their Complex Social Meanings
      Insights

      Contested Objects and their Complex Social Meanings

    • Women’s Voices from the Mediterranean
      Insights

      Women’s Voices from the Mediterranean

    • A Forgotten Theory in Defense of Democracy 2
      Insights

      A Forgotten Theory in Defense of Democracy