Overview appointments and grants

• Veni grants

  Caribbean Red: Socialist Dreaming in Post-Colonial Art and Architecture, Art Historian Adrienne Rooney

  As Anglophone Caribbean nations gained independence during the Cold War, they began crafting a future beyond British colonial rule. Some nations embraced socialism, and Rooney's project demonstrates how socialist ideas and politics influenced their art, architecture, and cultural policy, which fostered cultural-educational exchanges with socialist nations in the region and Europe. It also examines what these artistic landscapes reveal about dreams of freedom in countries long-exploited by colonialism and capitalism. Its results will be a resource for researchers and societal stakeholders exploring how culture has been used to challenge colonially-rooted inequality.

  Epistemic belonging. Confronting unequal knowledge exchanges amongst occupational groups in long-term care, organisational scientist Marieke van Wieringen

  The majority of long-term care in the Netherlands is carried out by nursing assistants, particularly in nursing homes and community nursing. However, their unique knowledge and expertise are often undervalued by their colleagues. This has consequences for their professional self-worth and pride in their work, as well as for the future of healthcare itself. In her research,

  Van Wieringen examines how this undervaluation—what she calls epistemic injustice—manifests in social systems, policy frameworks, and in everyday workplace interactions. She investigates how nursing assistants experience these dynamics and how they navigate them. The aim is not only to contribute theoretical innovation but also to provide practical tools for more equitable knowledge exchange in the healthcare sector. The project is carried out in close collaboration with the Nursing Assistants Division of Verpleegkundigen & Verzorgenden Nederland (V&VN), the Dutch professional association.

• NWO ORC Round 2024

  DeMoCraft: Broad Research on Democratic Moral Craftsmanship

  How can political officeholders recognise, regain, and strengthen their democratic moral craftsmanship? This is the central question of the seven-year research project DeMoCraft, which will launch on 1 January 2026 under the leadership of public administration scholar Leonie Heres. Supported by €6.6 million in funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the project brings together five universities, two universities of applied sciences, and 27 societal partners.

  DeMoCraft investigates the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed for democratic moral craftsmanship, as well as the ways in which political environments support or hinder its development. The project also examines the implications for public trust and the quality of (crisis) policymaking. In close collaboration with practitioners, the consortium will co-develop practical tools to strengthen the moral and democratic conduct of political leaders.

   JUST ART Creating Common Ground for Climate Justice through Artistic Research

  At its core climate justice sheds light on the multiple ways climate change reinforces existing injustices, especially those related to race, class, gender, geography, colonial history, and the relation between humans and other life forms.

  Art and artistic research are vital in this context not just because they can help to imagine other ways of being in the world, but because they can foster meaningful dialogue and collaborative practices across disiplinary, geographical, and cultural borders. JUST ART will galvanise emerging work at the intersection of artistic research and climate justice, and catalyse new creative collaborations within and beyond The Netherlands.

  Lead applicant: University of Groningen.Representing SGW and involved as Principal Investigator: Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art Katja Kwastek, who leads a work package in collaboration with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). Granted project funding: €6.8 million.

• NWA Innovative Projects in Research Agendas

  ARMED FORCES AND SOCIETY. Dutch Public Opinion on the Military and Defence in Comparative Perspective, Professor of International Security, Wolfgang Wagner

  The role of the military in Western liberal democracies is undergoing major changes. The withdrawal from Afghanistan signaled the end of interventionist missions abroad, while Russia’s war against Ukraine challenged the belief that war was unthinkable in Europe. European governments have refocused on territorial defence, requiring major adjustments in force structure, training, and equipment. This shift faces several obstacles: long planning timelines, decades of underfunding, and limited financial resources competing with other priorities.

  Success depends on strong public support—both financially and in terms of recruitment, as few young people are willing to join the military. However, little is known about what citizens expect from their armed forces or what sacrifices they are willing to make. Existing opinion polls, such as the Clingendael Barometer, offer only limited and superficial insights. A significant knowledge gap remains regarding how views differ by age and gender. Moreover, experts warn that excessive alarmism may hinder pragmatic defence policymaking.

• NWO Open Competition – M Round 2024

  TEND: The Nature of Socially Disruptive Technologies. Professor of Philosophy Catarina Dutilh Novaes and philosopher Guido Löhr

  New technologies can cause significant disruptions for individuals and societies. While technological innovation is generally aimed at improving people’s lives, it often also has unintended and destructive consequences. The most obvious example is fossil fuel technologies, which enabled more efficient production and mobility, but also led to catastrophic climate change.

  Dutilh Novaes and Löhr will develop a new ecological approach to technological disruption, aimed at exploring how such disruptions can best be understood and addressed.

  Logical Reasoning in Alexandria in the 5th–6th Century AD. Professor of Philosophy Marije Martijn

  Alexandria—the "Oxford" of the 5th and 6th centuries—was marked by political unrest. The philosophical schools there focused on logical and mathematical reasoning. Through a "practice-based history of philosophy," Martijn and her colleagues investigate whether this focus stemmed from the perception that logic and mathematics were impartial. And were they, in fact, truly impartial?

  The Irires Language – Present, Past, and Future of a Recently Revealed Language of New Guinea. Linguist Antoinette Schapper

  Irires is an endangered and almost completely undocumented language spoken in the Vogelkop region of New Guinea. In our globalised world, a previously unknown language like Irires is a rare discovery. This language offers us a new perspective on linguistic diversity and the design space of human language, as well as on models of population history and theories of language change.Schapper’s project is a highly focused, synthetic study of the present, past, and future of the Irires language.

  Synthetic Adventures: (Un)sustainability and (Dis)comfort in Designing, Making, and Using Outdoor Clothing. Cultural historian Jane Tynan

  Petroleum-based synthetic fabrics can be highly efficient at keeping people dry, but reliance on non-renewable textiles for outdoor recreation is unsustainable in terms of environmental impact. Tynan investigates the cultural drivers behind the growing consumption of outdoor clothing in the context of environmental challenges. By following designers and consumers, she examines the extent to which normative ideas about weather sustain unsustainable practices in the clothing industry. The focus on weather-resistant clothing highlights what decarbonising clothing culture means in practice, while also offering tools to understand the cultural and social barriers to addressing the climate crisis.

  Really Fake: How Immersive Disinformation Influences What People Believe. Professor of Virtual Reality and Communication Tilo Hartmann

  Immersive disinformation—realistic AI-generated content that feels real, such as deepfakes or misleading 3D videos in virtual reality—poses a new risk. Traditional disinformation research has mainly focused on text, but immersive content may influence people more strongly by creating lifelike experiences. Hartmann investigates how these realistic digital experiences affect our thinking and potentially lead people to false beliefs. Through four studies, he aims to explain how powerful immersive disinformation influences people, how it works, and what new ways exist to counter this potent form of deception.

  Why Disinformation Lingers: Research into Underlying Mechanisms and More Effective Interventions. Communication scientists Ivar Vermeulen and Ellen Droog.

  Current interventions against the effects of disinformation (e.g., rebuttals, warnings, inoculation, media literacy training) do reduce belief in disinformation, but are less effective at countering its broader persuasive effects (such as negative attitudes and institutional distrust). Vermeulen and Droog argue that disinformation interventions miss the mark by focusing on refuting the disinformation itself, rather than on what people infer from it. Building on classical and modern (media) psychological paradigms, they develop a model explaining why abstract beliefs are more resistant to correction than specific ones. Based on these insights, they design and test several new interventions.

• NWO Funding for New PhD Candidates

  Towards Closeness: Understanding Inter- and Intraspecies Relationships through Embodied Interaction. PhD Candidate Guste Staseviciute

  Close relationships are important for our wellbeing, but what about cows? We still know little about communication between humans and cows or among cows themselves. This knowledge is especially limited in both industrial and organic dairy farming. This project investigates close relationships from a linguistic, multimodal perspective. It focuses on physical interactions between humans and animals and among animals themselves, with special attention to touch and vocalisations.

• NWO SGW XS Grant for Innovative Projects

  Off the Beaten Track? A Holistic and Inclusive Approach to Exploring How People Encounter and Interpret Political Information. Journalism Scholar Tim Groot Kormelink.

  In this project, Groot Kormelink investigates how people encounter and interpret political information in today’s media landscape. This is a challenge because each individual is confronted with a unique mix of information sources, ranging from newspapers to memes, group chats to livestreams. Therefore, the project combines digital trace data (data donations from platforms such as Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, and TikTok) with mobile ethnography, in which participants reflect on the political information they come across. The project deliberately includes underrepresented groups in the research through a representative sample, supplemented with targeted recruitment, to develop a better understanding of the use and interpretation of (political) information across diverse socio-demographic groups.

  WolfHowl: Howling with the wolves. Traditional Ecological Knowledge practices as disaster mitigation strategies. Anthropologist Leonidas Oikonomakis.

  Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) consists of a body of locally produced, condition-adjustant, practices that is used to provide ecological solutions to local environmental problems, and even preventively to mitigate disasters. As part of rewilding Europe, the European wolf has been returning to the continent’s forest, not without conflicts with shephersshepherds, hunters, and NGOs. To date, the preventive value of TEK has been understudied, and so has the practice of wolf-howling in order to “map” wolf-populations in a certain area. Oikonomakis’ project intends to study that practice, and its disaster mitigation potentials in Halkidiki, Greece contributing to the relevant TEK bibliography.

  Stolen Focus? Investigating the cognitive costs of digital distractions. Douglas Parry, communication scientist

  Digital technologies are central to modern life, yet concerns persist about their impact on attention and productivity. Parry investigates how different patterns of digital technology use affect attention, cognitive control, and task performance. Using experience sampling, cross-device passive logging, and repeated lab-based cognitive assessments, the study will track real-world digital behaviors and their cognitive effects over time. By combining advanced measurement techniques and state-of-the art cognitive theory this research aims to provide a clearer understanding of the cognitive costs of digital distractions.

  Between Science and the Senses: Understanding Mesopotamian Glassmaking and the History of Recipes. Assyriologist Shiyanthi Thavapalan

  Thavapalan investigates Mesopotamian glassmaking recipes in order to unravel the early history of chemistry. Dating from around 1500–600 BCE, these texts are in difficult cuneiform script with specialized terms, which has led to them being largely overlooked. Combining new linguistic analysis with experimental archaeology, this project will re-interpret a selection of glass recipes and reproduce them for the first time since antiquity. This hands-on approach to history can tell us about how people worked with tools to transform materials, the role of sensory experience in these processes and other details that bring ancient science and craftsmanship to life.

  Romantic polarization: Investigating the role of partisanship in the choice of a partner. Giulia Ranzini, communication scientist

  The married couples of today share political views more than they share religions, ethnic backgrounds or education. Societally, this leads to more polarization and, according to some, to increased disinfranchisement. Yet, the role politics play in the choice of a partner is largely unknown, especially for nonheterosexual individuals, and for those looking for other types of union than marriage. Using two experiments, employing an online dating app and an in-person speed-dating event, Ranzini’s project seeks to uncover the importance of political allignment in the stated and revealed partner preferences of individuals.

• Horizon Europe Projects

  AMALTHEA Consortium Project led by Organisational Scientist Ioana Vrabiescu

  Recent scholarly literature on the gender dimension of programmes aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) highlights a structural lack of gender-sensitive data collection and analysis. While an empirically grounded, gender-sensitive approach is essential for sustainable security, there remains no broadly accepted definition of ‘violent extremism’. Existing counterterrorism literature often relies on gender-neutral or gender-blind frameworks, in which women are merely added to existing paradigms without critically examining the underlying gendered power structures.

  A deeper understanding of the relationship between gender and radicalisation requires attention to structural inequalities, social exclusion, and gendered experiences such as trauma, belonging, and narratives of empowerment. Feminist and intersectional approaches are vital to adequately analyse and address these dynamics.

  The consortium project aims to address this knowledge gap through interdisciplinary research and innovative interventions across three levels: capacity building for professionals working within the P/CVE field; the modelling, management and dissemination of knowledge regarding the role of gender in extremism; and the development of tailored tools to support collaboration, policy design, and decision-making processes.

  Partnership in the GUARDIANS Project. Professor of Organisational and Technological Innovation and Societal Resilience Kees Boersma and Organisational Scientist Nathan Clark

  Growing concerns over emerging threats, such as a severe incident at a nuclear power plant or a tactical nuclear explosion, compel EU member states to substantially enhance their capacities for preparedness and response to large-scale crises. The urgency for advanced technologies, interoperable risk assessment tools, and integrated coordination strategies is unprecedented.

  The GUARDIANS project aims to improve European crisis management through innovative and cost-effective technologies. This includes the development of advanced radiological technologies (such as sensors for radioactive gases and networks of active dosimeters), scalable triage strategies (including video analysis and digital triage), decontamination solutions, and medical countermeasures, including hydrogels and improved distribution of stable iodine.

  Furthermore, autonomous systems such as drones and robots equipped with measurement devices and observation technologies will be deployed to strengthen operational capacity. The central GUARDNET platform facilitates real-time data processing, mission management, and simulations to support decision-making.

  Through structured collaboration with frontline responders and policymakers, as well as field tests and evaluations of public needs, GUARDIANS contributes to more tailored and effective response strategies. The project thus enhances member states’ ability to respond adequately to nuclear and radiological emergencies, promoting the protection of people and the environment.

• TDCC SSH Project

  Professor of Philanthropy René Bekkers: Research Transparency Check

  Bekkers and his team are developing software that automatically assesses the transparency of empirical research before it is published and provides recommendations for improving the documentation of data and methods. The software will support staff at universities and research institutes, academic journals, and research funders. The researchers are involving seven groups of data users in the social sciences and humanities in developing transparency criteria and will create checklists based on these criteria.

• Dutch Higher Education Award 2025

  3D-NEWConnective combines community building, dialogue, and meaning-making, bringing these elements together in a dedicated 3D space on campus. From this ‘living room’, more than 7,000 students have already explored their place in the world. The concept originated at the VU School of Religion and Theology and was recently awarded the Dutch Higher Education Award, receiving €800,000 in funding.

• PhD Grants for Teachers

  What Truly Matters to You? A Study on Enhancing Attention to Worldview Education and Children’s Questions of Meaning through a Hermeneutic-Communicative Approach in Primary Education. PhD Candidate: Carolina Blanken – Bolk, teacher at Saxion University of Applied Sciences

  In a context of increasing loneliness and growing worldview diversity, there is a need for meaning-making. However, primary school teachers often face obstacles in creating space for this within their teaching. This study explores effective principles of professional development that support teachers in addressing children's existential questions and worldview education in a hermeneutic-communicative manner. Blanken is supervised by Gerdien Bertram-Troost and Peter-Ben Smit.

  Interpreting the Unspoken: Counterfactual Historical Reasoning for Reconstructing Early Christian Heterodox Thought Using Large Language Models. PhD Candidate: Andrew Elrod, lecturer at HZ University of Applied Sciences (Vlissingen)

  This project uses large language models to reconstruct the lost ideas of early Christian “heretics” like Marcion of Sinope, known mainly through hostile sources. By training AI as “synthetic theologians,” the project generates plausible interpretations of their beliefs. This sheds new light on the diversity of early Christianity and how marginalized voices have been treated throughout history. The project also develops tools and guidelines for the responsible use of AI in historical and theological research.

  Young Masculinity and Sexual Citizenship: The Influence of the Manosphere within Dutch Higher Education Institutions. PhD Candidate: Ola Plonska, lecturer at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

  This study investigates how young men interpret narratives from the online manosphere and how these influence the construction of their sexual citizenship. The manosphere—characterized by hypermasculine ideologies—plays a significant role in shaping attitudes around gender and sexuality among men aged 18 to 25.

  Using an ethnographic approach—combining digital ethnography, classroom observations, and interviews—the project explores the relationship between digital discourses and offline behaviour within higher education institutions. It examines the socio-cultural impact of online misogyny on young men’s identities and interactions, as well as gaps in current theories on sexual citizenship and gender dynamics in education. Plonska is supervised by Annemie Halsema and Younes Saramifar.

• NRO Higher Education Programme

  Digital Technology and Literacy

  Management and Organisation Scientist Hille Bruns, Professor of Reading Behaviour Roel van Steensel and Professor of Sustainable Organising Christine Moser are investigating how digital technology is shaping literacy—the ability to read and write.

  Over the past fifteen years, the use of digital technology has increased, while literacy levels have declined. According to a recent PISA study, one-third of Dutch adolescents are now functionally illiterate.This alarming trend motivates their research into student literacy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Over the course of two years, Bruns and Van Steensel will compare the reading and writing skills of students in different groups using paper, laptops, and/or artificial intelligence to read and write. The project maps how literacy development can best be supported under varying conditions.

• European Heritage Award

  The international research project Odeuropa has been awarded a European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award 2025.

  This is the most prestigious recognition in the field of cultural heritage in Europe, granted for groundbreaking research into Europe’s olfactory history. Odeuropa quite literally put scent on the map. Using artificial intelligence, the research team sifted through 43,000 historical images and 167,000 books in six European languages to trace historical scents and olfactory experiences.

  The result is the European Olfactory Knowledge Graph, a massive database containing around 2.5 million references to smells—from rose oil to urban air—dating from 1600 to 1920. The international research team, led by the KNAW Humanities Cluster (Netherlands) and principal investigator Professor of Cultural History Inger Leemans, collaborated with museums, perfumers, heritage institutions, and local communities.

• Ammodo Science Award

  Professor of Analytical and Interdisciplinary Philosophy of Religion Rik Peels received the Ammodo Science Award this year for his project The Logic of Extremism. Peels developed an innovative theoretical framework that explains how seemingly rational individuals can arrive at extreme views. Using the concept of non-ideal rationality, he demonstrates that conspiracy theorists are not necessarily irrational, but reason according to their own internal logic. Limited access to information and the deliberate rejection of certain sources can ultimately lead to radicalisation.

• GAK-NIAS Fellow

  Arjen de Wit Selected as Instituut Gak-NIAS Fellow

  Sociologist Arjen de Wit has been selected for an Instituut Gak-NIAS Fellowship for the 2025–2026 academic year. The Instituut Gak Fellowship at NIAS offers researchers the opportunity to work on themes related to social security and labour market policy.

  Arjen will be in residence at NIAS from February to June 2026. During the fellowship, he will work on a book about social productivity, aimed at both an academic audience (researchers, lecturers, students) and a broader public (policymakers, civil servants, social workers).

• URC University Research Chairs

  URC Chairs awarded to Nana de Graaff and Dion Forster

  The Executive Board has decided to appoint two researchers from our faculty as University Research Chairs (URC), effective September 1 this year. The appointments concern Nana de Graaff,  Professor of Global Politics and Networks, and theologian Dion Forster. Forster has been appointed Professor of Public Theology and Ethics.

• ZonMW Knowlegde Lab on Meaning and Spirituality

  The Knowledge Lab on Meaning and Spirituality aims to provide high-quality spiritual care and support with meaning-making to all individuals in home settings. This is achieved through collaboration between practice, education, and research, with active participation from clients, their loved ones, and volunteers. Religious studies scholar Gertie Blaauwendraad is affiliated with this project on behalf of the SRT. 

• Stichting Lezen

  VU-NT2 Research has been awarded a grant by Stichting Lezen to develop a nine-week reading promotion intervention in international transition classes (ISK) and to study the effects of this intervention.