36th anniversary inspired by strategic programme

Press release 10 January 2012

On Friday 13 January 2012 Maastricht University celebrates its 36th Dies Natalis. The celebrations will include a symposium as well as the official Dies ceremony, both with the theme ‘Inspired by Quality’. This reflects the title of the university’s strategic programme 2012–2016, which Martin Paul, president of the Executive Board, will present during the symposium.

The symposium will also include presentations by seven young, talented academics whose research represents the three overarching academic themes of the strategic programme: Quality of Life, Europe and the Globalising World, and Innovation and Learning. Naturally, their research topics are highly diverse. Jill Lobbestael shows she is ‘Not afraid of angry men’  with her work on different forms of aggression, including in convicted criminals receiving involuntary psychiatric treatment. Raymond Montizaan asks ‘Do we work happily ever after?’, showing that employees’ expectations of their pensions are too high. And in ‘The downside of optimism’, Anique de Bruin explains how overestimation of our own learning performance gets in the way. To see the topics of the other speakers, please visit the symposium programme.

The official Dies celebration will be held in the Sint Janskerk from 15.00. UM rector Gerard Mols will discuss multidisciplinarity in an academic context, while the keynote speech by Wim Gijselaers, professor of Education, will address the issue 'What if learning is leading?'

Prizes
As in previous years, the Dies ceremony will also include the presentation of various awards. Alfred Goldberg, professor of Cell Biology at the Harvard Medical School, will receive an honorary doctorate. The Education Prize 2011 will be awarded for a special contribution to education at UM, and seven graduates will receive the Student Prizes 2011 for the best theses on behalf of the ‘Stichting Wetenschapsbeoefening’.

Note for the press:
Representatives of the press are warmly invited to attend the symposium and the official Dies ceremony. For more details or to register: Flore Clerkx, press officer, tel. 043 388 5230, email pers@maastrichtuniversity.nl. For further information, please visit the website: www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/diesnatalis

The UM Marketing and Communications Department can be contacted on 043 38 85 222, email pers@maastrichtuniversity.nl. For urgent matters outside office hours, please call 06 245 57 245.

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