FASoS News, events and stories

Ilias Alami and Adam Dixon discuss their research on contemporary state capitalism on the Global Development Institute podcast, after a guest lecture they gave at the China In Europe Research Network earlier this year.

Associate professor and vice Dean of Education Giselle Bosse, has been interviewed by Observant in light of International Women's Day on 8 March 2021.

Expert interview on the upcoming Dutch elections: “The Netherlands is part of the European Union, so Dutch political parties need a strategy on the EU, just like I need a strategy as a university Dean.”

Collin Prumpeler, Head of the FASoS Office of Student affairs has been interviewed by Observant about the Wynand Wijnen prize.

Tannelie Blom has been interviewed by UM newsletter Observant about his retirement and his years at FASoS.

Aline Sierp has been interviewed on the memory of Colonialism in Europe by the journal ‘Are We Europe’ published in all European countries.

Harro van Lente has been interviewed by Studio Europa on how the COVID-19 crisis has stirred up our thinking about the future.

Populist politics is a growth market – and a great topic for a PhD dissertation that ties in very neatly with Maastricht University’s (UM) mission to raise global citizens. It also fits Carola Schoor’s career perfectly. She has decades of experience as a public affairs and political communication adviser to members of the Dutch parliament and the European Parliament in Brussels.

Etudes for a news classical music practice
The audience of classical concerts is ageing, so there is a great need for a new audience. “But if you want to reach a new audience as an orchestra, you also have to change yourself”, says Peter Peters, endowed professor of Classical Music Innovation and director of the Maastricht Centre for the Innovation of Classical Music (MCICM).

Imogen Liu has been interviewed by Bloomberg about press freedom and the implications for international capital in light of the new national security law for Hong Kong.

The UM-initiated 3WE project (‘Well-being, Women and Work in Ethiopia’) studies how employment generated by foreign direct investment (FDI) is affecting the well-being of workers, and women in particular. Especially in Africa, where FDI is becoming one of the main sources of new employment opportunities and economic growth on the continent.

Cyrus Mody has been interviewed by Maastricht University about his Vici grant. In the interview, he explains that he will research the dilemma of the entanglement between science and the oil industry with the €1.5 million grant he received.

Members of the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE) Executive Board Maarten Vink and Melissa Siegel have been interviewed by UM about the effect of the corona crisis on migrants in the Netherlands and abroad.

Miriam Meissner has been interviewed by dorftv, an Austrian non-commercial news channel. The question guiding the interview was ‘what political realignment does the time of global risks require?’. The conversation revolved around the concept of ‘crisis’, how crises are debated in contemporary politics and society, and which new solutions for securing livelihoods need to be considered in the future.

Finding a new routine in education is the biggest challenge we face, says Patrick Bijsmans. Online education, no lectures or tutorials no contact with other students, no University Library… all these aspects are having a huge effect on daily routine.

Christine Neuhold has been interviewed by Observant on her appointment as dean of FASoS. Christine will take over from current dean Sophie Vanhoonacker on 1 September 2020.

Sally Wyatt and two Digital Society students – Julius Vornhecke and Leonie Trutschler – have been interviewed by UMagazine on the bachelor’s degree in Digital Society that started in September 2019.
They explain how Digital Society came into being as a programme and what the future holds.

After over forty year of teaching, of which 20 years at Maastricht University, Dr. Nico Baakman retired on 14 January 2020. On this occasion and as a goodbye to his students and colleagues, his former student Hannah Segers talked to him about his career as a professor and his experiences along the way.

Katleen Gabriels is a moral philosopher, specialised in computer ethics. She looks into how morality and computer technologies influence each other. Her new book "Rules for Robots. Ethics and Artificial Intelligence" asks some questions that will need to be answered very soon.

While several parties in the latest UK election promised a second referendum, reconfirmed prime minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives won an overwhelming mandate to “get Brexit done”.
Christine Neuhold talks about the need for informed debate and how complicated it is to leave the EU – or be in it.

In Budapest, Ferenc Laczo witnessed the fall of the Iron Curtain and, with it, communism in Eastern Europe. But over the last nine years, he has watched with increasing concern how Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán has chipped away at the young democracy and set a course towards autocracy.

Kiran Patel is leaving Maastricht University for the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, where he will hold the chair in European History and establish an interdisciplinary research centre on Europe and European history. Here, he reflects on his time in Maastricht.

Raise your hands if you’d be happy to spend your free time categorising illustrations about microscopy in the 19th century. Because this is the internet, there are actually quite a few hands in the air now – if not necessarily yours. FASoS scholars Lea Beiermann (Worlds of Wonder) and Susan Schreibman (Letters 1916-1923) are providing opportunities for people to utilise their creative potential to experience research and contribute to it.

She’s a political scientist and an art enthusiast. She loves chocolate, just like her father and grandfather. She’s ‘secretly’ ambitious, like her son. A ‘Dutchified’ Belgian, a team player, a sound sleeper and a good listener. “I don’t mind talking about myself if I’m asked. But most people like to do the talking.” A report of a two-hour interview with Sophie Vanhoonacker, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

The European Union is often criticised for being a ‘show’, far removed from its citizens. The Brussels machinery is widely seen as boring, bureaucratic and complex. “However in reality, in many things the EU is more transparent than a lot of its Member States”, says political scientist Patrick Bijsmans. He welcomes criticism, though. Whether you used to be for or against Europe, now I think everyone is a Eurosceptic in the true sense of the word—they don’t automatically assume that something is good, and that’s okay.”

‘People often say that the pace of European cooperation is too high,’ says Hylke Dijkstra, director of the master’s programme in European Studies. ‘But the opposite is true. The changes aren’t happening fast enough.’ Dijkstra is disappointed in the EU. European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker’s agenda is a failure, he says. Public confidence is low and new players like China are superseding the old continent as a power factor.

Globalisation is undeniable. People, goods and information are moving around the world at an increasing pace. But what about animals? Do they also cross national and continental borders and how does that work? And how have people historically been involved in these movements? How have they tried to understand and manage animal movements? These are urgent questions for historian and researcher Dr Raf de Bont.

Mariëlle Wijermars appeared as a guest on the BNR Radio show Boekestijn en De Wijk to discuss the latest developments in internet freedom and political opposition in Russia ahead of the September parliamentary elections.

Veerle Spronck and Ties van de Werff have been interviewed by the Eindhovens Dagblad about their research into orchestras.

Klaartje Peters has been interviewed for an article by Dutch newspaper Trouw about integrity issues in the Province of Limburg.

Sally Wyatt has been interviewed by Science Guide about the gender bias in academic citations.

Leonie Cornips has been interviewed by the regional news outlet 1Limburg about the Limburgish dialect.

Both have been interviewed on the Maastricht Death and Disease Database (MDDD), which contains over 70.000 records of individuals who have died in Maastricht between 1864 and 1955. This historical information forms the foundation of Murkens’ PhD research into the health transition in Maastricht. The interview draws connections between historical epidemics and the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Jolien Makkinga has been interviewed on Dutch NPO radio 1 about the sound box (klankkast) she created. This sound box includes many different dialects spoken in Noord-Brabant and travels to nursing homes in Brabant. When people listen to the sound box and hear someone speak in their own dialect, they feel more at home, Makkinga explains.

Maarten Doorman has been interviewed by Human tv for their programme ‘Medialogica’. In the interview, Maarten reflects on whether art may be offensive or not. In the current world, where spectators are increasingly online, protests to art can lead to ‘cancel culture’.

Jolien Makkinga and Leonie Cornips have been interviewed about the sound box (klankkast) they created. This sound box includes many different dialects spoken in Noord-Brabant and travels to nursing homes in Brabant.

Esther Versluis has been interviewed by Observant for their new section ‘the second wave’. In the interview, she talks about how she has experienced working and teaching from home during the so-called second wave of the corona pandemic.

Pomme van de Weerd has been interviewed about her PhD dissertation “Nederlanders and buitenlanders: a sociolinguistic-ethnographic study of ethnic categorization among secondary school pupils”.

Aagje Swinnen has been interviewed by Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant about ageing.

Patricia de Vries has been interviewed by de Correspondent about fear and anxiety. She claims that a life without fear does not exist, and she is happy about that.

Maarten Doorman has been interviewed by several Dutch news outlets. Het Parool interviewed him about Anna Nooshin’s instagram museum. He explains that this selfie museum fits in our experience economy but that it at the same time shows the infantalisation of society. Filosofie.nl interviewed him about Schopenhauer’s ‘The Wisdom of Life’.

Nico Baakman has been interviewed by Omroep Zeeland about the Spahr case. Spahr van der Hoek was mayor of Middelburg from 1997 until he had to leave after a vote of no confidence in 2000. Baakman has just completed 16 years of research, which resulted in a book ‘de rechte weg’, into Spahr’s turbulent mayor years which were ruled by unjust declarations and a trust crisis.

Joep Leerssen, together with several other experts, has been interviewed by de Groene Amsterdammer about the vulnerabilities of the dominating West in light of the corona crisis.

Lauren Wagner has been interviewed by de Groene Amsterdammer for an article about Morocco receiving support from diaspora. In the diaspora, generations often lose the connection to their country of origin, but they don’t lose the connection with their Moroccan community.

Karin Bijsterveld has been interviewed by Dutch newspaper NRC on the sound of a pandemic.

Leonie Cornips has been interviewed by the Dutch newspaper Trouw on the language cows speak. She explains that in her research she refutes the premises that only humans have their own language by which they set themselves apart from animals.

Raf de Bont was interviewed by NRC on his interest for ‘moving animals’. He reflects on the historical role the Korenwolf (European hamster) played in the history of Limburg.

Joey Tang, PhD candidate at FASoS, has been interviewed by Observant about his life.

Nico Baakman was interviewed by L1 on a case where the mayor of Weert allegedly subsidised a foundation he himself is chairman of. Dr. Baakman says he cannot judge whether something improper took place. He does agree, however, that an administrator should abstain from all appearance of evil.

Many mayors support a ban on consumer fireworks. By supporting a ban, mayors ensure this topic appears on the agenda in The Hague. This, however, does not mean that there will be a national ban on fireworks.

Raf de Bont was interviewed at GAIA Zoo by Dutch radio station NPO1 about his project "Moving animals".

Ernst Homburg was interviewed by the L1 ‘cultuurcafé’ on the cultural heritage of the ENCI (Eerste Nederlandse Cement Industrie; First Dutch cement industry). In December 2019, the ENCI announced its bankruptcy. Ernst Homburg sees the necessity of finding a new use for the ENCI factory. The adjacent quarry could be converted into a geological park, Homburg argues.

FASoS Professor Mathieu Segers was interviewed by several news outlets (Chapeau Magazine, de Limburger and 1Limburg) about the Maastricht Europe Days that took place last weekend. Prof. Segers is deputy managing director of Studio Europa which organises the Maastricht Europe Days.

He was also interviewed by NPO Radio 1 on Hungarian EU politics.

In the framework of Trump’s impeachment procedure, RTL Nieuws asked questions to Maaike Meijer concerning female anger.In the article (in Dutch), Prof. Meijer claims that there is a taboo on female anger. While when a man gets angry his anger is viewed in light of the thing he gets upset about, when a woman gets angry she is accused of being emotional.

Sophie Vanhoonacker and Katleen Gabriels were interviewd by Dutch regional news station 1Limburg about the importance of the new Bachelor's programme Digital Society for today's society and how the graduates of this programme can bridge the gap between technology and society.

 Interview with Sophie Vanhoonacker 
 Interview with Katleen Gabriels
Both interviews are in Dutch