FASoS News, events and stories

Over the past year, 19 researchers have worked hard to put together the first FASoS anthology of creative nonfiction. The anthology uses the techniques of creative writing to bring research to life for a non-specialist readership. Titled The stories we tell: creative nonfiction accounts of our research, it features work from all four faculty research groups and all five departments. Travel with FASoS researchers into the offices of bored EU bureaucrats, the hideouts of crypto-currency criminals, the sewers of Maastricht, the streets of 20th century colonial Kolkata, a shoe factory in Addis Ababa, the harbour of bustling post-war Rijeka, and much more – and find out what it’s really like to be there.

The Trade Finance Talks podcast interviewed Clara Weinhardt to hear more about her online gallery ‘Faces of Trade‘. Clara discusses why and how she created the online gallery, how an art gallery may help to shed new light on WTO politics, and why a new narrative on trade multilateralism is needed. 

Aline Sierp was interviewed for the European Lifelong Learning Magazine Elm) about the ‘Power of Memories’ and their role for education. 

Joris Roosen was interviewed by Conan O’Brien as part of the ‘Conan O’Brien needs a Friend’ podcast. Despite being a comedy podcast, Roosen did manage to talk about his research on the late Medieval Black Death.

Nico Randeraad was interviewed for the Swiss magazine ‘Republik’ about his work on the history of statistics.

Anna Harris was interviewed by Roxana Girju for her podcast Creative Language Technologies recently. They spoke about health humanities, diagnostic technologies, artificial intelligence and collaborative ethnography.

The BBC World Service interviewed Dr. Christin Hoene on the life and work of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose for their programme The Forum.

Dr. Ferenc Laczo has been interviewed and cited in a number of news outlets about the 2022 Hungarian elections.

Prof Valentina Mazzucato was interviewed by Milena Belloni for The Migration Podcast, an initiative of the IMISCOE network, which is the largest network of migration scholars in Europe.

In a new series on Leadership at Maastricht University, Prof Harro van Lente was interviewed by Observant to discuss his style of leading the Department of Society Studies at FASoS.

In the run-up to the local elections on Wednesday 16 March 2022, Professor in Local and Regional Governance Klaartje Peters was interviewed by Observant to discuss the power of the municipal council.

Joris Roosen, head of research at the Centre for the Social History of Limburg (SHCL), was interviewed by The New York Times for a commentary piece on a research article that analyses the impact of the Black Death using a novel method that looks at ancient pollen deposits. Roosen was interviewed as part of a group of historians working in plague studies.

Amanda Kluveld was interviewed by The Forward‘s culture editor PJ Grisar about her unique discovery of a 1941 letter from Harpo Marx to the Embassy of Portugal. With the letter, Harpo Marx tried to rescue a Jewish widow from Italy.

Hylke Dijkstra,  associate professor of Political science, has been interviewed by Studio Europa about European safety and defence.

Karin van Leeuwen, assistant professor in European political history, has been interviewed by Studio Europa about the tension between national law and EU rules.

Michiel Bron appeared in an episode of Voorkennis (programme produced bij Universiteit van Nederland). In the episode Michiel discussed Nuclear fusion (in Dutch).

Katleen Gabriels has been interviewed by two media outlets on the use of ChatGPT in education. Both interviews are in Dutch.

Dutch news channel Limburg1

Belgian news channel VRT
 

Karin Bijsterveld has been interviewed by Radio 1 and Radio 5 about the ‘Weg van lawaai’ app and by Podcast Atlas on her Stasi research (both in Dutch).

 Radio 1 interview
 Podcast Atlas interview

On 15 September, the Dutch newspaper NRC published a conversation with Maarten Doorman about changes in the canon of philosophy. Previously, Doorman wrote an opinion piece  in the Dutch newspaper Trouw against the abolition of a philosophy canon.

 Article in NRC (in Dutch)
 Article in Trouw (in Dutch)

Rene Gabriëls has been interviewed by Filosofie Magazine about Habermas’ ideas on the war in Ukraine.

Mariëlle Wijermars was featured on the Dutch TV show EenVandaag to discuss the ongoing tensions in Ukraine, the role of disinformation, and the risk of provocations leading to a further escalations of the conflict.

In an interview by Dutch newspaper Trouw, Leonie Cornips challenges the assumption that raising children in a dialect is bad for their language development.

Mariëlle Wijermars has been featured on Nieuws en co (NPO Radio 1) to discuss the possibility of ‘cyberwar’ in Ukraine and the offer of the Dutch government to send cyber experts to Ukraine, which was extended during the visit of prime minister Rutte and minister of foreign affairs Hoekstra to Kyiv.

Claartje Rasterhoff was interviewed for the bi-weekly NDE-podcast ‘Paulus en De Nijs op reis’ by the Dutch Heritage Network. She spoke about the use of digital heritage collections for research and education, and about the importance of researching digitisation processes.

Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Raf de Bont, in which he addresses some of the conclusions of his book  Nature's Diplomats.

Leonie Cornips has been interviewed by Humanistisch Verbond about her research which is ‘different from other kinds of research’. In the interview she makes a plea for more freedom of thought and creativity for researchers.

Maarten Doorman has been featured on NPO radio 1 to discuss the aversion to art in the public space and how this aversion can fade away.

Patricia de Vries was interviewed by Sander Pleij for Vrij Nederland’s podcast MENS to talk about her research on anxiety and the artificial womb.

At the regional television broadcaster L1, Klaartje Peters helped explain the recent integrity inquiries into the provincial government and several municipalities in Limburg.

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.