News
Guno Jones appointed to Anton de Kom Chair
Anthropologist Guno Jones has been appointed full professor at the 'Anton de Kom Chair in the History of Colonialism and Slavery and their Contemporary, Social and Cultural Impact'.
The chair engages the colonial past in a broad sense - including the history of slavery - in the study of past and present social issues, with a particular focus on themes such as legal equality, disenfranchisement and rehabilitation, migration, racism and discrimination, citizenship and processes of inclusion and exclusion. The chair aims to intensify cooperation with the Anton de Kom University of Suriname. Professor Guno Jones therefore carries out the work annually partly from VU Amsterdam and partly from AdeKUS.
Jones has been an interdisciplinary researcher and lecturer at the VU since 2002. His previous research has focused, among other things, on the public memory of the Second World War in the Netherlands and the former colonies.
Manon Parry appointed professor of History of Medicine, Nursing and Care
Manon Parry is the first professor in our country dedicated to the history of nursing and care. "This is a wonderful opportunity to connect the history of medicine, nursing and care and to demonstrate the important role the past still plays in healthcare", Parry said.
Parry's main focus will be on uses of the past in education, museums, public health and policy-making. In doing so, she will also focus on 'the invisible work in healthcare', such as nurses in mental health, disability care and carers in long-term care.
World's first chair in investigative journalism
A democratic society benefits from good investigative journalism. This makes it all the more remarkable that there is almost no scientific research on this. On the initiative of the Flemish-Dutch Association of Investigative Journalists (VVOJ) and outgoing VU Amsterdam professor of journalism science, Irene Costera Meijer, VU Amsterdam decided to establish a special chair to institutionally embed research in the field of investigative journalism.
The VVOJ chair in investigative journalism concerns scientific research into increasing the democratic relevance of investigative journalism and the translation of the results of that research into journalistic practice. This includes research into growing mistrust, the safety of journalists, the financing of investigative journalism, new investigative methods, and ethical dilemmas. Interaction with practice is one of the core elements of the chair. A research group will be attached to the chair, which will consist of external PhD students who will have the opportunity to do their PhD alongside their journalistic work. The chair will be established for five years. For funding, the initiative involves Veronica Association, Gieskes-Strijbis Fund and Democracy and Media Foundation.
Lifelong learning
Humanities scholars are curious and never unlearned. That is why anyone, regardless of their age can take academic courses at HOVO. Almost three quarters of HOVO's course offerings fall within the domain of our faculty and can be taken online or on the VU campus. The offerings include flash lectures, study days, tutorials and courses ranging from two to 10 meetings.
HOVO Amsterdam's new spring programme is now online and offers a wide variety of subjects in the fields of art history, architecture, (cultural) history, literature and music and people and society.
Podcast series Never Write Again?
Should students still learn to write now that ChatGPT is here? Can we still test with writing assignments? What is actually involved in writing? And can we use AI to make students better writers?
In the podcast series Never write again?, Gea Dreschler, associate professor of English Linguistics and scientific director of the Academic Language Programme (ALP), talks to various guests, including a host of FGW colleagues about artificial intelligence (AI) and writing skills. ChatGPT can't do everything! Human skills still play an important role.
From Achterhoek to Amsterdam. Willem Sluiter 350 years
On 1 December 2023, the library of VU Amsterdam opened the new exhibition Van Achterhoek to Amsterdam about the 17th-century poet and pastor Willem Sluiter. The exhibition was curated by student Ellen Vujević, who did an internship at VU Amsterdam’s Special Collections.
Check out the exhibition digitally or visit the Heritage showcase, next to the entrance of the University Library on the first floor of the Main Building. You can see the exhibition till 29 February 2024.
magazine for humanities alumni december 2023