In the media
Looking Beyond the Bubble
Society is facing major challenges, many of them deeply polarised. Education should prepare students for this by encouraging them to work together with people from different backgrounds and disciplines. By engaging with complex issues, they learn to listen more effectively, communicate better, and look beyond their own bubble. Precisely now that machines are becoming increasingly intelligent, it is important for people to become better at being human, argue Govert Buijs and other VU professors of philosophy in Trouw.
Police Dogs at Demonstrations
The police still deploy dogs during demonstrations and arrests, but criticism of this approach is growing. The Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals and the Dutch Dog Protection Society are calling for greater attention to animal welfare. Police sociologist Jaap Timmer joins the debate in Het Parool.
The Silent Majority That Looked Away
Professor of investigative journalism Nikki Sterkenburg argues that we should not only study the heroes and perpetrators of the Second World War, but also the large group who remained silent. According to her, this offers insight into human behaviour and helps prevent the repetition of exclusion and injustice. In an interview with Het Parool, she emphasises that looking away often stems from convenience or social pressure, and that active intervention is something people must practise. “We need to scrutinise the majority who stayed silent.”
Superdiversity in the City
Het Financieele Dagblad features a double interview with sociology professors Maurice Crul and Ruud Koopmans. In the piece, Crul argues that the Netherlands is overly focused on restricting migration, while Koopmans advocates a more controlled and selective migration policy. According to Crul, political parties across the spectrum continue to focus on migration, asylum, and inflows, while ignoring the diverse society that already exists. “Among younger generations in Amsterdam, having a migration background is the norm for many. Anyone who talks only about limiting inflows is ignoring reality.”
Far-Right AI Women on Social Media
Increasingly, young and ‘attractive’ women are being generated online to spread extreme and nationalist ideas, writes EW Magazine. Disinformation expert Ellen Droog notes that these accounts are popular: “We live in an attention economy. Anger and hatred perform extremely well. A great deal of money can be made from them because they generate huge numbers of clicks. And although people often know the accounts are fake, they still have a real impact.”
First Female Archbishop of Canterbury
For the first time, a woman will hold the title of Archbishop of Canterbury. Sarah Mullally will become the head of the Anglican Church. What is the historical significance of this appointment? And what does it say about the position of women within religious institutions more generally? Professor of Religion, Gender and Sexuality Mariecke van den Berg discusses this on the NPO Radio 1 programmeVroeg.
Religious Conflicts
The language used by the warring parties in the Middle East is steeped in religious metaphors, ranging from ‘Armageddon’ to the ‘end times’. Egyptian Dutch professor of interreligious relations Azza Karam fears “the beginning of an era of religious wars,” she says in Trouw. “Internationally, we are witnessing something deeply troubling: the return of explicitly religious language in modern warfare. A conflict between such systems — between Shias and Sunnis, or between Judaism and Christianity on one side and Islam on the other — deepens divisions, and that is harmful, even once peace has been achieved.”
Dutch Churches Publish Manifesto
The Council of Churches — a partnership of nineteen Dutch church denominations representing more than five million members — states in a new policy document that the radical right “is racist, antisemitic, and glorifies masculinity”. According to religious scholar Fleur Freeke, the report comes at a time when the radical right is gaining ground, including within churches. “The pressure on churches to speak out has increased significantly in recent years,” Freeke told NOS.nl. She is conducting PhD research into radical and far-right movements among Christians in the Netherlands. “We are seeing Christianity increasingly misused in political rhetoric.”
magazine for social sciences and humanities alumni june 2026