Faculty Opening of the Academic Year: let's value each other and connect!
During the official Faculty Opening of the Academic Year on Thursday 25 September, FSW staff and students heralded a new and inspiring academic year.
‘I am a psychologist.’ Dean Sarah de Rijcke began her speech by focusing on Psychology. ‘With the hashtag “I am a psychologist”, we want to emphasise how important our international Bachelor’s programme in Psychology is. Colleagues in Psychology have shown that psychology is so much more than just providing therapy – however important that may be! As a graduate psychologist, I too ended up somewhere completely different. By linking psychology to research at our other institutes, we can show how versatile knowledge from the behavioural and social sciences is.’
Research with impact
This calls for examples. De Rijcke: ‘Ila Ma (Psychology) and Vincent Traag (CWTS) found common ground in research into misinformation, a subject they approach from different angles. They are now starting a network to bring together colleagues from all institutes working on this subject. The aim is to identify intersecting lines of research, share knowledge and make a greater impact together.’
Franceso Walker then presents results from his research on how young people engage in art, conducted at the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. The research shows that children look at art in a completely different way than adults. A good description of a work of art, tailored to their age, can greatly enrich their viewing experience. De Rijcke: 'It's cognitive psychology in practice – relevant, applied, with direct impact on society.'
Winners of the Casimir Prize 2025
The Casimir Prize is a token of appreciation for an educational team that is committed to renewal and innovation in education. Why an entire team? Because good education is created together, with each member contributing their own knowledge and expertise. Three teams were nominated this year. The prize went to the team “Vodcast innocation in the Autism course”. The jury was impressed by the way in which the innovation, involving the development of a new form of assessment, contributes to reducing the workload of teachers, but also to the learning outcomes for students. In addition, the use of a vodcast/podcast can be used faculty-wide and is an AI-proof form of assessment.
The winning team consists of: Rachel Plak, Karlijn Pieterse, Maretha de Jonge, Tirza Smits, Shaza Saadeh, Minja Sarovic (Education and Child Studies) and Erik van Duijn and Lotte Vinkenoog (SOLO Education Support).
Community, connection and art
The faculty's opening of the academic year was once again accompanied by the opening of a new art exhibition, this time featuring works by students and staff members of the faculty. The artists display a wide variety of works, including a drawing by Fenna Poletiek in memory of Andrea Evers. ‘We hope that we have organised this opening in the spirit of Andrea: looking ahead, with an eye for community, connection and art,’ says De Rijcke. ‘The past year has been turbulent, but we have shown that we are strong as a faculty: we show appreciation for each other, we connect disciplines and work on research and education that really matters.’