Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Netherlands
event
Belonging to Academia: NIAS Symposium
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Trippenhuis, Amsterdam
On 23–24 April 2026, NIAS will host the symposium Belonging to Academia at the Trippenhuis of the KNAW, the third and final part of the Studies of Belonging series. The symposium explores how belonging operates within the academic world.
Although academic institutions often speak of universal accessibility, their norms, infrastructures, and epistemic frameworks in practice tend to align more closely with Western knowledge forms and already privileged groups. This symposium examines how processes of belonging can perpetuate exclusion and explores possibilities for making academic spaces genuinely more inclusive.
The symposium focuses on three interconnected themes:
• People: How do policies and practices promote inclusion of staff and students from diverse backgrounds? In what ways is belonging conceptualized and operationalized within academic institutions?
• Knowledge: Which forms of knowledge are recognized as legitimate, and how can non-Western knowledge traditions be meaningfully incorporated without slipping into relativism? How can curricula and research embrace epistemic diversity?
• Materiality: How do physical environments—such as buildings, classrooms, technologies, and resources—shape belonging? How can material infrastructures facilitate access and participation for underrepresented groups, as well as other forms of knowledge production?
Program
• A keynote by Michèle Lamont ( (Harvard University Professor of Sociology & African and African American Studies and Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies)
• Paper presentations by invited scholars, including Gladys Akom, Caroline Hummels, Halleh Ghorashi, Zehra Colak, and Timothy Stacey
• A surtout de table by Cecilia Hendrikx (artist and Akademie van Kunsten Artist in Residence)
• Breakout sessions on the three subthemes, moderated by Sally Wyatt, Ellen Rutten, and Paolo Boccagni
Register now
The symposium offers a unique opportunity to critically reflect on the mechanisms and meanings of “belonging” within academia, and to build on insights from earlier editions of the Studies of Belonging series.
At the same time, the event marks a farewell moment for Jan Willem Duyvendak and Bernike Pasveer .
There is space for only 150 participants — register soon as an attendee and don’t miss this unique opportunity!