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DeLoreans, stroopwafels, lectures and culture during Night University

Published: 23rd November 2017 Last updated: 23rd April 2019

Two DeLoreans driving across a spectacularly illuminated campus to the theme of Back to the Future and flanked by movie character Emmett “Doc” Brown. Buildings lit up pink, the smell of fresh stroopwafels, poffertjes, and fries. The ethereal singing of student pop choir Epic, the cheerful cries of the dancers at the silent disco, and long lines in front of the Psychology Dungeon: The atmosphere at Night University 2017 was great and it was pleasantly crowded.

By: Melinde Bussemaker


There were Some 2,500 visitors ambling across the beautifully decorated campus on Thursday night, November 16. Armed with program booklets they could each select their own program from among almost 80 Night University workshops and lectures. One half of the items were in Dutch, the other half in English. Fifty-seven parties helped organize the events, around the theme of “Back to the Future”, in collaboration with Tilburg University, parties that included study and student associations, research institutes, and the City of Tilburg. The special anniversary edition of this free science festival clearly was all about “Connecting people and knowledge”.

Dazzling program

From student and top soccer player Jackie Groenen being honored to people reciting their own poems around the campfire; from the jam-packed Academia building listening to Greg Shapiro as Donald Trump to a fully booked DAF Lab; from making a virtual guest book using augmented reality to the dazzling atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties – there was so much to do at Night University. Here is a selection from the program.

Jackie Groenen on the Wall of Fame

Female soccer player and Tilburg University law student Jackie Groenen graced Night University with her presence, for an interview and to be honored. She is very busy at the moment: training hard together with her team, 1FFC Frankfurt, for an important game against current leader in the league, Freiburg, and getting ready for the Dutch national team’s qualifying games for the World Championships against Slovakia and Ireland. She was interviewed by Martine Prange, ex-professional soccer player and now professor of Philosophy. In a pleasant and informal atmosphere, the ladies discussed the Dutch national team winning the European Championship, Jackie’s passion for soccer, and her determination not to come up empty handed after her career in football is over. “That is why I want to finish my law studies, even though it is hard to combine them with my busy life in soccer. Fortunately, the university’s special student athletes program makes things a little easier. I am only doing courses online and I take my exams by special arrangement.” As a token of appreciation, Groenen received the book Vrouwenvoetbal in Nederland (Women’s soccer in the Netherlands), edited by Prange. But that was not all: at Warandeplein, Jackie was honored by an enthusiastic Koen Becking, who paid tribute to the equally cheerful Jackie. She was granted a spot on the Sports Center’s Wall of Fame, an honor normally reserved for top-level sportsmen and -women alumni. Groenen subsequently hopped on the bike of one of the girls from the Tilburg University women’s soccer team to check out one of their training sessions in the Sports Center football field. And as to that game against Freiburg: they won 3-0, with Jackie scoring the third goal!

The fate of urban refugees

During the session on urban refugees, Professor Conny Rijken, together with student Leyla Khadraoui, presented research she conducted on how urban refugees manage to survive outside refugee camps, what the challenges are that they face, and how their situation can be improved. For this research, four students traveled to Greece to talk to urban refugees. These refugees have left their country, fleeing from war or for other reasons, and have made a deliberate choice to live outside refugee camps. Their reason for doing so is the lack of future prospects within the camps – on average, refugees worldwide spend about seventeen years in a camp –, the unsafe conditions there, and the lack of jobs, and they do so in the hope of getting access to more facilities and services. But it turns out this alternative is not much better than living inside camps: only few of the urban refugees have residence status and thus some kind of future prospects. There is human trafficking going on, there is child abuse, and living conditions are miserable. Khadraoui: “One of the questions in our carefully compiled questionnaire was how the refugees would rate their lives at the moment on a scale of 1 to 10. Some gave their lives a 1 or a 2, and had no hopes of things ever getting better. Hearing that affects you emotionally.” Rijken is expecting to round off the analyses in about six months and to present the results then.

Honor Culture at Science Slam

In the Science Slam, four scholars competed for a small cup and a bottle of wine in a battle hosted by Richard Engelfriet: Who is best at presenting science clearly and passionately to the people in the audience in a time span of eight minutes? Researcher Yvette van Osch gave the best performance and won. Her mini-lecture was on the origin of honor culture and honor killing. She explained the mechanism behind it: a group condemns a person who does not comply with the norm and subsequently excludes that person. The people around that person are associated with the “offense” and they have a choice: they either join the group in excluding the person and thus remain within the group, or they take sides with the “offender” and thereby place themselves outside the group. During her clear-cut conclusion, Van Osch made a link to Western culture. How do the Dutch deal with people violating the norms of the group? Think of pedophiles in this respect, or of NSB collaborators in the Second World War, and scientists committing academic fraud. She shows that it is the culture that decides what constitutes immoral behavior.

The Image of Science

In times of fake news, of hacks and trolls, times also in which academic fraud is receiving attention, distrust of authorities, including the academic world, is growing worldwide. And yet, if there is one thing we need right now, it is sound and reliable analyses and interpretations that can advance society. What are scholars doing to separate fact from fiction and help us tell one from the other? During the “Image of Science” session, Professor of Sociology Peter Achterberg, Associate Professor of Science Philosophy Herman de Regt, and Professor of Methodology Jelte Wicherts entered into a debate on the topic, moderated by Esther van Rijswijk. Their conclusion was that transparency of research methods was one of the solutions, and democratization, i.e., more interaction with the general public, another one.

Populism;, Good or Bad?

The Model United Nations organized the session on “How to become president in 2020”, focusing on the concept of populism: is it a good thing or a bad thing? What can be done about it? Politics for the masses, so the host of this session tells us, is not by definition a bad thing. In Canada and New- Zealand, lots of good things are happening. The main question is: you can promise a lot, but how are you going to do things in practice? A lot of attention was paid to Brexit, and Trump passed for review as well. Not all those present enjoyed taking part in the debate, but the session was instructive for everybody.

TEP Talk Meindert Flikkema: The University as a Beacon of Humanity

Meindert Flikkema, econometrist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and winner of many educational prizes has just thirteen minutes to express his position on the future of university education. He is the first speaker in the series of TEP Talks to be organized by the Project Group for the Implementation of the Tilburg Educational Profile (TEP) in the coming months. Flikkema’s is a passionate talk about what is wrong with our current university system, and the change of direction that he feels is required for the future. “Modern universities have become factories churning out publications, factories whose mission is to shine, with absolute prominence being given to excellence and rankings,” Flikkema argues. His suggestion is that universities should strive to be communities of learners, where progress rather than output is central. “Universities should be beacons of humanity. We do not train students for jobs in companies; we train them for our civilization.” Alkeline van Lenning, co-author of the essay Exploring an Educational Vision for Tilburg University, agrees with almost everything that Flikkema says. Van Lenning: “But how are we going to realize this in a society where universities are funded on the basis of graduate output levels and performance agreements?” “In the end it’s about leadership,” Flikkema retorts, “one or two universities should take the lead, break the mold, and show the rest how we can go about things differently. Only then will we be able to find a way out of the deadlock that is currently keeping us imprisoned.”

Urban Issue: Does the future belong to the young?

The young are our future. If the young aren’t doing so well, neither is the city, so asserts Professor of Labor Market Dynamics Ton Wilthagen at the Urban Issues session “Does the future belong to the young?” A panel of young people share their experiences and discuss potential solutions. One of them is 17-year- old Noah: he opted for a program that turned out not to suit him, but he is still too young (just) for the program he wants to do now. Another one is 22-year- old former athlete Joshua: he had to give up his sports career due to physical problems, currently does volunteer work with children, and has plans for a business of his own. Finding your own way is hard work, the panel agree, especially if you happen not to fit into a particular category or system. What is needed is a tailored approach. “Systems should become more flexible,” says Wilthagen. “At the same time, young people should be better equipped to make something of their lives. As entrepreneurs, for example.”

Urban Issue: Healthy, the new normal?

Is healthy living the new normal? Not quite yet, according to City of Tilburg policy officers and Tilburg University scientists. Esther Peters and Melissa Kolhorn of the City of Tilburg talk about the nationwide JOGG program (Jongeren Op Gezond Gewicht, a healthy weight for young people). JOGG offers children a variety of easy ways to take more exercise and to eat healthier food. These include providing fresh tap water at sports fields, greening school playgrounds, and organizing cooking classes for parents. The City seeks to match initiatives of this type with local activities. And these efforts appear to bear fruit, the officers cautiously conclude: the number of obese children seems to have stopped rising. “Effecting this kind of behavioral change through an encouraging, healthy environment is called nudging,” says Professor Ien van de Goor. What also matters is safety in the local community and parents keeping an eye out, Professor Jantine Schuit adds, citing a six-year study. Fascinating findings, Hans Kokke, the Tilburg alderman responsible for Sports, Care and Poverty, comments. “Science allows us to develop policies based on data. We’re already doing a great deal to get young people to take exercise, but there’s always room for improvement.”

I, Robot

Can a robot write books? That is the question author Ronald Giphart addresses in the “I, Robot” session. “We believed a robot could never beat a human being at chess, yet in 1997 one did. So why shouldn’t a robot be able to write books?” he posits. “The writer is immaterial, as is the text; what matters is what readers make of the text. Can they tell it’s been written by a robot?” Giphart takes his audience on a journey through the history of robotization and compares robot poetry to human poetry. The result is a supplement to I, Robot, a collection of nine short science fiction stories written by Isaac Asimov in the 1940s.

Campfire poetry

From versifying robots to real live poets around the campfire in the parking lot of Academia building. Campus poet Lotte Claassen kicks off and invites all those present to perform their own poem, song, or dance. She needn’t ask twice. One poet after the other takes the stage and all of them, be they versed bards or nervous debutants, have the audience’s attention and win enthusiastic applause. The poems reflect the “Back to the Future” theme: seeing someone in the daily bustle, meeting exes on Facebook, and killing time or dreaming.

The effect of technology and behavior on sustainability

Inside Academia, Jan Kees Vis, Sustainable Sourcing Development Global Director at Unilever, talks about sustainability. A member of the audience asks: “Where do you start if you want to make a difference in sustainability?” Vis: “The best way to change things is to use an interdisciplinary approach. That is because there is a clearly technical and behavioral element to it. By working together, you can develop new techniques and communicate them to businesses as well as people. So make sure you keep up with technological innovation. You can already see the differences between the generations: for children nowadays, separating waste is routine. That was quite different 30 years ago.”

Criminal bumps and virtual reality

Some visitors to the “Psychology Dungeon” need to queue for an hour before they can enter the fallout shelter under Simon building. “But it was worth it,” a visitor says. “After a brief explanation on the origin of the fallout shelter and the evolution of psychology in the past 90 years, visitors walk through different rooms. How was psychology practiced in years gone by? For instance, people’s heads were shaved to uncover bumps as proof of language skills or criminal tendencies. If the latter was discovered – based on the shape of the skull – people were actually arrested. In another room, you can experience how your brain can be tricked into believing that a fake hand belongs to you. Finally, you are shown how modern psychology is practiced, for instance, using virtual reality therapy to help people face and overcome their fears. For example, vertigo is a phobia capable of being treated by putting on a VR headset and stepping into a glass elevator.”

Mindfulness as an antidote to ego(t)ism

Associate professor Ivan Nyklićek wraps up the evening with a session about mindfulness as an antidote to ego(t)ism. Is that desirable or even possible? Nyklićek jokes that he is the biggest star, programmed at the end of the evening, but that academia is not convinced of the effects of mindfulness. Earlier in the evening, rooms were sometimes full to capacity, but that is not the case now. Nyklićek explains that, on the one hand, we are quite satisfied with our lives but that, on the other hand, more people than ever suffer from burn-out and depression. This is the case at personal, social and global levels. “It has to do with expectations and aspirations. In our ego(t)istical society, we want everything and we judge ourselves if we fail to achieve it. Mindfulness can act as an antidote. You stop judging and start to observe. That creates space and time to relax and accept life as it is. Research has shown that mindfulness can reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and worry, and improve the quality of sleep and of life. Policy is needed to make mindfulness a part of everyday life, for instance, in schools and in training centers. Nyklićek ends on a positive note: “It is possible because it is already happening in England!”

Roaring Twenties at sold-out Student Party

All students then proceed to the Student Party at the Sports Center, yet another event that reflects the anniversary theme. First on stage is Professor Ton Wilthagen, aka DJ Hi-tone, who treats the partygoers to a number of songs from the 1920s, the buoyant decade that coincided with the early years of the University. His performance is enlivened by female dancers in contemporary tasseled outfits. His act is followed by that of DJ Flamboyant and DAISY who take the students on a journey through time. The audience dance the night away in a Sports Center that is filled to capacity.