Foreword

Dear LEARN! members, 

With this September newsletter, we are kicking off the new academic year. I hope you all had a relaxing summer period and are filled with new (or old) ideas and renewed energy. But there may also be worries regarding the grim news about budget cuts right before the summer. Maybe some of you are protesting in Utrecht at this moment. The opening of the academic year picked a fitting theme: Hope. My hope is that LEARN! as a community can also contribute to lifting the mood and provide hope, even if only slightly, as we have a season filled with inspiring events!

On September 17, we have the honor to host professor Gonneke Stevens from Utrecht University, a leading expert on adolescent mental health, for the first research seminar of the academic year. Several other seminars will follow, with topics ranging from privatization of education to the role of randomness in children’s school careers and opportunities. 

If you are interested in the Science Policy nexus, Melanie Ehren is organizing an important symposium on September 24 on the use of scientific evidence in educational policymaking. And as LEARN! we have an exciting opportunity to be involved in the shaping of a brand new Science Fellow program in collaboration with OCW, see the message in this newsletter– I hope many of you will spare some time to complete the survey to help making this happen! It will be highly valuable for scientists to learn more about how evidence can reach and influence politics. Stronger Science-Policy ties are more important than ever to make clear that we need more, and not less, investments in scientific research and higher education.

Wishing you a good start of the year, and as always, my door (and inbox) is open to suggestions and ideas for LEARN!.

Best wishes,

Nienke van Atteveldt, Learn! Director