Disbursement Friends of the Utrecht Humanities fund
The donations, gifts and grants that have accrued to the Friends of the Utrecht Humanities fund have contributed to the following goals in recent years:
Contributions and scholarships for students
Thanks to donations and a bequest, we have been able to financially support a Conflict Studies student and a Comparative Literary Studies student. Thanks to a bequest to the Friends of the Utrecht Humanities fund and in collaboration with the Right to Learn Fund, four students have been able to receive a full complement of a Utrecht Excellent Scholarship in the past years.
Researchproject Nederlands voor Alle Kinderen
Young newcomers (refugees, asylum seekers, labour migrants) learn the Dutch language in their first year in language schools and language classes. However, the level of their Dutch is not comparable to that of their Dutch-speaking peers. Researchers Manuela Pinto and Shalom Zuckerman completed the Nederlands voor Alle Kinderen (Dutch for All Children) project last year - thanks in part to the Pay if Forward campaign of the Utrecht University Fund and the Friends of Utrecht Humanities Fund - in which they laid a scientific basis for properly testing vocabulary knowledge in these children.
Hélène Phoa thesis prize
The Hélène Phoa Thesis Prize is an initiative of the family of Hélène Phoa, an alumna of the Research Master Gender Studies who died far too young in 2019. With the help of generous family members and friends, and with the support of the Gender Studies team and the Friends of Utrecht Humanities fund, we commemorate and continue Hélène's love for Gender Studies and her fight for diversity and inclusion with an annual thesis prize by supporting a graduate's transition from study to the next stage in life.
Thijs Pollmann travel grants
Thanks to a bequest from Professor Dr Thijs Pollmann, four travel scholarships will be made available for five years for four Utrecht University Language and Cultural Studies students who need financial support to do part of their studies abroad. An annual lecture will also be organised. Pollmann was the initiator of the first broad bachelor's programme in the Netherlands: Algemene Letteren at Utrecht University. Until 2004, as a professor, he was the initiator and coordinator of this programme. In 2004, the Algemene Letteren doctoral programme was converted into the Bachelor's programme in Language and Cultural Studies.
Van Oostrom Grants for young humanities scholars
Professor Frits van Oostrom has meant a lot not only to the humanities but also to the academic community. He has always encouraged talented students and young colleagues in the humanities to do more with their profession and their passion. In the spirit of Frits van Oostrom, the Friends of the Utrecht Humanities fund provides grants to young humanities scholars twice a year: to young lecturers to fund teaching activities outside the regular framework, and to ‘early career’ researchers to enable them to take the next professional step for which no other funds are available.
Crowdfunding Irish-language manuscript
As part of the centenary of Celtic Studies at Utrecht University, a festive crowdfunding was organised with the help of the Friends of Utrecht Humanities fund to make the only fully Irish-language manuscript preserved in the Netherlands available as open access. The manuscript entitled VLQ 7 is one of the few Irish-language manuscripts that was not yet available as open access and is now accessible to anyone who wants to view it.