Sharing Knowledge

Advice, education, and commissioned research

Religious studies researchers at Utrecht University are available as reliable and objective sources of information about religion in the past and present. They are ideal partners for policy-makers, journalists, schools, museums and other organisations in the education sector. In addition, they regularly sit on advisory committees and sounding board groups, give guest lectures on their research work, and train professionals who deal with issues and challenges in relation to religion as part of their work. Below you can find a number of examples of projects in which members of the religious studies research staff at Utrecht University played an important part.

Projects

Vrouwen voor het voetlicht (‘Women in the Spotlight’)

In 2012, the Museum Catharijneconvent created the exhibition ‘Vrouwen voor het Voetlicht’ (‘Women in the spotlight’), for which Dr Jo Spaans completed a long-running research project on a manuscript from the museum’s collection. She published her findings in De Levens der maechden. Het verhaal van een religieuze vrouwengemeenschap in de eerste helft van de zeventiende eeuw (Hilversum: Verloren). A digital edition including reproductions of sources is available on CD-ROM.

Turkish Islam

On behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Professor Thijl Sunier of VU University Amsterdam and Dr Nico Landman of Utrecht University carried out research into Turkish Islamic movements and organisations in the Netherlands and their influence on the integration of the Turkish-Dutch community in the Netherlands. This resulted in a research report entitled ‘Turkse islam. Actualisatie van kennis over Turkse islam’.

Evaluation of the Global Christian Forum

In 2008, the Global Christian Forum (GCF) asked the IIMO Centre of Utrecht University to evaluate this ecumenical movement. Huub Vogelaar and Greetje Witte-Rang carried out the research under the supervision of Professor Martha Frederiks. Their report was presented to the GCF in 2009 and published later that year as ‘The Global Christian Forum 1998-2007 and Beyond; an Evaluation Report’, in the book Revisioning Christian Unity: The Global Christian Forum (Oxford University Press, 2009).

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