Organisation

The Utrecht Young Academy was founded in 2016 as a platform for young academics who want to engage with and influence the University and Society. As of now, the Utrecht Young Academy has 44 members.

The Utrecht Young Academy has multiple organisational committees: Governance, Finance, Social Activities, Selection, Education, Interdisciplinary Research, and Communication. The UYA Board consists of one member from each committee. Every two years a new board is assembled. The members elect the chair and vice-chair during the general assembly.

Board during academic year 2022-2023

  1. Peter Bijl (chair)
  2. Hieke Huistra (vice-chair, Communications)
  3. Jojanneke van der Toorn (Finance)
  4. Katharine Fortin (Governance)
  5. Niko Wanders (Interdisciplinary Research)
  6. Martijn Huysmans (Education)
  7. Helen King (Social)
  8. Pooyan Tamimi Arab (Selection)

Project Committees

The Utrecht Young Academy has multiple committees that work on projects focused on the three areas that are a part of its Mission: academia, policy, and society.

Climate Change

Contact Person: Niko Wanders

Members: Peter Bijl, Peter Pelzer, Erik van Sebille, Valentijn Karemaker, Michelle van Vliet.

Diversity

Contact Person: Özge Bilgili

Members: Dan Hassler-Forest, Pooyan Tamimi Arab, Jojanneke van der Toorn, Valentijn Karemaker.

Open Science

Contact Person: Jarno Hoekman

Town Hall Meetings

Contact Person: Peter Pelzer

Members: Martine Veldhuizen.

True or False?

Contact Person: Martijn Huysmans

Members: Hieke Huistra, René Koekkoek.

Theorielab

Contact person: Dan Hassler-Forest 

Members: Yvonne Vercoulen. 

Public Engagement

The Utrecht Young Academy has a number of projects that engage with the city of Utrecht and society at large. Among these are our collaboration with Studium Generale, our climate help desk (KlimaatHelpdesk), the elementary school project True or False?, the VMBO vlog project, and The Utrecht Film Intervention.

Generation Project

Every Utrecht Young Academy generation organises a project on a topic that sparks their interest. For example, the second generation organised the VMBO vlog project and the fourth generation's project focused on understanding the diversity of ways in which Utrecht University uses "the future" or "futures" in education, research, and strategies. 

Evaluation Report

In our Evaluation Report 2016-2019, you can find a summary of our history, current structure, past and ongoing projects, and plans for the future.