On Academic Citizenship, Diversity & Inclusivity, Cancel Culture, Academic Freedom, and Interdisciplinary Education: Potential Lessons from Dutch Academia?

Dutch academia is changing its incentive structure so that academics are not only focusing on being good researchers, but through the Recognition and Reward framework, we are implementing initiatives that inspire a safe and nurturing work environment. In addition, we are paying more attention to diversity and inclusivity issues, as well as revamping our curriculum to be more inclusive and interdisciplinary. We are also continuously working towards raising good global citizens, capable of empathetic understanding and creative problem-solving. While there is still a long way to go before converting all of our vision into reality, many of the challenges that we are still facing are potential opportunities in disguise to help us learn to listen better and to improve even further. As stewards of future generations of academics, we must not shy away from our duties to build a better academic community for the students and academics of tomorrow and the lessons being experienced in Dutch academia can provide insights – and cautionary tales – for other jurisdictions like Japan.