Professorial chairs

Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Utrecht

Tags: Knowledge Platform, Promoting Pluralism

We give support to professorial chairs at Dutch universities, namely the extraordinary chair of Paul Hoebink at CIDIN together with Oxfam Novib and the chair of Saskia Wieringa at the University of Amsterdam.

Paul Hoebink holds a special professorial chair in Development Cooperation, instituted by HIVOS and Oxfam Novib, at the Centre for International Development (CIDIN) at the Radboud University Nijmegen. "Development cooperation is a knowledge industry", read Hoebinks column.

Saskia Wieringa, based at the University of Amsterdam, has worked extensively on issues of gender planning, women's empowerment, and women's organizations. She co-designed the African Gender and Development Index for the Economic Commission of Africa. For the last ten years her major work interests have been on the issues of sexual empowerment, women's same sex relations and HIV/AIDS. She is the co-founder of the Kartini Network on Asian Women's Studies.

Professor Nasr Abu Zayd, passed away on Monday 5 July 2010. He was Ibn Rushd chair at the University for Humanistics, and gave his lecture entitled "Pluralism or Unitarianism? Perspectives from the Qur’an" on the 2nd of December 2008, in The Hague for the Promoting Pluralism Knowledge Programme. Central question addressed in this lecture was to what extent the Qur’anic worldview endorses or inhibits Pluralism. Professor Abu Zayd presented and analysed the existing tension and contradictions in the Qur’an from a historical perspective. Details in Dutch.