After a lot of hard work, the annual report for 2018 has finally been finished. As every year, the annual report is published on a dedicated page for them, and you are able to review them here.
Summary
The Dutch Research School of Philosophy (Onderzoekschool Wijsbegeerte – OZSW) is the collaborative enterprise of the philosophy departments and faculties of eleven Dutch universities. Its general purpose is to strengthen the discipline of academic philosophy by (1) maintaining the national network for research and research-related education within philosophy, (2) the provision of inter-university education for the benefit of the PhD programs and Research Master programs in coordination with the graduate schools and / or the research institutes of the participating institutions, (3) promoting and supporting national and international cooperation in the research, with the aim of creating focus and mass and profiling the discipline; (4) promoting the quality and social relevance of research according to the Quality indicators for philosophy set by the Graduate School, and (5) making the societal relevance of the research visible and acting as national contact point and representative of academic philosophy in the Netherlands, including by acting as a platform for social partners.
The OZSW was established at the end of 2012, and started its operations in January 2013. The OZSW comprises the former Netherlands School for Research in Practical Philosophy (OZSE), which has become the OZSW section ‘Ethics and Practical Philosophy’. The other two OZSW sections are ‘History of Philosophy’ and ‘Theoretical Philosophy’.
Erasmus University Rotterdam was the hosting university for the OZSW and its Office for the period 2012-2017. At Erasmus University, Han van Ruler has been the scientific director of the OZSW since the spring of 2014. In 2017 it was decided that Leiden University will be the hosting university for the period 2019-2023. For practical reasons, Erasmus University Rotterdam will continue to host the OZSW in 2018, which amounts to one additional year.
In 2018 preparations for a self-evaluation on the basis of the new Standard Evaluation Protocol (SEP) for academic research continued. The OZSW will be evaluated as part of the research evaluation of philosophy in the Netherlands.
Over the course of 2018, the OZSW has continued to grow in terms of size, activities and visibility. At the end of 2018, the OZSW had 784 members: 184 Research Master student members, 233 PhD student members, 348 senior members, and 19 international members.
During the year, multiple educational activities were organized under the umbrella of the OZSW: 18 events in total, comprised by a variety of courses winter/summer schools, a graduate conference, workshops and seminars. The number of participants in these activities (excluding the Annual Conference) amounted to 158 PhD students and 67 Research Master students.
With the establishment of new study groups on a variety of topics, the number of OZSW study groups was 25 in 2018. Study groups have organized research-related activities in which all OZSW members could participate, such as seminars and reading groups. Ten study group grants were awarded, allowing study groups to invite international guest speakers or to organize all-day workshops.
In November 2018, the sixth OZSW Annual Conference was organized at the University of Twente and took place at the university’s campus in Enschede. Keynote speakers were Maeve Cooke (Ethics & Practical Philosophy), Michael P. Lynch (Theoretical Philosophy) and Russell Friedman (History of Philosophy). This sixth edition of the conference further contributed to the recognisability of the OZSW
and added once again to the community spirit amongst academic philosophers in the Netherlands, despite the great diversity of fields, schools and traditions within the discipline of philosophy.
On all of these topics, further details may be found in the sections that follow.
