Van Meerkerk researches cultural education, in particular in primary education. In doing so, he mainly investigates the collaboration between generalist teachers in school and art teachers working with the school. He takes part in the evaluation and monitoring of the national subsidy programme ‘Cultuureducatie met Kwaliteit’ (Quality Cultural Education), both at national level and for various provinces and municipalities. With this appointment, for the first time since 2015, there will once again be a teaching and research chair in Cultural Education in the Netherlands.
Van Meerkerk also examines the way higher education study programmes deal with issues of sustainability, devoting special attention to the context in which study programmes, lecturers, and students work, and the opportunities and constraints this presents. “The education of the future will centre on the student's development into a person who can deal with complexity and uncertainty, and this will create fundamentally different forms of education and a different role for both lecturer and student,” says the new professor.
About Edwin van Meerkerk
Edwin van Meerkerk (Rotterdam, 1972) studied both History and Philosophy at Nijmegen Catholic University, now Radboud University. He obtained his PhD from the same university in 2001, with a dissertation entitled 'Achter de schermen van het boekbedrijf. Henri du Sauzet (1678-1754) in de wereld van de uitgeverij en boekhandel in de Republiek’ (‘Behind the scenes of the book business. Henri Du Sauzet (1687-1754) in the world of publishing and book trade in the Republic'). After obtaining his PhD, he worked as a teacher in History and Information Science in secondary education, and as a teacher trainer at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in Zwolle.
In 2003, he returned to Radboud University, in the position of assistant professor, teaching courses around cultural policy and cultural education. He also was programme coordinator and department chair at the Arts and Culture Studies department, and Director of Education at the Faculty of Arts. Van Meerkerk was also a visiting researcher at the Universität Duisburg-Essen. In 2018, he was awarded the Comenius Senior Fellowship for his project entitled ‘Making Undergraduate Humanities Research Relevant for Societal Partners’, followed in 2022 by the Comenius Leadership Fellowship for ‘You Have A Part To Play: Higher Education for Sustainability’.