José Sanders, Rector Magnificus: “Paula Fikkert is a very experienced and versatile humanities researcher with a fantastic national and international network and with the knowledge and capacity to serve the interests of the Faculty of Arts and of Radboud University.”
Paula Fikkert: “The Faculty of Arts has traditionally been a jewel in the crown of our University. As dean, I am happy to dedicate myself to helping our abundant talent to flourish. A pleasant and collegial working and study environment forms the basis for achieving great things together, in good times and in difficult times.”
Paula Fikkert brings a wealth of administrative experience: she was Director of Research of CLS (2011-2015), Chair of the Dutch Department (2016-2019), member of the Dutch Research Council's (NWO) Social Sciences and Humanities Board (2017-2021), Chair of the Radboud University Recognition & Rewards Committee (2020-2022), and member of the Sector Plans Committee of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (2023 to present).
She studied Dutch at the University of Groningen and obtained her PhD in Leiden with a thesis entitled Acquisition of Prosodic Structure. Throughout her career, she continued to study language acquisition in babies and young children. She was affiliated with the universities of Konstanz, Oxford, and Tromsø, as well as the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, among others. She is an internationally and nationally recognised expert in her field, as evidenced by many invitations to teach guest lectures, join doctoral examination boards, and offer advice. Within Radboud University, she is also Principal Investigator at the Baby and Child Research Centre, and she has good connections with the Donders Institute and the Max Planck Institute.