About RICH

Mission and vision

RICH is dedicated to understanding the dynamics of an interconnected world and how they evolve and interact at the regional, national, international, and transnational levels. Working within and from the fields of (art) history, literature, and cultural studies, we build on the institute’s established expertise in predominantly European culture and history in seeking out new ways to overcome Eurocentric biases in understanding and critically addressing the dynamics of our rapidly changing world. This recalibrating of our research lead us to delve into Europe’s many difficult heritages and contested pasts, open up to the perspectives of former colonies, and inquire into questions of inequality and sustainability. Collaboration is key to our mission: we collaborate with other Radboud research institutes, Dutch universities, and international academic institutions and associations in the Global South and the Global North. We also work closely with societal partners in the region and abroad to co-create knowledge through, among others, citizen science projects and to disseminate our findings to a broad public.

RICH is the home of engaged and self-reflective researchers committed to contributing to a world where all can flourish. We form thematic multidisciplinary research groups that create, aggregate, promote, and reflect on humanities research to help build knowledge and resilience to deal with the challenges of our times. RICH aims to foster a culture of curiosity by encouraging its researchers to ask daring questions and by recognising that failure is a crucial aspect of the journey toward success. Our mission is to unravel the complexities of the past and the present by investigating the origins and transformations of cultural practices, beliefs, ideas, texts, objects, actors, networks, and institutions across time and place, as well as examining their significance in new contexts. We bring cultural and historical perspectives to the table, enabling both a long-term view and a contextualisation of pressing societal issues and inequalities affecting both the present and the future of human and non-human lives.

RICH Self-evaluation 2018-2023

RICH Director and Advisory Board

Maaike van Berkel is RICH Director of Research.

Since 2016, RICH has been advised by a scientific board. The scientific advisory board has an advisory and supervisory role and consists of (inter)national researchers who are excellent representatives of our field. It currently comprises:

• Martin Conway, Professor of Contemporary European History, Oxford
• Katharina Lorenz, Professor of Classical Archaeology, Giessen
• Lut Missinne, Professor of Dutch Literature, Münster
• Wayne Modest, Professor of Material Culture and Critical Heritage Studies, Amsterdam
• Nadia Lie, Professor of Spanish and Latin-American literature and film, KU Leuven

Education

The Radboud Institute for Culture & History (RICH) is involved in the Research Master's programme in Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Radboud University.