More Heart Work

Lecturer of the Year

In 2020 I was honoured to be voted Lecturer of the Year, first at the Amsterdam Law School and then for the University of Amsterdam. You can read the Jury report UvA Lecturer of the Year 2020 here. The award comes with a prize: a carte blanche module at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. This allows me to freely develop an interdisciplinary teaching module at my discretion for the academic year 2021-2022. The intended theme is Connection.

Awraham Soetendorp

As a Board member of the Jacob Soetendorp Institute for Human Values, I support the work of Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp. Major themes are: interreligious dialogue, sustainable development, including the availability of clean water and sanitation and the spiritual element to the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Week of Respect (Week van Respect); the Respect Foundation organises educational activities to foster mutual respect among children of diverse backgrounds in The Netherlands, the Philippines, Burundi and the DR Congo.

Bahá’í faith – free exercise in Iran and elsewhere

In 2010, Awraham Soetendorp and I were the first signatories to a Petition in defense of Bahá’í  in Iran (Petitie ter verdediging van de bahá’ís in Iran 2010). More on the Bahá’í faith can be found here. More on the persecution of Bahá’í in Iran, see here; and on their situation in Yemen.