The academic year 2022-2023 of Erasmus University Rotterdam was opened on September 5th. The theme ‘AI and us: imagining the future’ provided a special programme in which science, art and artificial intelligence (AI) got together.
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers unprecedented opportunities but also has risks. How do we deal with this as a university and society? And what is the role of art and science in this? In the special and interactive meeting, various perspectives on this were featured. The visual highlight was undoubtedly the digital data-driven art of Refik Anadol, who overwhelmed the attendees with his art on enormous screens.
(Re-)watch the Opening of the Academic Year online
Did you miss the Opening of the Academic Year? Via the link below you can watch the recordings of the event.
Rotterdam writer and performer Elfie Tromp hosted the event and singer-songwriter Meau (known for her number 1 hit ‘Dat heb jij gedaan’) provided the music. The opening took place in the Aula of Erasmus University Rotterdam and was livestreamed simultaneously with real-time subtitles in Dutch, translated by AI.
Refik Anadol’s AI art
Refik Anadol is a world-leading artist who breaks boundaries between the physical and digital with data-driven machine learning. He talked about his inspirations and way of working, while his dreamlike art was displayed on huge screens in the Aula.
Award ceremony
As always, the Opening of the Academic Year is the moment to award prizes to outstanding members of our academic community. This year's Education Prize was awarded to Marloes Nederhand (assistant professor Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences), who created considerable societal impact by continuously emphasizing the importance of education in research designs, teaching, management and policy making.
The Student Societal Impact Award 2022 was awarded to GIDS, an agency that connects students with parties in society and vice versa. The Rotterdam Thesis Award was won by Ingrid Blankesteijn for her thesis ‘The Elephant in the Treatment Room; acknowledging and treating the consequences of racism and mental and physical health’. Lastly, vice chair of the Executive Board Ellen van Schoten awarded the Sustainability Award to the Eurekaweek Board, who made over 5000 students aware why sustainability is so important with measures from reusable ponchos to bottles for tap water.
Looking back in photo's
