How diverse is the Dutch Science Agenda?

Recently CCHR coordinators Rosemarie Buikema, Antoine Buyse and Ton Robben have submitted three questions to the Dutch Science Agenda. Within this context they have also written an opinion article which has been published on ScienceGuide.nl. In this article they critically reflect upon the Science Agenda, and claim that the used phrasing of building the science agenda ‘together’ in fact conceals a process of in- and exclusion. Because, who is talking? Even with a public website like www.wetenschapsagenda.nl you cannot reach everyone, and eventually a specifically selected group will determine which questions will or will not make it through the selection. In this manner there are all sort of assumptions on in- and exclusion hidden within this process; these assumptions are precisely what researchers at CCHR are uncovering and deconstructing.

As Buikema, Buyse and Robben state: “Ostensible neutral and unproblematic terms such as social cohesion, democracy and equality become ‘tough chunks to chew on’ for our researchers.”

Therefore they would like to include research questions concerning societal in- and exclusion, and the tension between equality and diversity on the agenda. Yet, at the same time they also call for an awareness on the side of the composers to take these matters into account since: “The same goes for the process of the Science Agenda: the medium is the message.”

You can find the article in Dutch here.