The organisers (EMES, the team Institutions for Collective Action at the Rotterdam School of Management (EUR) and our IOS Platform Bottom-Up Initiatives for Societal Change (UU) jointly invite you to the 10th EMES International Conference, to be held in Rotterdam (3-5 Nov.) and Utrecht (5-7 Nov. 2025). Have a look at the introduction video, welcoming you to the conference!

On 17 June 2025, the IOS Platform Bottom-up-initiatives for Societal Change will organise its 1st Research Day. We invite researchers affiliated with our platform to present their work. The aim of this Research Day is to facilitate the interdisciplinairy sharing of expertise on our main research topics and to help to create (new) networks and new collaborations.

How can researchers and bottom-up initiatives mutually enhance each other impact? Are academics and members of bottom-up initiatives talking about the same when they talk about 'impact'? These and other issues will be discussed at the Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change Impact Day2025! We invite social enterprises, citizens' initiatives, academics and policy makers from the city of Utrecht and elsewhere to join us this day to learn form each other, to meet one another, and to talk about new forms of co-creation and solutions.

In this broadcast, it was discussed whether asylum seekers centers (azcs) should stay open, based on the case of the azc in Budel, where the Ministry of Defense would like the azc to be turned back to its initial use as military compound. Our platform member Karin Geuijen was invited as expert to comment on the current societal developments

Professor Niels Bosma, member of the IOS Core Team of our platform, has been appointed as the new Head of Department of the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.), as of 1 September 2025. A confidential committee initiated by dean Elaine Mak of Law, Economics and Governance, the board of the U.S.E. department and the members of the faculty Board had all positively advised on this appointment. Niels Bosma will succeed Charles van Marrewijk, who will depart in this role as head of the department of the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) as of 1 September. We congratulate Niels with this appointment.

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Today, 15 April 2025, the IOS Conference on Broad Prosperity, held at the Railway Museum in Utrecht, will bring together scientists and various societal stakeholders to explore the question of how the interdisciplinary framework on 'Broad Prosperity' can be applied to urgent societal challenges requiring transitions, such as Sustainability, Digitalisation and AI, Demographics, health, and the labour market, and Democracy. How do broad prosperity and democracy relate to one another? Do we need democracy for broad prosperity? The opening speech will be by Kim Putters director of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) and University Professor of Broad Prosperity at Tilburg University, conference moderator will be Joyce Browne, medical doctor and epidemiologist at UMC Utrecht. The event is already fully booked.

Call for proposals IOS City Labs

The Institutions for Open Societies team, along with several platforms, is currently looking for opportunities to set up a 'city lab': a physical location in Utrecht where research projects can be carried out. The concept is specifically meant for increasing interaction between academia and urban residents. City lab projects can consist of anything from small-scale participatory action research to surveys and focus groups. If you are interested in developing an idea or would like to discuss the possibilities, please contact IOS impact developer Luuk Schokker.

New publication on history of credit markets and intermediation

Christiaan van Bochove, associate professor at Utrecht University and affiliated with our platform, together with Juliette Levy was in charge as editor of the recently published latest volume in the Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance series, entitled: Beyond Banks - A Global History of Credit Markets and Intermediation. This edited volume brings together international examples from across history that highlight how guilds, innkeepers, moneylenders, notaries, networks of family members and friends, and religious institutions – among others – mobilised credit before and even along banks. The volume operationalises a common terminology and set of questions to allow for comparisons between the wide range of bank and non-bank credit arrangements across the globe and across time.​

Four new thematic calls in preparation for public-private partnerships

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) is developing four new calls for proposals within the Mission main line of the NWO-KIC programme. These calls will fund impact-driven research by consortia of knowledge institutions, companies and social organisations focused on various social challenges. The themes of the call will be (1) Collaborative business models for chain cooperation in a circular economy, (2) Artificial Intelligence in agriculture, horticulture, water and food, (3) System design of mechatronics and optomechatronics, and (4) Less critical raw materials in the energy transition.