Recharge overview
‘There come a lot of monsters to my house’
Linguistics researcher Sharon Unsworth investigates which factors contribute to successful multilingual language development in children. She is passionate about passing on that knowledge to parents, teachers and policy-makers.
‘The right people should determine what the right care is’
Roy Otten is committed to understanding problem behaviour and psychopathology in adolescents and young adults. “They are in the midst of a phase of life with rapid changes in many different domains. I want to understand why some young people show problem behavior while others don't.”
Temporary contracts silence employees
Suppose that you always have to work overtime, that you work under unsafe conditions or that you feel intimidated by a co-worker. Do you dare to bring this up with your supervisor? Agnes Akkerman, professor of Labour Market Institutions and Labour Relations, studies the assertiveness of employees and how this relates to aspects such as political preference.
How much pressure can a democracy take?
Radboud University boasts many experts in democracy, from political scientists to philosophers and historians. Anita van Rootselaar and Wim de Jong of the Democratic Laboratory combine and disseminate this knowledge. “Experiencing how political processes work can provide additional understanding.”
Born close to death, region versus religion
Between 1860 and 1874, roughly 1 out of 5 Dutch children did not survive the first year of life. During the last three decades of the 19th century, infant mortality in the Netherlands declined, except in the predominantly Roman Catholic provinces of North Brabant and Limburg. Historian Nynke van den Boomen investigated how this came about.
“I’m trying to find something that will benefit everybody"
“It’s so inspiring to think that you can contribute to the development of a country.” Astronomer Marc Klein Wolt, director of the Radboud Radio Lab, is working together with colleagues from the international Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) consortium to set up a radio telescope in Namibia. But he won’t stop there: “I’m trying to find something that will benefit everybody.”
‘We often have a one-sided view of diversity’
“I fear the day I turn 36 and fall outside the scope of the young employee network,” said one of the respondents in Marjolein Dennissen's research on diversity networks. This respondent – white, male, straight, in his early thirties – was worried that he will soon be an outsider in his organisation. “Even when it comes to diversity, we tend to think in boxes.”
‘Maintain healthy parenting, even in stressful situations’
An unhealthy diet can cause many problems. To do something about this, behavioural scientist Junilla Larsen and colleagues initiated a project in which they work together, not for, but with the target group.
‘Avoid debating the facts’
Conducting scientific research about urgent problems that affect society is one thing. But informing society about the results of that research is something else entirely. In his PhD research, communication scientist Aart van Stekelenburg is studying why this happens.
‘If we pull out all the stops, we can make a difference’
Humanity has some hard nuts to crack in the coming years. Awareness is growing, but our behaviour is still lagging behind. Fortunately, we can make a difference in many ways. “It's not either choice A or choice B, but both A and B.”
The future of technology is culturally diverse
Technology is typically created and shaped by developers. However, real breakthroughs lie in diversity of ideas and cross-talk of different fields.
Parkinson's is becoming a global health problem
For years, Parkinson's specialist Bas Bloem focused his boundless energy on treating this disease. But he has increasingly shifted the emphasis to prevention. “The risk of getting the disease is determined by genetic factors for five to ten percent, the rest by the environment.”
Helping to eradicate malaria
Teun Bousema is committed to eradicating malaria and making research practices more sustainable. “The CO2 emissions from air travel are too high to compensate by eating veggie burgers.”
Where the gruesome Squid Game hits close to reality
Squid Game is a true hit show. The Netflix-series in which contestants play children’s games with a deadly twist in order to win a huge sum of money has been well watched for weeks and receives praising reviews. What makes the show so popular and what does that say about society?
Social credit or social capital?
In China, the concept of social credit is gaining ground. What is social credit? How is this fundamentally different from the concept of social capital in the West? Sophie van Bijsterveld is studying these questions and reflects on the relationship between social capital and true democracy.
The effects of intermittent fasting on brain and cognitive function
Nutrition is important for many bodily processes essential for good health and development. These processes include healthy gastro-intestinal, immune, and brain functioning. The aim of many diets is to adapt food intake and eating habits for weight management, reduction of cardiovascular and/or metabolic risk, among others.
‘AI is helping to address the big challenges in education’
“No, human teachers will not be replaced by AI or robots. Every time, I give a lecture on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education, that is the first thing I emphasise. In Dutch education, the social context of learning is considered very important, we learn from and with each other through interactions . A robot can’t take over that role. Quite the opposite: smart use of AI can give teachers more time for personal interaction and guidance in the classroom.
'Imagine a future'
Article with Marc Davidson, professor at Radboud University on sustainability.
‘More control of digital systems’
“Privacy is one of the most important requirements for enabling major societal change. All the rights we have acquired over the past century, from women's suffrage to same-sex marriage, have come about because the groups involved were able to work out their plans without the ‘powers that be’ listening in. Only with adequate privacy can you protect yourself against the information power of large companies and organisations.”
'Breakthroughs are on the way for energy-efficient data storage'
“We have become addicted to data. The increasing demand for storage of that data in the cloud means that we need more and more data centres, and storing all that data takes a lot of energy. Nowadays data centres consume from five and seven per cent of all electrical energy generated worldwide, but in ten years it will be one-third.”