Bert van den Brink has been the Dean of UCR since 1 August 2016. Together with the Managing Director, they form the Executive Board of the college. According to Rector Magnificus, Henk Kummeling, Van den Brink has proven, during his current tenure, to be the right person for the role: “Bert has extensive managerial experience and a clear vision for the further development of UCR. With his enthusiasm and skills, he knows how to create support for changes and educational innovations. Moreover, he knows Utrecht University through and through, and can therefore establish the necessary connections between the two institutions.”
A lively and resilient community
Bert van den Brink is grateful for the confidence expressed in his reappointment, stating: “I look forward to continuing working with the vibrant and resilient UCR community. The most important challenges ahead are ensuring that we get back to a fully restored community life after COVID, as well as strengthening the trend of the college growing and flourishing with the new facilities and curriculum innovations that characterize UCR at this moment.”
Bert van den Brink (1964) has been a Professor of Political and Social Philosophy at the Ethics Institute of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies since 2009. His teaching and research focus on the political legitimacy of democratic decisions, on moral aspects of social relations and institutions, and on the status of liberal values in intercultural relations. Van den Brink was previously a research fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences at Tilburg University and Utrecht University, and an International Scholar on the Open Society Foundation’s Higher Education Support Program.