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Despite the increased workload, some researchers still choose to invest time and energy in involving a general audience in their research. What drives them? We asked two humanities scholars.

Celticist Nike Stam has long been committed to engaging a wide public, precisely because her field – Celtic studies – is so unfamiliar. “I’ve always found it really important to show the beauty of what we work with to people who might not naturally come into contact with it.” She took part in the Science Weekend with the activity ‘Crack the Celtic Code’, which attracted many multilingual families.

Proud of their own language
“For example, we’d look at a medieval book and they’d say, ‘Oh, it looks a bit like Arabic,’ or, ‘we have this word in Polish too.’ I saw their awareness grow: there are so many languages around us, each different and beautiful in its own way. You could also see that for many people, seeing those connections strengthened their pride in their own language and culture. I really enjoyed seeing that.”

For linguist Sterre Leufkens, it’s very important to involve people more directly in academic research. “Many people don’t realize that you can do linguistic research. So it’s not only important to share your research results, but also to give insight into the scientific process: how do you conduct research? And what kinds of research are there?”

A bit more understanding and insight
Sterre researches how people communicate with cats. “People usually find that interesting right away,” she says, “but it also gets them thinking when you explain what we actually do in that research. That we use certain theories, that there’s a lot of literature on questions like: when do you call something language? How was that viewed in the past? How do we look at it now? Then they realize there’s much more to say about it, also in a scientific way.”

She notices something shift in people: they gain a little more understanding and insight, and start to see science as something they, too, can be part of. Now that entire disciplines and degree programmes are being deemed dispensable, she believes it is more important than ever to show that studying language is relevant.

Nike also observes a broader societal trend in which the importance of truly understanding a foreign language and its context is no longer always recognized. “It’s a key skill that isn’t always properly valued, because we can’t immediately point to what it brings to society. I hope that the small things we do in our department contribute to that appreciation in some way. That a few more families go home thinking: this is actually much more interesting or useful than I expected.”

Dr Sterre Leufkens is a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Humanities. She conducts typological research on language, works part-time as a science journalist, publishes with outlets such as NEMO Kennislink, and has shared her work through Studium Generale, the Betweter Festival, and the Grote Taalshow.
Dr Nike Stam is a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Humanities. She conducts research on Celtic language and culture and has shared her work at the Weekend of Science, Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Museum, and via various media outlets.

Text: Stephanie Helfferich
Photo's: Lize Kraan and Ward Mevis