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On the 389th Dies Natalis (anniversary) of Utrecht University, Hiske Arts, Alumnus University College Utrecht (BA) en Humanities (MA), received the honorary title 'Alumnus of the Year’. As camaign leader of the civil movement Fossielvrij NL she focuses on stopping investments into new fossil projects and the dismantling of fossil deception.

The climate emergency is one of the biggest challenges we face as a society. While the climate goals seem more and more difficult to meet, the current cabinet does not experience enough urgency to change this.

Hiske does already spend years putting that urgency on the map. And with success. Because of her campaigns, pension fund ABP decided to quit investing in fossil companies. She also won a lawsuit against airline company KLM, which makes it more difficult for companies to make misleading sustainability claims. She has currently set her sights on the biggest investment manager in the world.

Campaigner, writer and speaker

Hiske was already active while studying as a board member of the Dutch Student Union LSVb, among other things. After her Master's programme Conflict Studies and Human Rights, she founded the organisation Critical Mass with a number of fellow alumni. With it, she developed interactive expositions, movies and games to let people think on how to live with each other and deal with conflicts.

In the past five years, she especially occupied herself with sustainability, economics and climate justice. From her academic fundament, she continues to work as a campaigner, writer and speaker to force social tipping points which lead to a new normal. In this, the sustainable choice is the only logical, ethical, affordable and available option.

That is why we are proud to appoint Hiske Arts our alumnus of the year. to read more about the announcement at the Dies Natalis and Hiske's reaction.

Hiske about her time at Utrecht University

"What I loved about my time at Utrecht University, was the dedication of the teachers, and their drive to make us think, reflect, wonder, dive deeper and understand the world. My masters at Conflict Studies has been formative in eventually, years later, understanding climate collapse, and why we are failing to make progress in tackling this crisis. As long as we approach the climate crisis as solely a technical issue, we will lose the battle of imagination, of power and big interests, and keep on reproducing a fossil world."

Jury

This year, the jury consisted of the alumni Marjan Minnesma (President, Director of Urgenda and first winner of Alumnus of the Year), José van Dijck (Distinguished Professor, Board Member of Utrecht University Fund), Adriaan ter Braack (science journalist), Maurice Unck ( Director of Mail in the Netherlands of PostNL, Vice President of Utrecht University Fund) and Niels Vreeswijk (student assessor of the Executive Board).