Academy Day 2025 on Friday, September 12 in BOEL

The new academic year begins for the Fryske Akademy, of which the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning is a part, with the celebration of its Dies Natalis , the day the institute was founded. Every year - on the Friday of, before, or after September 10th - the Fryske Akademy invites its members, donors, and partners to reflect on the past year, but especially to look forward together to successful collaborations, projects, and academic challenges. The new members of the Fryske Akademy are traditionally appointed at the Academy Day. 

2025

This year, Academy Day (Akademydei) will take place on Friday afternoon, 12 September. We have chosen BOEL (formerly Zalen Schaaf) in the centre of Leeuwarden as the location for the party. In the past, there used to be a boxing ring under the chandelier in this old theatre, but nowadays this cosy large hall has several jeu-de-boules courts on the floor! This means that during the drinks reception, after the official part, we can all roll a ball together.

Everyone is welcome at BOEL in Leeuwarden on 12 September from 1:30 p.m. to toast, chat and play jeu de boules with us, but also to listen to interesting speakers and meet our members and donors. The official programme starts at 2 p.m. and, with a break, ends at 4 p.m. After that, there will be plenty of opportunity to raise a glass together and enjoy good conversation.

Programme

13:30 Doors open
- Coffee/tea with refreshments

14:00 Programme starts
- Opening by Prof. Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm, Director of Fryske Akademy;
- Jantine van der West, Citizen Science and Knowledge Utilisation Officer: ‘Citizen Science and wurkmienskip’;
- Mini-lecture by Han Nijdam (video), ‘Wat wie de rol fan de frou yn it Aldfryske rjocht’ (‘What is the role of women in Old Frisian law?’);
- Martine Jansen, research assistant at Mercator, ‘Read with Multilingual Early Education’
- Mini-lecture by Anne Merkuur (video), ‘Feroaret it Frysk stadichoan yn it Nederlânsk?’ (‘Is Frisian gradually changing into Dutch?’);

15:00: Break

15:15: Continuation of programme
- Liuwe Westra, Appointment of new Academy members;
- Mini-lecture by Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm, ‘Sprutsen de fikingen ek Frysk?’ ('Did Vikings speak Frisian?');
- Martijn Kingma, PhD candidate in Linguistics, ‘Perceptual dialectology: Fryske aksinten op ’e kaart'.

16:00/16:05: Closing
- Snacks, drinks and jeu-de-boules

Registration

No longer possible.

For your agenda

Date: Friday 12 September 2025
Location: BOEL (Zalen Schaaf), Leeuwarden
Address: Breedstraat 48, 8911 GJ Leeuwarden
Arrival with coffee/tea and refreshments: 1:30 p.m.
Start of programme: 2:00 p.m.
Registration: No longer possible.
Car parks: Hoeksterend (350 m), Oosterstraat (650 m), Oldehoofsterkerkhof (650 m)
Bus stop: Wissesdwinger (lines 6, 62, 72, 73) / Noorderbrug (line 6) / Nieuwe Hoek (line 8) / Oosterkade (lines 3, 8, 9, 11, 13)

We look forward to seeing you on Friday afternoon, 12 September 2025, at BOEL (Zalen Schaaf), Leeuwarden!