What does it take for a university to keep asking the right questions, generation after generation?
On Monday 9 November 2026, Erasmus University Rotterdam celebrates its 113th Dies Natalis, the annual academic ceremony marking the founding of our predecessor, the Nederlandsche Handels-Hoogeschool, on 8 November 1913. The ceremony will be hosted by journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker Dore van Duivenbode. The Erasmus Alumni Club invites you to join us for this ceremony, an afternoon that brings together academia, public administration and the wider EUR community to reflect on the challenges shaping our world today.
About this year's Dies Natalis
Climate change, inequality of opportunity, technological developments, a shifting world order and increasing polarisation present complex challenges that cannot be understood from a single discipline or perspective. This year's Dies Natalis reflects on how science, when it brings together excellent fundamental research and engaged, society-facing research, can contribute to resilient societies: societies that can adapt, innovate and emerge stronger from these challenges.
The ceremony opens, as is tradition, with the arrival of the cortège: professors in gowns, the university board, and representatives of study and student associations. Rector Magnificus Prof. Jantine Schuit will then deliver the Dies speech, reflecting on the current challenges and ambitions of our academic community.
What to expect
- Witness the cortège as professors, the university board and student representatives take their seats
- Hear Rector Magnificus Prof. Jantine Schuit deliver the Dies speech
- See Prof. David Abbink (TU Delft) and Prof. Jeffrey Braithwaite (Australian Institute of Health Innovation) receive an honorary doctorate for their pioneering research
- Listen to Prof. Anne Gielen's academic contribution on inequality of opportunity
- Enjoy a musical interlude by Rotterdam-based singer Beatriz Lima
- Experience a specially written performance by spoken-word artist Tyler Koudijzer, bringing the afternoon's themes together
- Find out which researchers and students receive the Research Prize, the Lambers Student Excellence Award and the Fame Athena Award
- Join the reception afterwards at Theil Hall
Programme
14:45 | Arrival and start of the Ceremony
16:30 | Reception at Teil Hall
17:30 | End of the reception
The programme is bilingual (Dutch/English). A translation programme is available during the ceremony, which you can follow on your own phone.
Tickets and registration
Attending is the 113th Dies Natalis is free of charge. Registration will open soon.
You can register with us up to and including 4 November. After this date, registration is only possible directly through Erasmus University Rotterdam.