René van Weeren | Project assistant Research Institute of History and Culture of Utrecht University

‘The perfect reason to bring the conference to the Netherlands’

René van Weeren is project assistant for the Research Institute of History and Culture of Utrecht University. Together with Professor Tine De Moo, he is responsible for the organisation of the 16th IASC Global Conference, to be held in Utrecht in July 2017. This biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons will be attended by 500 to 800 international scientists and experts in the field of ‘commons.’ “The research group, ‘Institutions for Collective Action’ within Utrecht University, is intensively engaged in research into forms of collaboration, such as the commons: bottom-up initiated, self-managed and self-regulating. The concept of the commons is centuries old and has, in the past, proven to be successful. The linking of scientific research of both contemporary and historical variants to the experiences of experts will help to better understand the mechanisms and the dynamics of commons and to perpetuate contemporary variants. Both the chairmanship and the secretariat of the IASC will be housed, in the coming years, at the University of Utrecht: the perfect reason to bring the conference to the Netherlands, as well. The conference provides an excellent opportunity to strengthen the 'commons' network in Europe and to bring the subject more and more clearly to the forefront in Europe.”