Today’s university lecturers are faced with the challenge of educating students to see beyond the limits of their own discipline and to come up with innovative solutions to societal challenges. Many lecturers would like to put more emphasis on teaching students how to integrate diverse forms of knowledge, work together in teams, critically reflect and become self-regulated learners. These lecturers are breaking down the silos of scientific disciplines as well as the barriers between academi...

In this edition of 'Phoebus Focus', no less than three specialists examine two of the sketches that Baroque master Abraham Van Diepenbeeck made for the stained-glass windows of the Antwerp St. Paul's Church. The stained-glass windows themselves have not survived the ravages of time and so these sketches are invaluable for the reconstruction of the church's original interior.

De sculptura is a collection of ideas about sculpture that could inspire a range of insights into the discipline. They

concern artworks that play on our minds and our imaginations in contemporary times, just like the countless other

kinds of images with which we are surrounded. The fact that sculpture, more than any other artform, succeeds in captivating us beyond the boundaries of time and space is due to the slowness of a medium that eradicates all elaborations on content, so that the scu...

Andris Kursietis has been a researcher of military history for fifty years, using resources that span the globe. His latest book, “Warlords of the German Empire, 1914 - 1918” contains the biographies of ninety senior German generals and admirals, and allied (Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian, Ottoman) officers who held honorary German rank during World War I. Included among these, by virtue of the ranks that they held in the German armed forces, are monarchs and royal princes of various German ...

In this book, Maurits v. Falkenreck describes the decay of the Dutch welfare state, and also presents his innovative projects to counter this decay. During his years as an innovator and entrepreneur, he discovered the failing innovation system and culture in which he was operating. This resulted in a sharp and refined analysis of what he calls ‘The Political Ecosystem’.

Based on this model and the philosophical concept of ‘Model-Platonism’, Falkenreck has created a thorough system an...

Imagine only two artists and one patron involved in the world-famous Ghent Altarpiece. Albeit this gives rise to fake information, which induces unacceptable and unreasonable conclusions.

The author proceeds through the WYSIWYG method. This proves efficiently as the way of painting is very accurate, precise, and honest. In the end, the historical checks and balances reveal an acceptable story of a dynamic artists' community.

This book explores the cost, expressed in labour, of constructing fortifications during the Late Bronze Age in Greece (ca. 1600 – 1050 BCE). The underlying question for this study is whether the cost of large scale constructions, built with large, unwieldy blocks, may have overstretched the (economic) capabilities of communities, leading to their collapse.

In order to determine the labour costs, the building process is deconstructed and for each sub-process, the costs are determined. The co...

Er is een groeiend besef dat ons huidige economische systeem verantwoordelijk is voor de verslechtering van het milieu en de opwarming van de aarde. Dit bedreigt niet alleen de toekomstige welvaart van de mens, maar kan existentiële gevolgen hebben voor alle soorten op aarde. Dit boek verkent verschillende (socio-economische) toekomstperspectieven en onderzoekt hoe we onze relatie met de planeet kunnen herstellen. Het rijk geïllustreerde boek bevat een mix van essays, verhalen en gedichten ...

Al meer dan vijftig jaar is het Sjanghaipark een groene vrijplaats tussen de moderne stempels van Utrecht-Overvecht. Buurtbewoners en kunstenaars formuleerden samen het ongebruikelijke uitgangspunt: de identiteit van dit park ligt niet vast, maar vormt zich doorlopend. Naar het spel van kinderen, de wandelgang van ouderen, de planten die aanwaaien, kortom naar de tijd. Daarmee deed het Sjanghaipark aan placemaking avant la lettre en was het park al klimaatbestendig toen daar nog geen beleid v...