Academic Opening Address Jan Danckaert 27 September 2022

Science as a public good Academic opening address 27 September 2022 Dear students, Excellencies, Colleagues and friends of VUB, and also, dear family I would like to start with a topical observation. We will not solve the energy crisis here and now, but... we are doing our best. After all, each person here emits about 100 watts more than they receive (at 12°C the figure is even a bit higher). So together we account for at least 200,000 watts, or 200 kW. There can no longer be any doubt: we are a warm university. I also issue a warm – literally – call to our students to come to classes: you’ll help to make it nice and warm in our classrooms (and you will save on energy costs at home). Dear VUB staff and all those who hold our university dear, and you do, I know, I am immensely grateful to be able to address you here today. In an iconic place, in the heart of Kuregem. We are, and we will remain, an urban engaged university, connected to the city. In unusual circumstances, too. This exceptionally hot and dry summer was also an exceptionally sad one for the VUB community. The tribute we have just paid to Paul De Knop and Caroline Pauwels should by no means be an end. We must cherish, guard and continue their legacy. And we will. Caroline liked to quote Leonard Cohen: There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. Scientia vincere tenebras. We saw the light of science shine during the Covid pandemic. We will need that same multicoloured light even more today and tomorrow. Climate change, the energy crisis, inequality, an ageing population, geopolitical tensions... Policy thinkers sometimes use the acronym VUCA to describe the specificity of these times: volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous. We need to prepare for this new context. Fortunately, we know that out of chaos can come order. But it does take energy, and it requires openness (I'll come back to that in a moment). So let's look on the bright side: there is work to be done for science, for researchers, for all of us. To use precisely this crisis as a lever for a better future in a sustainable, more just and open world. Crucial to this are the questions: what science do we need today and tomorrow? What science does our world in transition need? Why do I believe we need science as a public good? --When we talk about science as a public good, we first need to clear up three major misunderstandings. More precisely, these are three contradictions that constantly crop up in the debate, but which are actually false and outdated. First, when it comes to the finality of science, there is the contradiction between applied research and fundamental research. In the words of renowned psychologist Kurt Lewin: "There is nothing so practical as a good theory."