Our work

The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) and Utrecht University have announced that they will only collaborate with fossil companies that demonstrably commit, in the short term, to the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) also decided on stricter conditions for collaboration with external parties, but looks to NWO (Dutch Research Council), their parent organisation, to define a national policy or guidelines. … Read More »Paris-alignment of Dutch academia – inspiration from the financial sector

In August and September, we gave several workshops and facilitated conversation circles around universities’ relationships with the fossil industry (“fossil ties”). Our workshops centered around how to map fossil ties at one’s university effectively and efficiently. Our conversation circles begin with a discussion about the role of a university in society, and why working with universities is interesting to fossil… Read More »Workshops and conversation circles around university-fossil ties

The opening of the academic year by Universiteit Leiden on the 4th of September 2023 was all about the climate crisis and sustainability – with the president of the Executive Board beginning her opening speech by referring to the impactful talk she just had with Extinction Rebellion activists outside. Scientists For Future, Scientist Rebellion, and End Fossil activists presented their views during the ceremony.… Read More »Fossil ties in the new academic year: research with responsibility

Shell Nederland has published a list of 137 current collaborations with academia, alongside a statement by Frans Everts claiming that Shell supports the goals of the Paris agreement and defending their continued collaboration with academia. It classifies 99 collaborations as “decarbonisation”, 36 as “generic”, and only 2 as “fossil”. What do Shell’s “decarbonisation” projects look like? In the “decarbonisation” category we find: Other hot topics are energy… Read More »A first dive into Shell’s “decarbonisation” research collaborations

We created a handbook for researching fossil (or other) ties of universities (or other institutions), based on our experiences in the Netherlands. The handbook starts with some general advice, then looks at 4 different practical approaches to finding ties. The rest is useful references: related initiatives you can reach out to, links to info or resources, and a glossary for… Read More »Handbook for researching fossil ties at your university

Leiden, 4 May 2023 – A coalition of public interest groups, independent researchers, students and university staff – ‘Mapping Fossil Ties Coalition” – has launched a website to map the links between universities and companies such as Shell, Aramco and NAM. The interactive database, mappingfossilties.org, provides insight into the role of coal, oil and gas companies in funding research and… Read More »PRESS RELEASE – Online database reveals relationships between Dutch universities and the fossil industry

As part of a coalition (Scientists4Future, Scientist Rebellion, University Rebellion, Fossielvrij NL, Reclame Fossielvrij, Social Tipping Point Coalition, Milieudefensie Jong and others) we are collecting information on the relationships between Dutch universities and fossil fuel companies. We support and coordinate decentralised research into relationships between universities and fossil companies. We do this through decentralised information gathering on campuses, freedom of… Read More »Fossil industry and academia: mapping the ties between universities and fossil fuel companies

On the 16th of March 2023, Scientists For Future Wageningen, CSPS and W*O*L*F* organised a symposium: ‘Mapping fossil ties, a symposium – Observing, understanding and problematizing the relationships between Dutch Universities and Big Oil’. We gave a workshop and introduced the collaborative research project to map the relationships between Dutch universities and the fossil fuel industry. The project was received with great enthusiasm and support, which gave… Read More »Presenting ‘Mapping Fossil Ties’ project at Symposium at Wageningen University