Decolonising Knowledge: Rethinking Research in Gender, Ecology, and Education

NICMCR Joint Research Project 2025-2027

This year, the NICMCR is launching a Joint Research Project which will run until 2027. Implemented by the three working groups or Pokja’s, the project will cover research from a decolonial perspective. In an ever-changing world, we are witnessing a growing awareness among developing countries of their own, non-imposed norms and values. Spiritual local values are increasingly seeking and struggling to be integrated into Western and secular norms that have hitherto been universally dominant.

With Decolonization and Decoloniality as main theme, this joint research project aims to reclaim diverse knowledge traditions rooted in local communities and historical experiences, in studies on gender, ecology and education. The collaboration between Indonesian and Dutch researchers will foster mutual learning and produce insights that will benefit both academia and local communities.

The project starts with a hybrid Kick-off event on 4 June 2025 with closed sessions in Indonesia and in the Netherlands. The event will provide a platform for exchanging emerging ideas, sharing ongoing research, and jointly establishing the theoretical and methodological foundations for future collaboration. It will bring together researchers from Indonesia and the Netherlands, inviting them to present their current or new research through a decolonial lens.

Participants of the Kick-off event will convene:
In the Netherlands, at the venue of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, Utrecht
In Indonesia, at the University Club of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogya