Postscript Humanistic Study, Collaboration, and Interdisciplinarity: A Dialogue on the Leuven Research Community

Abstract

Nick: The Research Community on the Philosophy and History of the Discipline of Education has been organised by Paul Smeyers and Marc Depaepe of the Catholic University of Leuven, since 1999, beginning with generous funding from the Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen; FWO). Since then, a group of international scholars in philosophy and history of education has convened each fall for an annual conference and working paper session – usually in Leuven, occasionally in other European cities. The conference has an annual theme, and participants prepare papers addressing that issue from their respective disciplinary perspectives. The papers are available in advance, so the sessions are organised around summaries of the papers, a brief response, and then an intensive discussion about each project. The papers are revised again after the conference and eventually published in an edited book series from Springer. The sessions are characterised by stimulating discussions, good cheer, and friendships that have grown over 20 years. Here, we reflect on the RC as an academic project, on what it can tell us about issues of collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and along the way offer a few comments about Paul Smeyers’ indispensable role in conceiving and guiding the project.