(Blog alleen in het Engels)

03 jul, 2022

My very first speaker job! Well, that is not quite true, really. I've been in front of audiences before. It all started when I was asked - already over a decade ago - to give the overall graduation speech at my high school, representing hundreds of teenagers. And over the years I've presented my interests and my work regularly to colleagues, students, and volunteers at conferences and meetings, and in media interviews. And even as a part-time actress I regularly find myself in front of a group of people that I somehow have to entertain using nothing but a mic and written, or even improvised, scripts. But last Tuesday was different, and so much more special, to me! Time to explain.

On the evening of Tuesday the 28th of June, 2022, I spoke for my first, freelance assignment in the context of my own brand new business called 'Genotypical'. I was one of the three keynote scientific speakers, next to astrophysicist Prof. Dr. Vincent Icke and philosopher Dr. Hein van Dongen. The talk was for the opening of Trinity, an art exhibition, and besides scientific speakers the program also included professional dancers, a singing choir, a practiced poet, and of course: the artists and the exhibition of their works of art. Add to that an incredibly beautiful location and my handmade earrings - which I was proudly wearing, of course - you can finally purchase them in my Etsy shop! - and I was ready to get started.

As the event was oriented towards an artistic audience, but was also partially organized in relation to Leiden European City of Science 2022, it was very obvious to me that my talk had to include two, main things; 1) my current research on evolution, and 2) my personal interpretation of how science and nature can inspire art and culture, and vice versa. I was invited as a speaker due to the phrase that is visible on the current home page of this website: "did you know that all life is based on nature's flaws?" It sparked the interest of artist Tim Juffermans, owner of Studio 071 and one of the organizers of the event. As we both see the beauty in DNA and the 'mistakes' that nature makes in the form of genetic mutations, this of course became the starting point of my talk on evolution.

Many of the participating artists had incorporated nature, and the flaws thereof, in their pieces, so I felt like I was in the right place! But I also noticed some intruiging, apocalyptic themes in some of the artworks. The fact that nature & biodiversity are currently not doing so well, and that something needs to change to prevent darker times ahead, is something that we warn for as scientists and it has clearly not gone unnoticed by visual creators. My take on the Anthropocene was - coincidentally - also included as the take-home message of my talk: Mother nature is allowed to make mistakes and to be greedy and thoughtless. It is the whole reason that life exists, and it is why natural selection works (usually). But us humans? We may make mistakes, but we should not be thoughtless. We can and we should think twice about being greedy.

Having the opportunity to make this statement in front of hundreds of people in the middle of a big, gothic church that somehow seemed to emphasize each and every one of my words with a deep, solid echo honestly gave me goosebumps. The whole evening was extremely inspiring. I could not have imagined a better place and time to kick-start my own company as a speaker and creator, and I am looking forward to new adventures! Check out more through the page of Genotypical!