Lof der Zotheid Pin 2025 for historian Beatrice de Graaf

The Erasmus Committee, Icon of Rotterdam, has awarded the 2025 Lof der Zotheid Pin to historian Beatrice de Graaf (Putten, 1976). She will receive the award on Monday 27 October 2025 in the Burgerzaal of Rotterdam City Hall from Mayor Carola Schouten.

Beatrice de Graaf, a prominent Dutch historian and terrorism expert, is known for her in-depth research and her efforts to make society safer and more resilient. Together with her team, she maps out how societies and governments deal with war, conflict and crisis and shape their security culture as a sum of threat, interest and security practices. De Graaf is skilled at making complex topics such as security, terrorism and radicalisation accessible to the general public and the media.

Security is also an important theme in the work of Erasmus, who rejected war and violence and emphasised the need for tolerance and dialogue. In her work, Beatrice de Graaf highlights the human side of peace and security. In doing so, she perfectly aligns herself with Erasmus' ideas about open dialogue and intellectual curiosity.

De Graaf is a member of the Christian Union (Christen Unie). Like Erasmus, her faith inspires and guides her in helping to build a humane society. Her work is not limited to the Netherlands. She is active internationally and has received international recognition for her scientific achievements, including from universities such as Cambridge and Bonn, the University of California, Los Angeles, and George Washington University, Washington.

At a time when science is often forced onto the defensive, she is committed to greater investment in research and science, and to increasing the impact of science on government and society. As a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), she and her colleagues published "Science with the windows open" in 2022, a memorandum with ten lessons for scientific research with social impact.

The Erasmus Committee, Icon of Rotterdam, organises the Erasmusweek and the presentation of the Lof der Zotheid Pin each year on the anniversary of Desiderius Erasmus (Rotterdam, 28 October 1466 - Basel, 12 July 1536). View the full programme for Erasmus Week 2025.