About
📅 Saturday, 7th March 2026
📍Parnassos
Human connections and relationships are at the center of all our lives. We are, after all, a social species. While the focus often lies on romantic relationships, most of our connections are not, in fact, romantic. Join us for the SIB Annual Symposium 2026, a day dedicated to exploring platonic connections from different angles, where we will bring friendship to the forefront of our lives:
- Friendship on a geopolitical level
- Can you be friends with your ex?
- Connections with Artificial Intelligence
Why Attend?
This symposium is a unique opportunity to:
✔️ Hear from inspiring speakers.
✔️ Engage in meaningful discussions.
✔️ Make new friends with broad interests, such as yourself.
Tickets:
🎟️ Regular: €8.00
🎟️ Student: €5.50
🎟️ SIB Member: €4.50
Organized by members of our student association, this event promises to be a day filled with interesting perspectives and opportunities to share and connect. Join us in bringing friendship to the forefront on March 7th!
Program
- 10:30 – 11:00: Walk-In
- 11:00 – 12:15: Opening Talk with former ambassador Yvette Daoud. Do personal relationships play a role in political cooperation? How do countries maintain a friendly relationship among geopolitical tensions? Former ambassador to the Ivory Coast Yvette Daoud will answer our and your burning questions on Dutch relations in Africa and the Middle-East, the role of friendship in diplomacy, and the forming and maintaining of international friendship relations.
- 12:15 – 13:00: Lunch
- 13:00 – 14:00: Talk with prof. dr. Beate Volker, professor of Sociology, on the most important relationship of your life. Friendship is a term we are all familiar with, but are we aware of everything it encompasses? What is friendship? How do we make friends? What conflicts may arise in friendships? All these questions, and more, will be answered during this talk.
- 14:00 – 15:00: Workshop Round
- Workshop 1: During a debate, led by the Utrecht Debating Society, we will discuss the age old question: can you be friends with your ex? It is a very human dilemma, but is there a one-size fits all solution?
- Workshop 2: In this workshop, guided by Sem van de Graaf, writer for theatre and film, we’ll practice the lost art of love letter writing, since not only romantic love is deserving of written expression. How often do we take the time to express the love for our friends via the written word? Let’s show historians that really good friends can write love letters too.
- Workshop 3: Onze laatste workshop is een boekenclub over “Even goede vrienden”, met de auteur zelf: Raounak Khaddari. In haar boek bespreekt ze op basis van uitgebreid onderzoek de randvoorwaarden voor goede vriendschappen. Deze boekenclub is een introductie op dit boek, en je neemt een gratis exemplaar mee naar huis om je er dan in te verdiepen!
- 15:00 – 15:15: Short break
- 15:15 – 16:30: Closing Talk – Coming soon!
- 16:30 – 18:00: Drinks in Parnassos Café
Partners
