Big History
In an age in which we are transforming our entire planet, stepping back to view the bigger picture is more important than ever. How did the histories of the cosmos, earth, life and humanity jointly shape your world?
During Big History, renowned experts, ranging from astrophysicists to historians, will take you on a journey from the Big Bang until today. Along the way, they will challenge you to connect various astrophysical, geological, biological and cultural processes to an aspect of the world around you that matters to you.
As a result, you will learn to integrate disciplinary perspectives and spatial and temporal scales. You will see and appreciate how your chosen topic fits into a bigger picture. And you will discover what new questions and creative insights emerge from that while strengthening your complexity awareness and capacity for out-of-the-box thinking.
Contextualise what matters to you
Leading guest speakers
Learn with UvA students
Practical information
When: Februari 2026 – May 2026, lectures on Thursdays 15:00-17:00
Where: Amsterdam, Roeterseilandcampus
For whom?
Professionals with a broad interest in how the world around us became the way it is today.
Coordinator
Dr. ir. Esther Quaedackers is a big historian, specialised in looking at the world around us through a big history lens. She has been coordinating and teaching a wide variety big history courses at the University of Amsterdam for more than 15 years.
Registration
This course is an elective for students and professionals, organised by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS). Professionals can register as a contract student if you are interested in following one of our IIS electives. By contract students, we mean all those who are not registered at an educational institution. Registration opens the 1st of December and closes 2 weeks before the course starts.
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact keuzeonderwijs-iis@uva.nl
Big History is part of the national pilot Microcredentials which means you can obtain a digital certificate in the form of a microcredential after you successfully completed one of these courses. This recognized credential gives value to individual education units, by guaranteeing the quality of the course, and therefore allows professionals to demonstrate acquired knowledge and skills to (future) employers or other educational institutions.