Joop Goudsblom; Presentation at 2016 IBHA Conference

From 2016 Program:

Welcome one and all to the third biennial conference
of the International Big History Association, “Building
Big History. Research and Teaching." After our first
conferences in Michigan and California, we're delighted
to welcome you to the Netherlands and to the
beautiful city of Amsterdam.
The members of the IBHA Board, the Programming
Committee and the Conference Organizing
Committee want to thank you all for your attendance.
We're all very excited at the quality of the proposals,
and the great turn out. Together, scientists and scholars,
teachers and students, big historians and other
academics interested in big history, are exploring the
past and the future of the field of big history and the
connections between humans and the environment.

Conference Opening
The Opening Keynote Address will be given by Fred
Spier and Johan Goudsblom from 6 PM to 7.30 PM on
Thursday evening, followed by the Opening Reception
from 7.30 PM to 9 PM. Please join us at Aula of the
University of Amsterdam for these events as we lift the
curtain on the 3rd Conference of the International Big
History Association.

Thanks and Appreciation
For many years, Amsterdam has been a major hub of
global exchange networks, and probably not
coincidentally our generous host the University of
Amsterdam has been home to a vibrant Big History
program. We would especially like to thank Esther
Quaedackers (IBHA Secretary) and Fred Spier
(outgoing IBHA President) for all their hard work “on
the ground" in making this conference a success. Let's
also thank Lowell Gustafson (our VP) Craig Benjamin
(our Treasurer), Donna Tew (the IBHA Office
Coordinator) and Pamela Benjamin (Chair of the IBHA
Advisory Council) who have been doing vital work to
make this event happen. Lastly, thanks to the
Programming Committee, David Christian, Fred Spier,
John Mears, Esther Quaedackers, Andrey Korotayev,
Sun Yue, Cynthia Brown, and Jonathan Markley.

We appreciate the generous support of The Big
History Project for their generous contribution to the
conference as well as to the field of Big History.

This is a very exciting event for anyone interested in Big
History. The conference will give us all a chance to see
some of the many different ways in which Big History is
flourishing, and to showcase the many different kinds of
research, teaching and creativity that the field is
generating. We hope it will also provide many
opportunities, both in the formal sessions and in the
informal networking, for attendees to discuss where Big
History is going, what we need to be working on in the
next year or two, what have been our major successes
(there are many!), and what are our major challenges.
But above all, we hope you will enjoy the conference.
Have fun!

https://bighistory.org/