Professors Represented was introduced in 2022 as an initiative of the IDEA Center (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access Center). The gallery highlights why representation matters: visible role models contribute to an inclusive university community and show that academic excellence has many faces.

The new portraits depict professors who were affiliated with Erasmus University Rotterdam between 2021 and 2025. They will be displayed on both sides of the Senate Hall in the Erasmus Building, expanding the existing gallery.

The project also connects the university’s past and present. The campus already contains many historic portraits of professors, most of them men. These painted and drawn portraits are an important part of EUR’s academic heritage. By adding prominent portraits of women professors, the historical portraits and the new gallery together tell a richer and more balanced story about the people who have shaped the university – and continue to shape it today.

Academic heritage is not only about preserving the past, but also about making visible the history being written today.

The expansion is the result of collaboration between the IDEA Center, Stichting Universitair Historisch Kabinet (SUHK), the University Library and Real Estate & Facilities. Together, they not only preserve EUR’s academic heritage, but also create new heritage: a visual record of the university’s academic community as it develops today.

With the expansion, Professors Represented becomes a lasting part of the academic heritage of Erasmus University Rotterdam. It demonstrates that academic heritage is not only about preserving the past, but also about making visible the history being written today.