The impact of the coronavirus crisis on Radboud University is far-reaching. University magazine Vox and alumni magazine Radboud Magazine joined forces to release a special edition about the Campus in these strange times. In the next few days a copy of this special edition will be sent to the homes of more than 40,000 students, staff members and alumni.

Only once before in the history of Radboud University were students and researchers forced to stay at home: in 1943, during World War II. The University’s second lockdown began in March 2020. This time it was a global pandemic that threw a spanner in the works. From one day to the next, all lectures had to be offered online and the busy lives of nearly 23,000 students ground to a halt.

Campus life

The consequences of this lockdown period are impossible to foresee at present. Will students and scientific experiments accrue delay? What are the effects of distance learning? The question is when will Campus life ‘go back to normal’? In any case not in the coming months. This historical lockdown was an opportunity for the editorial teams of Vox and Radboud Magazine to produce a joint coronavirus special.

‘A special edition people can refer to later,’ says Editor-in-chief Annemarie Haverkamp. ‘Hopefully, the pandemic will be history by then and as people read, they’ll think: “Yes, that’s how it was!”‘ It is the task of the University media to map the far-reaching consequences of this pandemic for the academic world, says Haverkamp.

Interviews

The articles discuss the labour market prospects of the corona generation (will students be able to find a job?), student life grinding to a halt, and the future of online education. Science editor Suzanne Geuze describes what it was like to be ill with Covid-19 and invites researchers to reflect on her experience. In a column entitled ‘corona lessons’ researchers share the lessons they have learnt – and are still learning – from these strange times. The magazine also includes interviews with Spinoza Prize winner Mihai Netea (who is studying the effect on coronavirus of a tuberculosis drug), ICU doctor Charlotte Hofhuizen (‘I’m not a hero’), and award-winning microbiologist Mike Jetten, who is unable to visit his wife in a nursing home because of coronavirus.

Vox is normally only distributed on Campus, and Radboud Magazine sent to a limited number of alumni, but in the next few days and no later than 5 June, a copy of ‘Radboud during Corona’ should arrive at the homes of all Dutch staff members and students (plus a number of alumni). International students and staff members will receive a PDF in English.