Committees
What is a committee?
A study association cannot operate without its committees and the SPIL is no different. The SPIL offers the opportunity to experience new things by participating in committees. This will give you the option to become active in whatever area you might find interesting. There isn’t only the opportunity to organize activities, one could experience writing for a semi-scientific magazine or even work in an international atmosphere. Here you can find out which committees there are, what those committees do and who are in these committees.
Committees are a key part of the operation of any student association, and the SPIL is no different. The committees that the SPIL offers can give you the opportunity to experience something completely new, or participate in an area that you are already passionate about. There is also variety of ways that you can participate in your area of interest, from organising activities and events, to writing for a magazine, to working as part of an international group. As you can see committees encompass a wide range of possibilities for ways students to get involved. Here you can find out what committees are provided, what they do, and how to join a committee.
Why participate in a committee?
It is important to develop your academic skills during your studies, it is also crucially important to acquire professional skills as well. This is where the SPIL can provide extra-curricular opportunities to gain knowledge and experience in a variety of skills outside of the academic. For students of Political Science and Political Science – International Relations and Organizations the SPIL is the ideal environment to develop these extracurricular skills through participating in a committee.
What does committee membership consist of?
The SPIL is an association which is sustained by the contributions of students. The day-to-day tasks of the association are performed by the board, a group of seven students. The board also works in tandem with committees. These committees organize activities, social events, study trips and write articles for DEBAT, the association magazine. Committees are typically chaired by a committee chair and also have a secretary, treasurer and general members.
How do I join a committee?
At the beginning of each school year the board sets up interview rounds during which students can apply for a position in a committee. Each board member decides upon his or her own interview procedure for the committees which they’ll be guiding that year. Normally this will take the form of an application letter or an interview.
The applications are now open! You can sign up via this lin
The audit committee is a special committee that is assigned by the general assembly. It is assigned every year in September during the general assembly in which the old board gets replaced with the new one. The main difference between this committee and the others is that the audit committee doesn’t organize any actual activities. The responsibilities of the audit committee is written down in the statutes of the SPIL, but to summarize: this committee checks the work of the finance commissioner and advises the general assembly. Two weeks before the half year general assembly the audit committee checks the income statement, the cash flow and the balance on accounting accuracy. The audit committee then provides advice to the general assembly about the performance of the finance commissioner.
Committee members
Emma Breed
Marit van der Heijde
The Acquisitions Committee is responsible for creating and maintaining connections with organisations outsite of the SPIL. The SPIL is composed of over a thousand students and maintains multiple means of promotion (the monthly newsletter, DEBAT, social media). Because of this, SPIL is an attractive opportunities for companies and organisations from a variety of sectors. The Acquisitions Committee tries to discover new possibilities to cooperate with these companies and organisations in order to bring the benefits or expertise tha the groups offer and vice versa. They also bring out two merchandise items per year. Previously we have seen a SPIL water bottle, a SPIL umbrella, a SPIL bicycle package and the SPIL card holder.
Commissioner
Gijs Verhoeff
Committee Members
B’Elanna van Damme
Sofiya Navasardyan
Juliana Beunk
Stash Saldan
Diana Chaban
This Committee organises the yearly excursion to Brussels, which has beek taking place for as long as our SPIL-memory goes back. During this 2-day trip, excursions are organised such as a visit to the EU commission, hearing about the World Bank, meeting with members of a think thank and talking to delegates of the Dutch Embassy in Brussels. This trip is one of the cornerstones of the SPIL calendar!
Commissioner
Salomé De Bona
Committee Members
The Congress Committee is responsible for attending or organizing a congress. It has two options, either it organizes the SPIL congress in Leiden or The Hague (as has been done in the past two years), or whether it coordinates a trip to visit a congress abroad. The Congress has to be political science related but the spectrum of the subject that can be covered is pretty large. This year, we chose migration as the main focus and we explore its different perspective such as history, law, advocacy, global governance, gender studies and environment.
Commissioner
Salomé De Bona
Committee members
Eve Bailey
Shiori Tsukayama
Juliana Beunk
Maria Lozano
Aleksander Chmiel
The association has its own quarterly magazine, ‘DEBAT’. This political science magazine is released four times per year and, most importantly is written ‘for’ and ‘by’ students. On top of that, DEBAT also has it’s own website, on which weekly articles are published. The magazine is composed of a variety of articles, from opinion-pieces to columns to book reviews. It also features regular interviews with high-profile people in the acadmic or political world. The magazine also keeps you up-to-date on the various committee activities through articles written by the committee members themselves. DEBAT offers the ideal opportunity for SPIL members to improve their writing and those that may have journalistic ambitions. By writing articles, taking interviews and editing, committee members can gain the experience required for such ambitions.
Commissioner
Ruchi van Zoelen
Committee members
Thirze Wiegers
Nina Joziasse
Livi van Overdam
Julie Schrooyen
Adèle Lang
Alexander Chmiel
Alexandra Drugescu-Radulescu
Anna Gruber
Anna Punselie
Anna-Elise Peerlings
Carlotta Moscarella
Colombe Cusset
Daria Aron
Deniz Terzi
Erato Vaitsi
Giulio Vulterini
Hannah Epple
Hannah Kulesza
Jasmijn Schievink
Jasmin Adam
Jokin de Carlos Sola
Josephine van Os
Juno Jahn
Luise Gabbert
Lyuba Nicheva
Maija Nikolaevskaja
Mariana Goldsmith
Nathaniël de Jager
Nienke Uittenhout
Nore Schütz
Rik Manuel
Roos Busio
Sem van der Tang
Stash Saldan
Teodoroa Matei
The Dies Committee is the committee that organises all the activities in the week of November 8. This in honour of the birthday of the SPIL! This year we will be celbrating our 41st birthday. In may you can sign up to be in the Dies committee of next year.
Commissioner
Kasya Hilhorst
Committee members
Sjors de Natris
Evaelle Dhainaut
Sem van der Voort
Csongor Győriványi
Jules Pailloux
The Education Committee, chaired by the commissioner of Education & Politics, helps the students of Political Science – International Relations and organisations in making sure that they receive satisfactory education throughout the duration of their course. One of the ways it does this is by ensuring that the student book sale is carried out competently and without issues. Due to the fact that this book sale happens online, it can be managed solely by the commissioner. The whole committee will focus mostly on the evalutaiton of the bachelor courses. These findings will then be forwarded to the department of Political Science. Furthermore the committee organises education related trainings and career prospective events.
Commissioner
Frederika Togtema
Committee member
Pieter Mauritz
Hansika Baldwa
Roos Busio
Ralph Otten
Jasmin Adam
Maija Nikolaevskaja
The Excursions Committee organises formal excursions. Examples are the yearly excursions to the Parliament (Tweede Kamer) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an Embassy hop (including the Embassy of Austria, Brazil and Mexico), Amnesty International and visits to the ICC and the Peace Palace. This is a great way to get students involved with their field of studies outside of the university!
Commissioner
Frederika Togtema
Committee member
Agata Weremczuk
Lilli Helin
Judith Hordijk
Nika Verwoert
Anna Lola Zakonyi
Kasia Kroszka
Contact
Committee.excursions@spilplaats.nl
This committee organises all the parties, borrels and other social activities of SPIL. There is a monthly SPIL borrel in Leiden and a as well as in The Hague, where our members can drink a beer and catch up with each other, which this committee organises. Moreover, this committee organises all the (themed) parties that the SPIL has to offer! To top it all off, the committee organises the annual SPIL Gala, which takes place at a beautiful location, everyone gets dressed up nicely and where there is an unlimited amount of alcohol.
Commissioner
Ruchi van Zoelen
Committee member
Soizic Michotte
Dante Renes
Luna van Tol
Camilla Franchy
Thomas Meijer
Jules Pailloux
Ana Gabelic
This committee is formed at the beginning of the academic year with the sole purpose of making first year students feel at home at the SPIL and university. The committee organises ‘borrels’, gatherings, lectures, speed dating events, parents day (you name it) for first year students. By the end of the year, the committee organises the cherry on top: Fresmen Weekend where the upcoming first years can meet each other!
Commissioner
Noor Stuijt
Committee members
Sjors de Natris
Dorka Belak
Celina Gonczol
Jyoti Verma
Next to the Short Trip, the SPIL also organises a yearly Long Trip of two weeks to a destination outside of Europe. In the past years, SPIL has travelled to Seoul, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires and Washington DC. During these two weeks, similar activities as during the Short Trip will be organised, such as visiting an embassy, the parliament, newspapers and ministries. Of course during these two weeks, there is also more time to explore the city we are visiting. If you are enthusiastic about planning such an important trip, this is the perfect committee for you!
Commissioner
Salomé de Bona
Committee Members
Dian Loh
Emily Recke
Thomas van Loon
Sophie Peters
Thirze Wiegers
Soizic Michotte
Ebba Börjesson
This committee is put together every 5 years and celebrates the SPIL’s birthday on a larger scale. It has a special budget and committee and organizes even bigger parties, lectures and activities. The celebrations take place throughout the whole year, with a special week usually in the spring. The previous lustrum took place in 2021-2022, meaning that the upcoming lustrum will be in 2025-2026.
Commissioner
The committee currently does not exist.
Committee members
The committee currently does not exist.
This committee focuses on activities specifically for master students of political science. They are often more specialised and have more knowledge about certain topics. The committee organises lectures and activities that go more into depth than our regular activities. Think about lectures by proffessors, talks by representatives of a certain deparment or institution. The committee consists of mostly master students, so if you have good ideas, don’t hesitate to apply!
Commissioner
Frederika Togtema
Committee member
Florian Kuegerl
Yasmine Naami
Jyoti Verma
Jokin de Carlos Sola
The PiP committee stands for ‘Politicologen in Perspectief’ which roughly translates to ‘Political Science Students in Perspective’. This committee consists of eight people in total, two from each sister association of other Political Science Associations in the Netherlands (UvA, VU and Radboudt University). The committee organises a congress for political science students from all four universities. With the committee you will have to find a location, a theme, guestspeakers and organise a borrel afterwards.
Commissioner
Svea Drose
Committee members
Lars Reinhofer
Maria Lozano
Contact
secretary@spilplaats.nl
The SPIL organises numerous activities and parties, and it is the responsibility of the promotion committee to make sure that these receive high turnout rates. In this committee you’ll be working closely with other related committees and you’ll be involved in organizing these activities. But the committee also covers the planning of promoting guest lectures, excursions, study-book sales and study trips. These activities are promoted in a wide variety of ways. As a member of this committee you can use harness your creativity in desing and arrangement of event-posters, photography of said events and maintain the committees social media presence so that everyone knows about SPIL events.
Commissioner
Gijs Verhoeff
Committee members
Marijke Alfarnes
Sofia Ketting
Sofiya Navasardyan
Ward Frenken
Diana Chaban
In this committee you will help organise the yearly Short Trip. This week-long trip goes to a location within Europe. Some past destinations have been Prague, Madrid, London and Edinbrough. On this trip the committee organises excursions such as visits to a newspaper, ministries, the parliament and embassies. Of course, it wouldn’t be a SPIL trip if this wouldn’t be accompanied by cultural events and evenings out!
Commissioner
Salomé de Bona
Committee members
Jules Fockens
Milena Schmidt
Janneke Pool
Ralph Otten
Sofia Ketting
Nora Schütz
Stairs Affairs is a new collaboration between the SPIL, B.I.L. (study association for public administration) and the university, consisting of members of both SPIL and B.I.L.. The goal of the committee is to organise critical interviews with political relevant guests on the stairs of Wijnhaven. Although plans for this committee already exist for a number of years, this is the first time these will be implemented. Therefore, the committee will also lay the groundwork to ensure further development next years.
Commissioner
Svea Drose (SPIL)
Zinah El Sayed (B.I.L.)
Committee Members
Haitske Pottinga
Sverre van der Burg (B.I.L.)
Jochem van de Drift (B.I.L.)
Loubna El Aslani (B.I.L.)
Cesar Serlie
Lars Reinhofer
Every year, the SPIL hosts a SPIL-weekend. This is a weekend with informal activities, just like the Freshmen weekend, but for SPIL’ers in every year of their studies. The committee is responsible for finding a location, organizing activities, organizing a night out and organizing a dinner. This makes the SPIL-weekend committee a challenging and fun committee!
Commissioner
Gijs Verhoeff
Committee members
This committee is yet to be formed.
Every year the SPIL releases a yearbook, the ‘Almanak’, which provides an overview of the events and achievements of the past year. The almanak is the summation of the work that the board and the committees and the members have carried out in that year. The members of the Almanak Committee, headed by the commissioner of Internal Relations, compile material throughout hte whole year to present in the almanak. This involves creating a fitting theme, developing and appropriate lay out and gathering texts and interviews for it. These texts are not only written by SPIL members but also by board members of other Student Associations and renowed acamedic and political individuals.
Commissioner
Ruchi van Zoelen
Committee members
Lucille Saïsse
Luise Gabbert
Marijke Alfarnes
Stephan Krul
Jules Fockens
Ward Frenken
Committee Cup
You earn points for your committee by attending activities: 1 point per activity and 3 points for attending a GA. You will not get points for attending activities organised by your own committee. In the end, all points will be divided by the amount of committee members.