Stichting Skepsis is a Dutch organisation dedicated to the promotion and practice of

scientific skepticism Scientific skepticism or rational skepticism (also spelled scepticism), sometimes referred to as skeptical inquiry, is a position in which one questions the veracity of claims lacking scientific evidence. In practice, the term most commonly ref ...

. It is a member of the

European Council of Skeptical Organisations The European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) is an Umbrella organization, umbrella of organisations defending scientific skepticism in Europe. Goals Founded on 25 September 1994, the ECSO aims to co-ordinate activities of European org ...

(ECSO).

Activities

Since 1988 the organisation publishes a journal titled ''

Skepter ''Skepter'' is a popular science magazine of the Dutch skeptical foundation Stichting Skepsis. It describes paranormal or controversial theories and methods from a skeptical perspective. History In its first issue, the contemporary presiden ...

'' four times a year, currently edited by Hans van Maanen. Skepsis also maintains the Skepsis Blog that critically examines news stories and dubious practices, and hosts an annual conference. In 2011 it participated in the 10:23 Campaign with skeptics around the world. The website ''Klopt Dat Wel?'' ("Is That Right?") emerged from Stichting Skepsis, but operates formally independently from it.

Skepsis Congres

The organisation's annual conference, called the Skepsis Congres, was held in

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. As of 31 January 2023, the municipality had ...

in 1987–2001, in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 2002 and has been held in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

ever since 2003. Each conference has a special theme that most or all lectures are about. * 2001: "Laat je niks wijsmaken!" ("Don't be fooled!"), focused on

critical thinking Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to make sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, ...

* 2002: "Nuttig of nodeloos? Onderzoek naar alternatieve geneeswijzen" ("Useful or unnecessary? Research into alternative medicine"), focused on the wastefulness of researching

alternative medicine Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...

* 2003: "Waarom geloven wij?" ("Why do we believe?"), focused on the psychology of beliefs * 2004: "Uit onderzoek blijkt..." ("Research shows..."), focused on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

* 2005: "Gaat de Verlichting uit?" ("Is the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

going out?"), focused on

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

and

secularisation In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

* 2006: "Het paranormale" ("The paranormal"), focused on

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

claims and

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

s. Lectures by

Joe Nickell Joe Herman Nickell (December 1, 1944 – March 4, 2025) was an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal. Nickell was a senior research fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and wrote regularly for their journal, '' Skeptic ...

and

Chris French Christopher (Chris) Charles French (born 1956) is a British psychologist who is prominent in the field of anomalistic psychology, with a focus on the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to his academic activ ...

* 2007: "Ter discussie" ("In dispute"), focused on the legitimacy of

fringe science Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already Objection (argument), refuted. The chance of ideas rejected by editors and published outside the mainstream being correct is remote. Wh ...

s * 2008: "Magisch bedrijfsleven" ("Magic in business"), focused on pseudoscientific methods in

human resource management Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the effective and efficient management of people in a company or organization such that they help their business gain a competitive advantage. It is designed to maximize e ...

* 2009: "Kostbare onzin" ("Expensive nonsense"), focused on the cost of

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

* 2010: "Complotten: werkelijkheid en fictie" ("Conspiracies: reality and fiction"), focused on

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

* 2011: "Brein en illusie" ("Brain and illusion"), focused on the

mind–body problem The mind–body problem is a List_of_philosophical_problems#Mind–body_problem, philosophical problem concerning the relationship between thought and consciousness in the human mind and Human body, body. It addresses the nature of consciousness ...

cognitive neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the Biology, biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental ...

and

free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

* 2012: "Bij de les" ("Paying attention"), focused on

science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...

* 2013: "Wonderlijke ervaringen" ("Extraordinary experiences"), focused on

psychics A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that ar ...

religious experience A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, mystical experience) is a subjectivity, subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, a ...

s and

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance that ...

in Belgium * 2014: "Crisis in de wetenschap" ("Crisis in science"), focused on derailments in the scientific process

Organisation

Skepsis is an independent nonprofit organisation that consists of volunteers and expert authors, that earn a modest

honorarium An honorarium is an '' ex gratia'' payment, i.e., a payment made, without the giver recognizing themself as having any liability or legal obligation to the recipient for their volunteered services, or for services for which fees are not tradition ...

for writing in its semi-annual magazine ''

''. The expenses are covered by the contributions of subscribers to ''Skepter'' and of donators. Its first chairman from 1987 to 1998 was astronomer

Cornelis de Jager Cornelis "Kees" de Jager (; 29 April 1921 – 27 May 2021) was a Dutch astronomer who specialized in predicting solar variation to assess the Sun's impact on future climate. He was the General Secretary of the IAU from 1967 to 1973 and former ...

, who was also the first chairman of the

from 1994 to 2001.

Board of directors

Current composition: ;Executive committee: * Prof. dr. F. P. Israel (chairman) * Dr. J. W. Nienhuys (secretary) *

Drs. Doctorandus (; ; drs.) is a Dutch academic title according to the pre-Bachelor–Master system. The female form is doctoranda (dra.; this form is not commonly used). The title is acquired by passing the ''doctoraalexamen'', the exam which usually ...

W.-J. van Zeist (treasurer) ;General management: * Drs. P. J. van Erp (webmaster) * Drs. M. G. A. Koller (working groups) * Dr. D. W. Koppenaal * Drs. G. J. van 't Land * M. Tamboer (administration) * A. M. Tieben * Drs. B. O. Vos * Dr. D. J. Zeilstra

Editorial staff ''
Skepter ''Skepter'' is a popular science magazine of the Dutch skeptical foundation Stichting Skepsis. It describes paranormal or controversial theories and methods from a skeptical perspective. History In its first issue, the contemporary presiden ...
''

Current composition: * Hans van Maanen (editor-in-chief) * Dirk Koppenaal *

Jan Willem Nienhuys Jan Willem Nienhuys (born 16 April 1942) is a Dutch mathematician, book translator and skeptic. He taught mathematics at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He is also a board member and secretary of Stichting Skepsis and an editor of its ma ...

Controversies

The foundation has played a part in several high profile controversies.

Robbert van den Broeke

Late 2005, Stichting Skepsis took on , a self-proclaimed psychic with numerous appearances on Dutch television. In an episode of his television show ''Er is zo veel meer'' (with

Irene Moors Irene Moors (born 18 June 1967, Alkmaar) is a Dutch comedian, TV personality, singer, and host. Career Her career took off in 1989 with RTL 4's ''Telekids'', co-starring Carlo Boszhard, turning them both into TV icons of the Netherlands. In 1 ...

) he did a

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

for a woman. During the conversation he claimed knowledge of the woman's supposed past lives, telling her that she had been a certain "Hillegien Rozeboom" in an earlier life and that her husband was a "genverbrander". ''Skepter'' editor Rob Nanninga looked up this information and found a

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

website with the same information. However, the occupation "genverbrander" never existed. The word was mistyped and should have been "jeneverbrander". According to Skepsis, the fact that van den Broeke mispronounced the word exactly as it was mistyped on this website proved that he had simply looked up the information in advance. Two months later, in February 2006, it was reported that because of ''Stichting Skepsis efforts no further episodes of the show would be produced and that no re-runs would be aired.

Jomanda and Sylvia Millecam

In August 2001 the Dutch

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

Sylvia Millecam Sylvia Maria Millecam (23 February 1956 – 20 August 2001) was a Dutch actress and comedian. She was featured regularly on Dutch television where she hosted several shows. Millecam also appeared in several Dutch movies and released two albu ...

died as a result of

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. After being diagnosed the actress sought second opinions and treatment from two

providers and self-proclaimed healing

medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

Jomanda Johanna “Joke” Wilhelmina Petronella Damman, known under her nickname Jomanda (born May 5, 1948), is a controversial Dutch healing medium who refers to herself as the ''Lady of the Light.'' Background Born Johanna Wilhelmina Petronella Dam ...

. These told Millecam that she did not have cancer but suffered from some bacterial infection instead. Millecam's condition steadily worsened until the cancer could no longer be treated. The Dutch

public prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

initially pressed charges but dropped them after concluding that Millecam had made her decision independently. At this point ''Stichting Skepsis'' and the ''

Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij The Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij or VtdK (English language, English: ''Association Against Quackery'' or ''Society Against Quackery'') is a Dutch organisation that investigates the claims of alternative medicine and opposes quackery. Beginni ...

'' took legal steps forcing the prosecutor to continue his case. In 2009 the case concluded with a guilty verdict against the two alternative healers, but acquittal for Jomanda.

References

External links

*
KloptDatWel?
blog that emerged from Skepsis {{Skeptical conferences Skeptic organisations in the Netherlands Organizations established in 1987 Organisations based in Utrecht (city) 1987 establishments in the Netherlands Scientific skepticism organizations