Family of Academic Minds

Family of Academic Minds (FAM), formerly called Family, is a student association based at, but not exclusive to, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

As FAM we try to build a community of support at University where students can bond together and learn from each other’s experience and different perspectives. We aim to do so by connecting students from different backgrounds in academia, e.g., different cultural backgrounds, religion, gender, study, college year and so forth. Our activities are focused on academia, career future, society, diversity and inclusion and fun! We organize multiple events throughout the academic year and we also have a Family Group program called “Families” where students can be matched up with other students from different backgrounds

VU Family – An inclusive home for you

Our family groups consist of 4/6 students with the same interests and hobbies, but with different study backgrounds. In this way, students have the unique opportunity to come into contact with each other. This ensures that they can build a network in an accessible way in which they can count on each other and fall back on during their study time. FAM has a (financial) facilitating role with regard to the formal and informal activities that the families want to organize. Examples of such activities are: workshops, karaoke, lectures, eating out, trips, studying, museums and sports. We believe it is important that families help promote the cultural, academic and professional development of students.