SKEPP
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| Formation | 8 June 1990 | ||
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| Type | non-profit | ||
| Purpose | promotion of scientific skepticism | ||
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Region served
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Belgium (Flanders and Brussels) |
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| Website | http://www.skepp.be | ||
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SKEPP is an independent Belgian skeptical organization. The organization’s name is a backronym for Studiekring voor de Kritische Evaluatie van Pseudowetenschap en het Paranormale ("Study Circle for the Critical Evaluation of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal").
SKEPP is a nonprofit organization emanated from the Belgian astronomical society, Vereniging voor Sterrenkunde, and was founded in 1990 by, among others, Prof. Etienne Vermeersch, Prof. Willem Betz, Tim Trachet and Prof. Jean Paul Van Bendegem.
The goals of the organization are:
SKEPP gets most of its funding from member fees. On the initiative of board member and former editor-in-chief Tom Schoepen, SKEPP has been publishing its own three-monthly magazine since 2000, Wonder en is gheen wonder, a magazine for science and reason, which focuses on both pseudoscientific topics and topics related to the philosophy of science. The editors include Prof. Dr. Johan Braeckman (Ghent University), Dr. Griet Vandermassen (Ghent University), Geerdt Magiels and SKEPP founder Tim Trachet.
In 2012, SKEPP hosted a series of lectures and discussions, featuring prominent scientists and philosophers, under the name Het Denkgelag, which has since grown out to become an independent non-profit that organises skeptical conferences. In 2015, SKEPP hosted the meant-to-be-yearly event "Zomerschool Kritisch Denken" (Summerschool Critical Thinking) aimed at educational professionals. Currently, SKEPP organises the monthly local editions of Skeptics in the Pub in Ghent, Antwerp and Leuven.
Since 1996 SKEPP gives out annual awards to non-members: the Zesde vijs (the “Sixth Screw”) and the Skeptische Put (de “Skeptical Pit”).
The Zesde Vijs is awarded to "someone who has distinguished themselves in the past year in spreading objective knowledge regarding pseudoscience and the paranormal, or who has made themselves noticed in the media by presenting a nuanced critical view or a thoroughly documented argumentation". This prize has been awarded to, among others:
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