With the challenges the world is facing today, the humanities and social sciences are needed and more relevant than ever to help us understand what it means to ‘lead a good life’. The authors and editors, with whom Brill collaborates, dedicate their academic life to asking critical questions on globalization, the rise and fall of societies, migration, the functioning of our democracies, the history of conflicts and international relations, inequality, water security or climate change, to name just a few. In this year’s article we let our authors and editors explain – from their personal perspectives – why it is crucial for society to continue investing in research in the humanities and social sciences. They give us a glance into their field of research, individual work, methodologies and motivation, and they demonstrate why the humanities have been and will remain a vital pillar of academia and society.