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  • 18 March 2024

    Anthropologist of science Marianne de Laet new director of the Meertens Institute

    Anthropologist of science Marianne de Laet has been appointed new director of the Meertens Institute (part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) as of 1 June 2024. De Laet is Professor of Anthropology and Science, Technology, and Society at the Harvey Mudd College (United States), where she was also Associate Dean for Academic Affairs until last summer. She is affiliated with the Faculty of Society & Behaviour at the University of Amsterdam as a guest researcher. Her expertise covers the fields of anthropology of technology and culture, science and society. She succeeds Inger Leemans, who is the current interim director of the Meertens Institute.

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  • 1 March 2024

    Support for the integrity of Argentina’s science system

    In an letter to the network of authorities of research institutions in Argentina (RAICyT), the International Science Council (ISC) expresses its concern regarding the future of Argentina’s science system. The ISC offers its assistance in working with local and regional communities to develop a robust science sector which contributes to Argentina’s social, environmental and economic success. As member of the ISC, the KNAW wants to share this letter urging the government of Argentina to reconsider its recent decisions.

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  • 27 February 2024

    Visual prosthesis simulator offers a glimpse into the future

    In collaboration with their colleagues at the Donders Institute, researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have developed a simulator that enables artificial visual observations for research into the visual prosthesis.

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  • 16 January 2024

    The Young Academy welcomes 10 new members

    In 2024, The Young Academy will again welcome ten new members. They represent the full breadth of science and scholarship, and their research covers a wide variety of topics, ranging from needle-free injection to the philosophy of technology and natural protection from the sea.

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  • 12 December 2023

    Academy Early Career Partnerships grant for interdisciplinary meetings

    Researchers with a PhD can use an Academy Early Career Partnership grant to organise an interdisciplinary meeting at the Trippenhuis (the Academy's headquarters) or at another location of their choice. The Academy has awarded a grant to ten researchers each year since 2019. This post highlights two exceptional meetings that took place this year.

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  • 12 December 2023

    Events in Israel and the Palestinian Territories

    The Academy has recently received requests from various quarters to comment on the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. We too are very concerned about the events of the past few months. The human suffering unfolding before our eyes is overwhelming and affecting us deeply. We sympathise with everyone touched by these terrible events. Based on our role, we are also keen to reflect on the profound impact of these events on the academic community in this region.

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  • 12 December 2023

    The Young Academy probes mental health among academics with its Academy Thermometer

    The Young Academy invites all academics in the Netherlands to take ‘The Academy Thermometer’ survey. A series of questions about workload, motivation and social safety explore the mental health of academics.

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  • 28 November 2023

    Academy: keep science strong for the society of the future

    In the period ahead, last week's election results will be transformed into a new cabinet and new policies, including for science. Dutch science has a strong position internationally. Maintaining and reinforcing that strong position is not something to be taken for granted. For the prosperity and well-being of our country, it is vital to nurture it. That can be done by investing in the full breadth of science and safeguarding its open, inclusive, and international character. We also call upon the next Dutch government to continue to make use of the latest scientific insights to tackle the major challenges that we face today. The Academy stands ready to continue to play a connecting role in that regard.

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  • 28 November 2023

    Shlomo Havlin wins Bakhuis Roozeboom Medal

    Physicist Shlomo Havlin, world renowned as an expert on phase transitions and statistical physics, has won the 2023 Bakhuis Roozeboom Medal. He receives the medal for his ground-breaking theoretical contributions to a range of topics related to phases and phase transitions; a field dedicated to how matter can behave in different states.

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  • 23 November 2023

    Petra de Jongh wins Gilles Holst Medal. Recognition for her scientific contribution to a sustainable energy transition

    Petra de Jongh (Utrecht University) will receive the 2023 Gilles Holst Medal. The jury praised her interdisciplinary approach, her tireless pursuit of knowledge, and the industrial applications resulting from her research on the role of nanomaterials. These include practical, circular solutions for a sustainable energy transition and the development of a new generation of batteries.

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  • 21 November 2023

    Academy Early Career Award for twelve young researchers

    Twelve young researchers – three from each of the Academy’s science domains – will be receiving an Academy Early Career Award in 2024. The prize, awarded annually for outstanding achievement, consists of a sum of EUR 15,000 and a unique work of art. The Academy Early Career Award will be presented this year for the fifth time.

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  • 21 November 2023

    Appeal to new Dutch government: commit to a strong science system

    Dutch science has a strong position internationally. That expresses itself in a high level of prosperity and well-being. But maintaining and reinforcing that strong position for future generations is not something to be taken for granted. For that, stable investment, as deployed in recent years, remains crucial. We call on politicians to commit to a strong science system that is ready to meet the future. The countries around us invest heavily in science. The Netherlands must also continue to do so. The Royal Academy and The Young Academy therefore call on the next government to focus on a number of crucial points:

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  • 7 November 2023

    Christiaan Levelt new director of Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience

    Neuroscientist Christiaan Levelt will become the new director of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), starting 1 January 2024. Levelt is currently a group leader at the institute, where he investigates how the brain learns and processes information. He is also a professor at VU Amsterdam. Christiaan Levelt succeeds Pieter Roelfsema, who has led the institute since 2007 and will remain associated with it as a group leader.

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  • 23 October 2023

    Municipalities need to know more about controversial monuments

    Municipalities do not know enough about the monuments and statues in their public spaces, and their historical awareness is insufficient.

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  • 16 October 2023

    Dutch Knowledge Mission to South Africa

    The caretaker Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, is leading an impressive delegation of 21 prominent Dutch educational and knowledge organisations on a knowledge mission to South Africa from 15 to 18 October. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) is one of the organisations. The mission marks a significant step in strengthening relations between the Netherlands and South Africa, with a particular emphasis on education and research.

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  • 10 October 2023

    Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) warns against proposed Knowledge Security Act

    The systematic screening of large groups of researchers coming to our country – as currently proposed by the Dutch government – is too imprecise and virtually impossible to implement.

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  • 10 October 2023

    New Board of Management KNAW appointed

    The KNAW Academy has appointed three ad interim Board of Management members with effect from 10 October 2023. They are Drs Zakia Guernina as director general a.i., Em Prof Dr Pieter Hooimeijer as deputy director of research policy a.i. and Dr Gerard Nijsten as deputy director of operations a.i.

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  • 19 September 2023

    Buys Ballot Medal for cloud researcher Sandrine Bony

    The French climatologist Sandrine Bony investigates the role of clouds in the climate system, and specifically in climate change. For her pioneering work in this field, the Academy is awarding her this year's Buys Ballot Medal for meteorology, in particular climate change.

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  • 12 September 2023

    Three medical researchers awarded funding from the KNAW Van Walree Fund for knowledge-sharing initiatives

    Three researchers active in the medical sciences are to receive funding from the KNAW Van Walree Fund to pursue innovative activities that support sustainable, peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing. The three researchers are Joyce Browne (Utrecht University Medical Centre), Malon Van den Hof (Amsterdam University Medical Centre/Statistics Netherlands) and Veerle Heesters (Leiden University Medical Centre), who will each receive up to EUR 10,000 in funding.

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  • 16 August 2023

    Potential new strategy for cardiac regeneration through inhibition of ARID1A

    Damage to the human heart, for example due to a heart attack, is not repaired and is therefore permanent. The regenerative capacity of heart muscle cells is lost soon after birth, when these cells transition to their adult form. Researchers from the Van Rooij group have identified ARID1A as an important protein in regulating this transition.

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  • 9 August 2023

    Ten researchers receive an Academy Early Career Partnership

    Ten researchers have been awarded an Academy Early Career Partnership to organise an interdisciplinary event. This will enable them to explore innovative ideas or methods for research. Each researcher will receive EUR 10,000.

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  • 19 July 2023

    Academy Director General Wilma de Koning is moving to Tilburg University

    Wilma de Koning will be leaving as Director General at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. She will become the new vice-president of the Tilburg University Executive Board as of 15 November 2023, succeeding Paulina Snijders.

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  • 6 July 2023

    Unique encounters and fresh perspectives at the Lindau Meetings

    From 25 June - 30 June 2023, over six hundred young scientists from more than eighty countries and nearly forty Nobel laureates gathered in Lindau, Germany, for knowledge exchange and inspiration.

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  • 28 June 2023

    SAPEA report provides input for revised EU’s Farm to Fork strategy

    Consumers shouldn’t be the only ones responsible for the shift to sustainable food consumption, Academies advise European Commission.   A group of renowned scientists nominated by European academies through the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism, have advised Commissioners on how to transform European food consumption to become healthier and more sustainable.  

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