About the institutes

Knowledge Transfer

Knowledge transfer is an important point of attention at the Academy institutes. To support the institutes and individual Academy researchers in this area, the Academy has set up its own Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO). The KTO helps institutes and researchers seek the expertise needed for knowledge transfer and supports them in attracting funding. More information about the KTO.

Quality assurance and evaluation

The institutes are evaluated regularly by independent evaluation committees, on the basis of the Strategy Evaluation Protocol and the associated Academy Manual for Evaluations of Academy Institutes. Each institute also has an Academic Advisory Board that can provide the institute director and the Academy Board with advice, either on request or on its own initiative, on the scientific course of the institute.

Animal experiments

Three Academy institutes conduct research with laboratory animals: The Hubrecht Institute, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience. The animals concerned are mainly birds, rodents and fish. A small group of primates are kept for brain research purposes. Since 2011, the Academy has issued biennial report accounting for its animal experiments.

Recognition and Rewards

Dutch academia is working on the Recognition and Rewards Programme, a different and broader approach to recognising academic staff for the work they do. The programme will result in changes in the next few years: changes in procedures for obtaining funding and in the way teams and individual staff members are assessed. The Academy too now has its own plan tailored to the institutes.

Portfolio of Academy and NWO research institutes

The Academy's and NWO's research institutes jointly make up the portfolio of national research institutes. The Academy and NWO jointly ensure that these national institutes add value to the Dutch knowledge landscape and are well equipped to meet changing scientific and societal challenges.

Scientific integrity

Scientists in the Netherlands adhere to the Dutch Code of Conduct for Scientific Integrity. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (“the Academy”) has a procedure for reporting suspected violations of scientific integrity within its research organisation. This procedure applies both to Academy employees and others who have a complaint regarding possible violations of scientific integrity on the part of current or former Academy employees.

Professorship Policy

Successful science is increasingly dependent on partnerships. The Academy therefore strives for strong strategic partnerships between its institutes, universities and other knowledge institutions. Appointments of Academy researchers to chairs is a customary way of shaping and further developing partnerships with universities. The Academy Professorship Policy memorandum describes the basic principles of the Academy's professorship policy and the procedures for establishing professorships and for appointing or reappointing Academy researchers to them.

Open science

The Academy believes that research data and publications resulting from publicly funded research should be freely accessible. The Academy also requests its own researchers to issue open access publications. This means that these research results, such as articles, books, dissertations or reports, are freely and unrestrictedly accessible through the Academy Research Portal.