Academy Medal

Jaap van Dissel, Director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Control at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (CIb-RIVM) and Professor of Internal Medicine, in particular infectious diseases, at Leiden University, received the Academy Medal from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) on 31 May 2021. 

Van Dissel is being awarded the Medal for the way in which he has approached his role as scientific advisor to the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport and the Dutch Government’s crisis team during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Academy awards the Medal every other year to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of science in the Netherlands.

As chairman of the national Outbreak Management Team, Van Dissel has, from the start of the pandemic, devoted himself with unbridled energy and admirable calm to explaining the science behind COVID-19 to politicians and the public. He has done so in a rapidly unfolding crisis under enormous political and public pressure and amidst a storm of scientific debate.

He does not shy away from that debate in his Government briefings, explaining time and again the essence of the issues at hand and the limits of our current knowledge. He never veers far from the role that a scientist can be expected to play and does not allow himself to be lured into making political statements. Jaap van Dissel can rightfully be regarded as an ‘honest broker’ of science.

About the recipient

Jaap Tamino van Dissel (1957) has a distinguished scientific track record. After obtaining his PhD for his thesis on human immunity against intracellular micro-organisms, Van Dissel trained as an internist at Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), specialising in infectious diseases. He was a Research Fellow at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, both in the United States, and became head of the department of Infectious Diseases at the LUMC, where he was appointed Professor of Internal Medicine, in particular infectious diseases, in 1999. Van Dissel became Director of the CIb-RIVM in 2013.

Trudy Dehue, sociologist of science, publicist and emeritus professor at the University of Groningen will be receiving the Academy Medal. The Academy awards the prize every other year to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of science in the Netherlands. Dehue is being awarded the prize for having initiated the social debate on important issues in science.

As a philosopher and sociologist of science, Trudy Dehue has a special focus on the sciences devoted to people: psychology, psychiatry and brain research. She believes that researchers should not only tell us what they have discovered, but particularly how they came to their conclusions. She also applies this principle in her own work and enjoys talking about it with a broadly-based audience.

As early as twenty years ago, Dehue drew attention to problems in the publication culture in various disciplines. By arguing that researchers should not only be assessed on the basis of their articles in peer-reviewed journals, but also, for example, on the basis of Dutch-language books, which can be written for both academic and non-academic audiences, she was way ahead of the current debate about perverse incentives in science.

In De depressie-epidemie (The Depression Epidemic) – 2008), a careful study of the depoliticization of psychological suffering and the contribution that the pharmaceutical industry makes to it, Dehue put an important social theme on the agenda. The book generated an overwhelming response, both inside and outside of academia, as did Betere mensen. Over gezondheid als keuze en koopwaar (Better people. About health as a choice and merchandise) in 2014. Since then, Dehue has been a regular guest in the media and gives dozens of lectures each year.

About the laureate

Trudy Dehue (1951) started her working life at the end of the 1970s in the child psychiatric clinic in Groningen. In 1990, she obtained her PhD cum laude for a dissertation on the changing meaning of the concepts of 'science' and 'objectivity' in psychology. Between 1995 and 2016, she was professor of theory and history of psychology at the University of Groningen.

Robert-Jan Smits will receive the 2016 Academy Medal. The Academy Medal is awarded to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the Netherlands to the advancement of science in the broadest sense of the word. Robert-Jan Smits is Director-General for Research and Innovation – European Commission.

Robert-Jan Smits is receiving the Academy Medal in recognition of his unflagging efforts on behalf of research and innovation in the European Union. Those efforts are visible in the design of the Union’s research and innovation policy and the heights to which that policy aspires. As the right arm of successive European Commissioners for Research, Innovation and Science, Smits has played a leading role for almost three decades in the development and implementation of Horizon 2020, the European Research Council, the European Research Area (ERA), and the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures.

His vision, perseverance and the results achieved under his leadership have made Robert-Jan Smits an obvious choice as Academy Medal laureate. In the words of jury chairperson Ben Feringa: ‘Robert-Jan Smits has spent almost his entire career working in his own unique way to promote European research. He functions as a traffic manager at the junction of four roads: Dutch research, European research, Dutch politics, and European politics.’

About the laureate

Robert-Jan Smits (born in 1958) studied at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, the Institut Universitaire d’Hautes Études Internationales in Switzerland, and the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy in the United States. After completing his studies, he spent several years working for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. In 1989, he left for Brussels to work for the European Commission. Since 2010, he has been the Director-General of Research and Innovation for the European Commission. Smits was one of the initiators of Horizon 2020, the largest research programme in the world (with a budget of 80 billion euros between 2014 and 2020). 

In 2016, Smits was the very first recipient of a new lifetime achievement award by EuroScience, the non-profit grassroots association of researchers in Europe. In his various roles within the European Union, Smits has been vital to the positioning of European research. He is a highly influential voice in the political debate about science. Robert-Jan Smits is always prepared to share his insightful vision of science – in Europe and the Netherlands – with others.

Alexander Rinnooy Kan, University Professor of Economics and Business at the University of Amsterdam, will be the 2014 recipient of the Academy Medal awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Jury chairperson Pearl Dykstra, Academy Vice-President: ‘There are very few Dutch persons who have devoted themselves to the cause of science with so much passion, persistence and impact as Alexander Rinnooy Kan. He is the ideal go-between for science, politics and society.’ The jury praised his erudition and charisma, and the apparently inexhaustible energy with which he advises and assists many civil society organisations.

About the laureate

Alexander Rinnooy Kan studied mathematics and econometrics. He began his career in 1969 as a research assistant at Leiden University’s Mathematical Institute. In 1980, he was appointed Professor of Operational Research at Erasmus University Rotterdam. In 1983, he became the Director of the Econometric Institute at Erasmus, and in 1986 its Rector Magnificus. In 1991, he became president of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry (VNO, later VNO-NCW). In 1996, he joined the executive board of bank and insurer ING. Before his appointment as University Professor at the University of Amsterdam in 2012, Alexander Rinnooy Kan spent six years as the President of the Netherlands’ Social and Economic Council. He was and is much in demand as a government adviser. For example, he chaired various committees that investigated such wide-ranging subjects as the functioning of the Netherlands’ public broadcasting system and the impending shortage of teachers. Rinnooy Kan was a member of the first Innovation Platform (established 2003), set up to take the Netherlands into the international top five in research, education and innovation. He currently serves in the following capacities: president of the KHMW (the oldest learned society in the Netherlands); chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund; and chairman of a committee that is evaluating the national police force.

The Academy Medal for 2012 has awarded to Emmo Meijer, Corporate Director Research & Development at FrieslandCampina and part-time professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. The Academy awards the Medal every other year to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of science in the Netherlands.

Dr Emmo Meijer has been a staunch advocate of Dutch science throughout his career. There are few who can match his skill as a mediator between science, business and politics. He has taken this role upon himself in various positions in industry, but also as the chairman of the Chemical Sciences Division of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (the country’s most important research funding body), and as the chairman of the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation. As a key representative of industry, where applied research dominates, Professor Meijer has argued tirelessly in favour of independent research.

In the words of jury chairman Ben Feringa: “Emmo Meijer’s views on the importance of fundamental research make him a welcome participant in political debates concerning science. That is why he has achieved such important results. His efforts have encouraged extra investment in major research facilities and support for cross-border collaboration in key research projects.”
From the jury report: “His outstanding reputation, the important role he plays in stimulating interaction between science and industry, and his efforts to promote science beyond the confines of the research community make Emmo Meijer a worthy recipient of the Academy Medal. In making this award, the Academy is stressing the vital importance of fundamental research for society.”

About the laureate

Emmo Meijer (60) studied Chemistry at VU University Amsterdam and received his doctorate there in 1979. He took a position with DSM that same year, where he worked in various research and business management positions and played a key role in shifting the company’s main focus to the life sciences. Professor Meijer became DSM’s first Chief Technology Officer in 2001. In 2005 he continued his career at Unilever, where he was made responsible for Global Foods R&D and later for company-wide product development. Emmo Meijer is a part-time professor of Biochemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology. He is the director and a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities, chairman of the Top Institute Food and Nutrition, chairman of the AgriFood & Innovation Coordination Group, chairman of the Supervisory Board of Utrecht University, and a member of various Dutch and European organisations that concern themselves with science and innovation. Meijer was the chairman of the Energy Advisory Committee and, until late 2011, of the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation. Since 2003, he has been an honorary member of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society.

On 1 April 2011, Professor Meijer was appointed Corporate Director Research & Development at dairy company FrieslandCampina.

2010

Paul Schnabel

2008

Dick Swaab

2006

Emeri van Donzel (†2017)

2005

Hans Chang

2004

Ton Koopman

2003

Dirk van Dalen

2002

Joost Ritman

2001

Eric Houwink (†2005)

2000

Leo Jansen (†2012)

1999

M.A.C. Perryman, M.J.G. Veltman and G. 't Hooft

1998

R. Nieuwenhuys and P. Sanders

1997

P.J. Vinken

1996

G. Puchinger

1995

P.C. Baayen

1994

P.H. Dubois and mw. S. Dubois-de Bruyn

1993

J.J. Klant and A. Pais

1992

P. Buwalda, J.L. van der Gouw and E.A. Loeliger

1991

J. van Baal and K.C. Winkler

1990

A.H. Heineken, C. de Jager and J.M. Polak

1989

J. Hulsker, K. Verhoeff and A.D. Sacharov, Rusland

1988

C.A. van den Beld and C. le Pair

1987

L. Vroman and A.J. Wiggers

1986

R. van Lieshout and P.W. van der Ploeg Sr.

1984

F.A. Stafleu

1983

H.C. van de Hulst