Symbolic role
‘Internal and external discussions have also revealed a strong desire to extend the investigation beyond the Academy’s direct and visible involvement,’ says Beauchamps. ‘We will be asking the research team to also examine the Academy’s broader system of science and scholarship. After all, the Academy also plays a symbolic role in academia, the economy and politics, both in the Netherlands and beyond. That also means taking viewpoints informed by local knowledge and knowledge institutions in the former colonies explicitly into account in the research design and the investigation itself.’
Preliminary market consultation
The independent investigation will commence in mid-2025 and will take several years to complete. Says Beauchamps, ‘As part of the tendering procedure, the Academy will meet with interested researchers on 18 November 2024. A preliminary market consultation of this kind will help us fine-tune the brief and start connecting researchers who may be interested. After the meeting, the call for proposals will be published in late December or early January. Researchers will then have three months to submit a proposal.’
If you have any questions or comments about the investigation, e-mail the project team at koloniaalverleden@knaw.nl.
Questions about the substance of the preliminary market consultation may be submitted to TenderNed.