The KNAW will celebrate its annual Academy Day on Thursday 5 June. This year, we will address the theme ‘research in turbulent times’. The language of the Academy Day will be Dutch.
Registration is full. It's possible to join the event via livestream. Please see the video above.
President Marileen Dogterom will deliver her annual address, in which she will discuss the position of science and scholarship in today's world. Geopolitical shifts, technological innovations and major social challenges are unfolding at a rapid pace. Research is indispensable in these times. It stimulates knowledge sharing and innovation, tempers misinformation and helps to understand and face complex challenges. But that research is also under tension. How do we interpret these times and what does the path to the future look like?
Experts will share their experiences. What do they observe, but also: what new insights do the present times and discussions bring us? And from a historical perspective: are we really living in a special time or is there precedent? What is the state of our academic freedom and what developments are challenging it? We will discuss this with them and the audience.
We will close the afternoon festively with the awarding of the Academy medal to Philomena Essed. The medal is awarded every two years to a person who has made a great contribution to (the advancement of) science and scholarship in the Netherlands. Her contribution to defining and understanding institutional and other forms of racism has been indispensable for current insights into racism, both in scholarly discourse and in society as a whole. On Friday 6 June 2025 (19:00-21:00), we will welcome Philomena Essed as guest of honour during a public event dedicated to her groundbreaking work. More information on this will follow later.
3:00 PM – Reception
3:30 PM – Opening by moderator Esther van Rijswijk
3:35 PM – Lightning presentations: What causes these turbulent times? What is happening at the gates of and within the academic world?
Experts and people with lived experience will give short presentations on the various challenges:
3:45 PM – Pieter Slaman, Leiden University:
Criticism of Science and Austerity Politics: Echoes of the Turbulent 1970s and 1980s
3:55 PM – Annual Address by Marileen Dogterom on the Position of Science in Today’s World
4:10 PM – Roundtable Discussion moderated by Esther van Rijswijk
4:40 PM – Performance of El cant dels ocells by Anthony Heidweiller
4:45 PM – Presentation of the Academy Medal to Philomena Essed
5:00 PM – Reception
