Vision and mission
The Academy institutes have a shared mission and adhere to the Academy’s broad vision.
Research mission
To conduct, stimulate and facilitate scientific research to develop knowledge that contributes to healthy people, resilient societies and a sustainable planet.
KNAW vision
‘The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) is the forum, the conscience and the voice of science and scholarship in the Netherlands. Its institutes, with their research and collections, have leading positions in the Netherlands and abroad. Its activities are based on the conviction that knowledge and creativity are the most important raw materials for well-being and prosperity.’
The institutes’ roles
The Academy institutes fulfil three national roles:
- Conducting scientific research
- Empowering the Dutch research community
- Developing knowledge for the benefit of society
A. Conducting scientific research
The Academy institutes conduct scientific research with high impact according to a long-term research agenda aimed at pushing the frontiers of scientific knowledge and integrating national research agendas. The institutes’ researchers are widely recognised as experts by their peers; their work appears in leading journals and books and is presented at significant conferences. With a strong commitment to scientific and societal impact, the institutes play a leading role in addressing urgent challenges and essential transitions focusing on healthy people, resilient societies and a sustainable planet.
In all their activities, the Academy institutes promote and adhere to high ethical standards of academic freedom, academic responsibility and research integrity, taking honesty, scrupulousness, transparency, independence and responsibility as leading principles. By promoting open science practices, the Academy allows researchers and stakeholders worldwide to benefit from new insights, while ensuring the protection of sensitive data and intellectual property through adherence to the national research security policy.
To ensure excellence in research, talent with different skills and expertise is essential. The institutes attract and retain top talents and foster an encouraging and supportive working environment where staff can reach their full potential. The Academy’s ambitious agenda for a broader approach to recognising staff for their contributions encourages both teams and individual staff members to perform to the best of their abilities and make optimal use of everyone’s talents. The institutes work closely with academic and non-academic parties as well as citizens in the Netherlands and abroad. They involve these parties in their research processes through participatory and co-creation approaches, thereby generating new knowledge and strengthening the dialogue between science and society. The Academy institutes often act as citizen science hubs by committing themselves to highly impactful citizen science projects.
Key ambition: The Academy institutes aim to continue to conduct scientific research with high impact according to a long-term research agenda that is committed to high ethical standards.
B. Empowering the Dutch research community
The Academy institutes play a key role in the knowledge landscape of the Netherlands and beyond. They form national knowledge hubs and manage and provide access to unique and often world-renowned collections and research facilities in the life sciences, social sciences and humanities. The institutes serve their respective disciplines by fostering connections and facilitating and stimulating innovative research, thereby ensuring a strong connection with the Dutch universities and other knowledge institutions. As national hubs, the institutes actively engage in various international collaborations and networks to stimulate Dutch research internationally and to contribute to global scientific knowledge in their respective fields.
The institutes facilitate research through their leading national role in national research infrastructures. They preserve and provide access to unique research materials, such as collections, databases, archives of literary or historical objects and other scientific facilities. As national nodes, the institutes coordinate access to international large-scale infrastructures and contribute to the development of these facilities. These unique resources not only add significant value to the institutes’ own research but also serve as essential facilities for specific disciplines, both nationally and internationally, driving scientific advances.
The institutes play an essential stimulating and coordinating role by consolidating knowledge across universities and other knowledge institutions and transforming it into long-term programmes and research agendas. They function as national nodes of relevant research networks and form hubs of know-how within their respective research domains. In this role, the institutes also organise national and international conferences, workshops, courses and masterclasses.
The institutes shape their connecting role by setting up networks, implementing joint research programmes and establishing formal collaborations with universities and other knowledge institutions. They are intertwined with university research groups through more than 80 professorships, resulting in around 50 PhD theses annually and numerous contributions to university educational programmes. The institutes play a pivotal role in training the next generation of scholars, scientists and professionals. Their alumni hold prominent positions in the Netherlands and abroad, both within and outside academia. Each year, more than 350 students from universities and universities of applied sciences, secondary vocational education and high schools complete internships at the Academy institutes, enabling them to gain experience in innovative research practices and broaden their professional network.
Key ambition: The Academy institutes aim to further strengthen their facilitating, stimulating and connecting role in the Netherlands by providing access to world-renowned collections and research infrastructure, organising national and international symposia and initiating networks and joint research programmes.
C. Developing knowledge for the benefit of society
Through their research, collections and research infrastructure, the Academy institutes serve society by developing knowledge and solutions for urgent challenges and societal developments with a focus on healthy people, resilient societies and a sustainable planet. The Academy institutes facilitate effective transfer and use of knowledge in their specific fields of expertise and ensure that knowledge is made available efficiently when current events call for it. Knowledge sharing by the Academy institutes is aimed at professional users as well as the general public.
The Academy institutes actively collaborate and share knowledge with professional users, thereby generating new knowledge and strengthening the dialogue between science and society. Professional users include policymakers, NGOs, companies, hospitals and universities of applied sciences. Knowledge development with professional users is carried out through public-private partnerships, consultancy, launching start-up companies and filing patents, publishing research outcomes in media outlets aimed at professional users, presenting work at conferences for professionals and training professional users. The Academy institutes thereby contribute to a flexible, resilient knowledge society and drive innovations that aid European competitiveness. Researchers from the Academy institutes also participate in regional, national, European and global policy advisory committees and maintain close contacts with public knowledge organisations and advisory bodies. In this role, the institutes provide evidence-based recommendations that help inform policymakers in their decision-making processes.
The Academy institutes are committed to strengthening public engagement by actively sharing their research findings with the general public. Staff members of the Academy institutes appear in the media, write blog and social media posts, organise exhibitions and give lectures for general audiences. The institutes regularly open their doors to the general public, so that citizens can learn about the research carried out by the institutes and science in general. By sharing our discoveries in accessible ways, we strive to spark public curiosity and connect citizens with academic research. We aim to actively reach out to communities and individuals who may not typically engage with the academic world – ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to experience the importance of scientific research.
Key ambition: The Academy institutes aim to increase their efforts to engage with targeted professional users and the general public, focusing on communities that do not typically engage with the academic world.
Research themes of the Academy institutes
Through its institutes, the Academy aims to push the frontiers of scientific knowledge and to create knowledge to address urgent challenges and societal developments with a focus on three overarching strategic themes: Healthy People, Resilient Societies and a Sustainable Planet.
Healthy People
The Healthy People theme covers research into people’s general well-being, with the aim of understanding and improving the health and well-being of both individuals and populations. The Academy institutes’ research uncovers the fundamental principles of life, providing essential knowledge to combat diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart failure, fungal infections, obsessive compulsive disorder, visual deficits and sleep disorders. Research within the Academy institutes has led to groundbreaking technology, including the development of organoid technology and visual brain implants. Through its infrastructure and collections (e.g. the Netherlands Brain Bank), the Academy institutes provide access to excellent research infrastructure related to the ‘Healthy People’ theme. The institutes also study the impact of social inequality on people’s health and life expectancy. By studying this impact, and population processes such as ageing, health and mortality, the Academy institutes provide essential information for evidence-based policies that promote a healthier society.
Resilient Societies
Research on Resilient Societies seeks to understand how societies function in the face of historical events and future challenges such as climate change, democratic backsliding and social inequality, devoting particular attention to voices that have traditionally been underrepresented. The Academy institutes offer valuable perspectives on national identity, demographic trends and societal challenges, and their impact on society and social (in)equality. By studying historical events such as world wars, mass violence, genocide and the impact of colonial and postcolonial processes, the institutes provide significant insights into the long-term social consequences of these events. Additionally, through research on Dutch history, culture and language in a global context, the institutes explore the role of language and culture in identity formation and societal transitions. Through its collections (e.g. the collection of publications on genocides in the 20th and 21st centuries and archives on socioeconomic historical developments), the Academy institutes provide important access to research infrastructure related to the ‘Resilient Societies’ theme.
Sustainable Planet
The Sustainable Planet research theme focuses on understanding, creating and maintaining the conditions necessary for a sustainable future for life on Earth. The institutes conduct research into the functioning of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, focusing on how they respond to environmental change and human impact. This knowledge plays a vital role in efforts to restore both land and freshwater ecosystems. In addition, research into biodiversity, interactions and functions contributes to the discovery of alternative agricultural practices, food sources and innovative applications such as bioremediation. The social and human aspects of a sustainable planet are investigated by studying how different people and institutions perceive, deal and dealt with the impact of climate change, now and in the past. This provides crucial insights into how climate governance is entangled with everyday livelihoods and politics. Through its long-term research programmes and datasets, research infrastructure (e.g. the Dutch Centre for Avian Migration and Demography) and collections (e.g. fungal and bacterial collections), the Academy institutes facilitate research related to the ‘Sustainable Planet’ theme.
Key ambition: The Academy institutes aim to strengthen activities on the overarching strategic research themes of ‘Healthy People, Resilient Societies and Sustainable Planet’ by stimulating interinstitutional collaboration.