How does the Academy choose its members?

Society of outstanding scientists

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) combines three core tasks. It is a society of outstanding scientists, an organisation of research institutes and an advisory body to the government. The Academy derives its authority mainly from its quality-selected members, who participate in committees, advisory boards and juries. It is important that the Society properly reflects the scientific research field. New, often interdisciplinary, scientific fields should be represented. In order to increase the representativeness of the membership, an analysis is made every three years of whether disciplines, institutions and/or target groups are under-represented within the Academy and space is created for such groups.

Election system in outline

Nomination

In principle, a maximum of eighteen ordinary members and four foreign members are elected each year on the grounds of their demonstrable scientific or scholarly excellence. The Academy's general assembly can, on the proposal of the Academy Board, decide to change this number for a specific year in order to create space for under-represented fields of study and to improve the representativeness of the membership. Nominees will be informed in the annual call for nominations.

Candidates can be nominated for the following domains:

• Medical, Medical-Biological and Health Sciences (MMBG domain)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering (NTW domain)
• Humanities (GW Domain)
• Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences and Law (GMRW domain)
• or for a cross-domain place, if the candidate’s discipline involves two or more of the above scientific areas

Nominations can be made by:

• Threesomes of Academy members
• Boards of funded Dutch Universities
• Executive board of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (for a researcher affiliated to an NWO institute)
• Academy director general (for a researcher affiliated to an Academy institute)
• Board of the Dutch Network of Women Professors
• Board of The Young Academy

Threesomes of Academy members may submit unlimited nominations subject to conditions. Boards of funded Dutch universities may each nominate one person per science domain, as well as one candidate for a cross-domain position. The other nominating parties may each nominate one person.

To nominate, the full digital nomination form should be completed in accordance with the regulations. Information about nominations and the process will be kept confidential. Names of nominees will be announced only if they have been chosen.

Two candidates may be nominated annually who, in addition to scientific excellence, stand out in two other areas: cross-domain work and scholarly authority.

Selection

Nominees will be assessed by four juries from the Learned Society (domain juries). A fifth jury, consisting of the chairs of the four domain juries and a technical chair, will evaluate the nominees for the cross-domain places. This involves consulting other members within the discipline and external referees.

Step 1: Advice by domains
The Academy is divided into four domains that advise the domain juries on the nominees for each area of expertise.

Step 2: Assessment by domain juries with the help of external referees.
Domain juries compile a shortlist from the nominations submitted for their domain. Advice on the shortlisted individuals will be sought from at least three external, preferably foreign, independent referees. The domain juries will then draw up a final list of candidates with substantiations.

Step 3: Assessment by the Academy Board
The Academy Board assesses the procedure for accuracy and completeness. It is important that in addition to scientific excellence, attention should also be paid to spread across scientific fields, multi and interdisciplinarity, age, and the degree of expected involvement in the forum and advisory functions of the Academy. The Academy attaches great importance to a membership that is diverse in all respects.

Step 4: Elections
Finally, the list of candidates with the substantiations of the domain juries will be submitted to the Academy members in April, after which the members will vote.

Selection criteria

Scientific excellence is the main criterion and condition for Academy membership. The information on the nomination form regarding scientific excellence is an important basis for its assessment. In addition to the candidate's merits in the field of scientific research and achievements in the field of education and impact, the following criteria play a role in the selection: the degree of expected involvement in the Academy’s forum and advisory functions, the even distribution of candidates across the different fields of science within the domain and regional distribution in terms of scientific organisations, where the members of the domain in question are active. Moreover, the Academy attaches great importance to a membership that is diverse in all respects.

Detailed information on the nomination and selection of members can be found in the ‘regulations for the election of new members and foreign members’ (Dutch only).