André Lardinois, vice dean of research at the Faculty of Arts, has been appointed member of the Academia Europaea. With this appointment, he is one of five faculty members in this prestigious European scientific society, alongside Enny Das, Mirjam Ernestus, Olivier Hekster and Natalia Levshina.
The Academia Europaea is an independent European scientific academy, comparable to KNAW but on a European level. Founded in 1988 in Cambridge, the academy now has more than 2,000 members from 43 countries, and it represents all disciplines, from the natural sciences and medicine to the social sciences and the humanities. The aim of the academy is to promote European research by advising governments and international organisations on scientific policy and by encouraging interdisciplinary and international research.
Above all, I hope that my appointment will help to let the voice of the humanities be heard in the academy and, through them, in the bodies responsible for research policy in Europe. - André Lardinois
A voice for the humanities
With his appointment, Lardinois aims to champion a strong position for the humanities within the academy and the larger European debate on research policy. He is active not only as a researcher, but also as an administrator: he is part of the board of the International Federation of Associations of Classical Studies and he represents that organisation in the European Association of the Social Sciences and Humanities, which advises the European Commission on research policy. In his own research, too, he is increasingly seeking collaboration with other disciplines.