In 2017, for example, a hundred additional female professors were appointed with Westerdijk funding, while a National Action Plan on Diversity was launched by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in 2020. These and other initiatives are intended to eventually lead to greater diversity and inclusion at universities. The Young Academy supports this effort to promote, investigate, and facilitate diversity and inclusion in science and scholarship, so that everyone’s talent can be fully appreciated and utilised.

Read more about diversity and inclusion in the Vision Document below.

Data collection at Dutch universities

Dutch universities currently have very little information on the migration background, ethnicity or racialisation of their staff. Collecting this data is controversial but can help combat racism and discrimination.The Young Academy examined options for collecting antidiscrimination data in a manner that allows people of colour to self-identify.

The results can be read in two reports:

• Antidiscrimination data collection in academia: An exploration of survey methodology practices outside of the Netherlands
• An exploration of the views of staff and students of colour regarding antidiscrimination data
• Summary