Three UG staff members to join the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW)

The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities has appointed Ann-Sophie Lehmann and René Veenstra as as new members. Lex Hoogduin has been appointed as Director.

Lex Hoogduin

Lex Hoogduin is Professor of the Economics of Complexity and Uncertainty in Financial Markets and Financial Institutions in the Faculty of Economics and Business. He founded GloComNet, the Global Complexity Network.

Hoogduin concentrates on the economics of complex systems, with a particular focus on financial systems and financial institutes, including the supervision of these systems and institutes. From 2009 to 2011, Lex Hoogduin was a member of the board of De Nederlandsche Bank. Between 1997 and 2001 he acted as personal advisor to University of Groningen alumnus Wim Duisenberg, the first president of the European Central Bank.

Ann-Sophie Lehmann

Ann-Sophie Lehmann is professor of Modern and Contemporary Arts at the Faculty of Arts. She is co-director of the Research Center Arts in Society and guest researcher at Minerva Art Academy.

Lehmann has an excellent reputation based on her innovative research into materials, tools, and practices in the visual arts. Her approach is transhistorical and includes old and new media, ranging from oil paint and clay to aniline dyes and software.

René Veenstra

René Veenstra is professor in the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Scientific Director of the Research School ICS and  Head of the Department of Sociology. He has been studying the development of prosocial and antisocial behaviour, friendships, bullying and parent-child interactions. His work forms part of TRAILS (TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey), a research project into the physical and mental health of children heading towards adulthood.

Veenstra lectures on bullying and social network analysis, and criminality and safety. He is coordinating the introduction and evaluation of the KiVa anti-bullying programme into the Netherlands.

Oldest ‘Learned Society’ in The Netherlands

The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW: Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen) is the oldest ‘Learned Society’ in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1752 under the name Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen to promote science in the widest possible sense. Ever since its establishment, the Society has been involved in promoting science and facilitating exchange between academia and society.

It has traditionally had a two-tier structure: a college of administrators with an academic interest, i.e. the Directors, and a group of academics, i.e. the members, who are responsible for the Society’s academic activities