Wim van Saarloos will be appointed as vice president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) with effect from 1 September 2016 and will succeed José van Dijck as president of the KNAW on 1 June 2018. With effect from 1 January 2017 he will resume his appointment at Leiden University as professor of theoretical physics.
Wim van Saarloos has been programme director NWO transition since June 2015 and is managing the preparations for the transition of NWO. Until the end of this year Wim van Saarloos will continue to support the Steering Group Transition in this role. In consultation with the Governing Board of NWO and the Steering Group Transition he will gradually wind down his tasks. At the same time with the announcement of the President and members of the NWO Executive Board, the involvement of the new Executive Board in the further preparations for the transition during the implementation phase will increase.
As the selection procedure of the KNAW assumed the appointment of the vice president with effect from 1 June and the entire timetable was aligned with this, this appointment is being announced now already. However it has been agreed that the appointment of Wim van Saarloos as vice president of the KNAW will only become effective on 1 September.
“With this agreement I will stay involved in the preparation of the new NWO structure. I am still fully motivated to contributing to a successful transition of NWO,” says Wim van Saarloos.
More information on KNAW-website