Rector: Dutch research body should merge into ERC

A rector leading one of the Netherlands’ top universities has called for the budget of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to be merged into the European Research Council.

In a lecture at Maastricht University and comments published by Science Business, Luc Soete, rector magnificus of Maastricht University, said that the NWO should be abolished and become part of the ERC. He said Dutch funding allocations should be governed by the blue sky funding body’s rules and procedures, and special provisions made to ensure Dutch researchers still benefit from grants that would otherwise have been made by the NWO.

Soete said that considering the quality of Dutch research, such a move would not represent a “drawback” and would in fact encourage greater international research co-operation of institutions and universities.