Background and programme

Register for the Strategic Evening  

Why this evening? 

In 2019 five research communities in the Life Sciences were installed to advise the Round Table Life Sciences and the Board of NWO Domain Science, and to facilitate organisation in the Life Sciences field in the Netherlands. As a start each research community wrote a strategic paper, which served as input for the Sector Portrait Biology, launched by the Dutch Biology Council in 2020. Both the strategic papers and the Sector Portrait included a vision for the future.  

Now times are rapidly changing, with significant consequences for the academic world including the Dutch Life Sciences, from technological and scientific advancements to major challenges in the funding landscape and in the international research climate. This creates new opportunities for collaboration on the one hand but on the other hand underlines the need to collaborate as much as possible to work more efficiently as a field. 

Therefore, it is relevant to have fruitful discussions about the future of the Life Sciences in the Netherlands and to create a shared outlook. To this end, the research communities and the Dutch Biology Council are updating their strategic papers and the Sector Portrait, respectively. This Strategic Evening will provide attendees with the opportunity to interact with the community, to form and share their own vision, and gain more insight in the organisational structure of the Dutch Life Sciences as shaped by the Round Table Life Sciences, the research communities and the Dutch Biology Council. 

Details programme

During the Strategic Evening the Round Table Life Sciences, the Dutch Biology Council, and the five research communities will present their updated papers and share their current issues and questions. Next, attendees will interact with the research communities and Dutch Biology Council while discussing these questions. In small groups we will then look ahead: what is the ideal picture of the future and what is needed to realise it? What lies within our sphere of influence to deal with both opportunities and setbacks in the best possible way? The evening’s round-up will take the next step towards a shared representation of the future of Life Sciences. 

All input received during the evening will be used by the research communities, the Round Table, and the Dutch Biology Council to perform their function: to unite all life scientists, provide advice for NWO, organise impactful events, and much more.