Previous Fora / 2003
Speakers
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Professor Pieter Drenth |
| President All European Academies The Netherlands |
In spite of the substantial variety in roles and tasks of Academies of Sciences and Humanities they have one important objective in common, namely the desire to promote and to develop excellent scientific and scholarly research. They believe in the intrinsic value of scientific knowledge, and they are convinced that proper scientific research is indispensable for the desirable development of societies and the well being of mankind. As the British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently stated in a speech given at the Royal Society: "science matters". This applies to natural sciences and technology, but equally important for a balanced evolution are philosophy, letters and history, and the study of the constituent pillars of a civil society: law, economics and social and political structures. The question that therefore arises is how academies of science and humanities, and in particular associations of academies such as ALLEA, contribute to the cultivation of international science. In answering this question attention will be paid to the aspects collaboration, communication and advice on science policy, followed by some thoughts on European scientific cooperation.
Excerpt from Pieter J.D. Drenth: European Scientific Collaboration: the role of ALLEA.
Pieter J.D. Drenth studied Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, completing a Master degree in 1958 (cum laude), and a Ph.D. in 1960 (cum laude). From 1967 to 2000 Pieter Drenth has been professor in the field of Psychometrics and Organizational Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Dr. Drenth has been Rector Magnificus at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam from 1983 to 1987, and since 1980, he has been a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, residing as President from 1990 to 1996. In 2000 Dr. Drenth was elected President of ALLEA.
Dr. Drenth has received numerous honorary doctorates and scholarly awards, including the Knighthood in the Order of the Dutch Lion and the Commandership in the Order of Orange Nassau. He has held visiting professorships at the University of St. Louis (USA), the University of Jakarta and Bandung (Indonesia), The University of Washington (USA), and the University of Hangzhou (China). He has (co-)authored and edited 27 books and 180 articles on the theory of intelligence, psychometrics, educational psychology, organizational psychology and science policy.