Utrecht University Professor to be new chair Domain SSH and member of NWO’s Executive Board
Professor in Language, Communication and Computation Antal van den Bosch will become the new chair of the Domain Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) and also a member of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) Executive Board as of 1 July. He succeeds Hans de Bruijn, who was acting chair for the past few months.
Opportunities for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration
Van den Bosch is looking forward to his new job: “I see a wonderful combination of a serving figurehead function for the Dutch Social Sciences and Humanities, a richly variegated landscape of disciplines with many opportunities for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, and a managerial position that serves the entire NWO organisation.”
“The combination of science and governance attracts me. My scientific heart beats for NWO, and I endorse the ambitions set forth in the 2023-2026 strategy with ‘unimpeded collaboration’ as my personal favourite.”
Antal van den Bosch
Van den Bosch received interdisciplinary training as a theoretical linguist, psycholinguist, and computer scientist. After his PhD at Maastricht University, he has always remained active in science in the field of artificial intelligence.
Most of his work has to do with computers learning to understand and generate natural language. The resulting models can in turn be used in other scientific research or in society and business.
Currently, Van den Bosch is a faculty professor at the Faculty of Humanities at Utrecht University in this field. He previously gained his administrative knowledge as, among other things, KNAW Institute Director at the Meertens Institute.
“An absolute leader within the social sciences”
“We are delighted with the appointment of Antal van den Bosch as a new member of the Executive Board and as domain chairman,” says Marcel Levi, President of the Executive Board about the appointment.
“Antal is an absolute leader within the social sciences and also has many interfaces with many other areas of science. That experience fits very well with our need to promote interdisciplinary science. I am sure that NWO, the social sciences and humanities, and Dutch science in its full breadth will greatly benefit his role on the NWO Board.”