University of Amsterdam Professors Appointed to NWO’s SSH Domain Board

University of Amsterdam Professors Appointed to NWO’s SSH Domain Board

(IN BRIEF) NWO’s Executive Board has announced the appointment of Prof. Dr. Guda van Noort and Dr. Nicky Pouw, both from the University of Amsterdam, to the Board of the Social Science and Humanities (SSH) Domain. Guda van Noort is a professor specializing in Persuasion & New Media Technologies, conducting research on the impact of new media technologies on society. She aims to contribute to themes important to researchers, such as the balance between curiosity-driven and thematic research, scientific integrity, and collaboration with societal partners. Nicky Pouw is an associate professor focusing on the Economics of Wellbeing, researching inequality, marginality, and economic development in African countries and the Netherlands. She also leads research programs related to sustainable development goals and policy interventions. Both professors emphasize the societal value of social sciences and humanities in addressing major challenges, and they will work to align NWO’s toolkit with the evolving needs of researchers in these domains.

(PRESS RELEASE) THE HAGUE, 9-Dec-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — NWO’s Executive Board recently appointed Prof Dr Guda van Noort and Dr Nicky Pouw to the Board of the Social Science and Humanities (SSH) Domain. Both work at the University of Amsterdam.

About Guda van Noort
Guda van Noort is professor of Persuasion & New Media Technologies at the Department of Communication and Media Research. She conducts research on the impact of new media technologies on people and society. She also coordinates the interfaculty SSH sector plan theme ‘Digital Citizenship’, which involved broad collaboration between the social sciences and the humanities. Until 2022, she was also director of SWOCC, a foundation that actively shares scientific knowledge with industry.

Broad social science research
Guda hopes to contribute to strategic themes that resonate with researchers, such as the balance between curiosity-driven and thematic research, scientific integrity and collaboration with societal partners. Until her appointment, she was co-chair of the SSH Roundtable on Social Sciences and Law.

Societal value of the social sciences and humanities
“The social sciences and humanities are essential to guide us as we tackle all major societal challenges, from technological transformations to the growing pressure on healthcare”, Guda van Noort

‘At the same time, the political view of the value of education and research for society is currently uncertain. Together with the other domain directors, I will continue to strongly advocate the societal value of the social sciences and humanities. The SSH domain itself is evolving as well, for example through new developments such as generative AI that can be used in research. It is important to align the NWO toolkit with the needs of researchers working in the social sciences and humanities given this development,’ says Van Noort.

About Nicky Pouw
Nicky Pouw is associate professor of Economics of Wellbeing at the Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research. She is an economist researching inequality, marginality and economic development in African countries and the Netherlands. She is also a member of the INCLUDE Knowledge Platform and in this role is closely involved in national and international debates on an inclusive and sustainable economy. Pouw also leads the five-year NWA Knowledge Brokering and Synthesis Research Program on SDG Interactions and Policy Interventions in Developing Countries, and the five-year Amsterdam Economy of Wellbeing Research Programme. Until her appointment, she co-chaired the SSH Roundtable on Behaviour, Education and Economics.

Societal impact
“Measure what matters”, Nicky Pouw

Nicky Pouw aims to contribute to strategic themes such as interdisciplinarity, diversity and inclusion, and societal impact and collaboration.

About the SSH Domain board
Board members Odile Heynders, Sjef Barbiers and Jasmin Lange will step down from the Board on 1 January 2024.

As a result the composition of the board will be as follows:
Chair Antal van den Bosch (UU), Mathieu Segers (UM), Jeroen de Ridder (VU), Sander Thomaes (UU), Margaretha Wewerinke Singh (UvA), Nicky Pouw (UvA) and Guda van Noort (UvA). New candidates for three other positions, including the social committee member, will be recruited soon.

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Source: NWO