Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts
The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts is an independent learned society of science and arts of the Flemish Community in Belgium. It is one of Belgium's numerous academies and traces its origin to 1772 when the Imperial and Royal Academy of Brussels was founded by empress Maria Theresia.
The academy is headquartered in the Academy Palace, Hertogsstraat 1, 1000 Brussels.
Mission and goals
The mission and goals of the society is the practice and promotion of science and arts in Flanders. To achieve that goal a number of scientific and cultural activities is organized. Also the academy enhances and encourages the collaboration between the Flemish universities, it attracts and encourages foreign scholars to develop research activities and delegates representatives to international organisations and meetings. In addition, it advises on matters of social importance on behalf of the government, industry, educational establishments and research centres and finally the academy awards prizes to talented and promising researchers and artists.Administration
The academy is governed by a Management Committee consisting of 14 members.Every second year a new chairman is elected. Since 1997 the following people have been chairman: Marcel Storme, Yvan Bruynseraede, Carl Van de Velde, Mark Eyskens, Jef Van Landuyt, Frans Boenders, Dominique Willems, Pierre Jacobs and Ludo Gelders. On 14 December 2013 Willem Elias, a professor and dean at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, was elected as chairman for the 2015–2016 term and is expected to succeed Ludo Gelders in his office on 1 January 2015.
To perform its numerous tasks the academy can rely on an administrative office staffed by ten collaborators and managed by a permanent secretary. Between 1997 and 2010 this task was fulfilled by Niceas Schamp while since 2010 the task of permanent secretary has been given to Géry van Outryve d'Ydewalle.
Organization and members
The academy is divided into four major divisions. These four classes or divisions represent the core activity of the academy and assemblies are held monthly:- Klasse Natuurwetenschappen
- Klasse Menswetenschappen
- Klasse Kunsten
- Klasse Technische Wetenschappen
Members of the class of Natural Sciences
Members of the class of Humanities
Members of the class of Arts
Members of the class of Technical Sciences
VLAC
The Flemish Academic Centre for Science and the Arts VLAC is an IAS organized and hosted by the KVAB. VLAC was founded in 1999 to stimulate and promote scientific research in Flanders and to create unique research conditions similar to those at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala or at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Wassenaar. Each year between 10 and 20 Academy Award Fellowships are awarded to mostly young foreign scientists for a certain period of time in order to get as a fellow in residence access to excellent working conditions and to do research in an outstanding environment. VLAC is a member of NetIAS, the European network of IAS centres. In addition, since 2012 VLAC has been taking part with its Brussels centre in EURIAS, the newly developed EU-supported fellowship programme.Academic publications
The KVAB has been publishing twenty monographs annually since 1939. Further publications are long term series on historical documents, Academiae Analecta and volumes of contributions based on papers read at scientific meetings in Flanders.The edition of the letters of Justus Lipsius and the Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek in collaboration with the Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde are among the most important activities with regard to Flemish cultural history.
RASAB membership
Since its foundation in 2001 the KVAB has been a member of RASAB along with its French-speaking sister-academy ARB in order to coordinate and promote the 25 National Scientific Committees and the international activities in Belgium.Further activities
- ACF Since its foundation in 1993 the Centre for European Culture has been organising symposia and lectures about the cultural evolution in Europe and the World. Earlier in 2013, a reorganisation of these activities took place including a name change and thus producing the Academical Cultural Forum. The name change reflects the effort to reach a more global view.Spring cycle. Each year the academy organises a spring cycle of three to five meetings, where the best specialists of a particular field lecture and discuss a specific topic.