Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS)

The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) was founded in November 1970 by the joined universities of the Netherlands after consultations with the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Its foundation was approved of by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Since January 1988 NIAS has been an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The initiator of NIAS was Professor E.M. Uhlenbeck.

The aim of the Institute is to foster advanced research in the humanities and social sciences and to stimulate interdisciplinary scholarly co-operation in an international setting. See also the Institute's Mission Statement and the Policy plan for the years 2011-2014.

NIAS awards residential fellowships to approximately twenty-five scholars from the Netherlands and a further twenty-five from outside the Netherlands. Fellowships awarded to foreign scholars usually carry a stipend while compensation for teaching duties is available for scholars from Dutch universities. A certain number of the Fellows are conducting their research within the framework of a research theme group, other Fellows are pursuing individual research only.