At the beginning of July, a committee appointed by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) presented its report 'Social Safety in Dutch Academia. From Paper to Practice', to the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science. The committee was chaired by Professor Naomi Ellemers of Utrecht University.
Committee members from Leiden University were Yvonne Erkens, Associate Professor at the Department of Labour Law and Social Security at Leiden Law School, and Sandra Groeneveld, Professor of Public Management at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. Social safety at universities needs to be improved. However, this objective cannot be realised with complaints procedures and reporting systems for inappropriate behaviour alone. This is a much broader issue. In its report, the committee has formulated guidance and recommendations to improve social safety (for employees) in academia.
