About us

The KNAW Humanities Cluster (HuC) is a strategic collaboration between Huygens Institute, International Institute of Social History (IISH), and Meertens Institute, dedicated to leading scientific research, essential collections, FAIR data, and sustainable digital infrastructure. Our researchers focus on language and culture in the Netherlands, history and literature of the Netherlands, history of knowledge, and global labour history. The Humanities Cluster plays an (inter)national role in the renewal of the social sciences and humanities and connects data and infrastructure to its own long-term research. In doing so, the Humanities Cluster is an indispensable link between heritage and universities and fuels the scientific and societal debate. The joint operations contribute to the most ideal and sustainable research and collection environment possible. 

Part of KNAW 

The Humanities Cluster and the institutes are part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). They operate in line with the research mission of KNAW: conducting, stimulating, and facilitating scientific research to develop knowledge that contributes to healthy people, resilient societies, and a sustainable planet. As part of KNAW, they do not publish their own annual report, but are included in the KNAW annual report (in Dutch only). 

The quality of the Humanities Cluster and the institutes is regularly assessed using the Strategy Evaluation Protocol and the accompanying KNAW manual for evaluations of KNAW institutes. You can find the reports of the most recent evaluations on the KNAW website. 

Organisation 

The KNAW Humanities Cluster consists of the three founding institutes, Digital Infrastructure, Operational Management, and two research labs. 

Digital Infrastructure (DI) develops sustainable infrastructures for humanities researchers in collaboration with national and international partners. 

Operational Management (in Dutch: Bedrijfsbureau, BB) offers professional support and advice to staff and management regarding business management in a broad sense: from sound financial and personnel management and securing research grants to improving internal and external communication, building management, and supporting policy and decision-making. In addition to the three founding institutes, the department of Operational Management  also supports the KNAW institutes NIAS and NIOD in a number of areas. 

The Digital Humanities Lab (DHLab) focuses on developing digital methods that advance humanities research through computational linguistics, social science and the semantic web.