Nederlandse Organizatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
The Nederlandse Organizatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) is the Dutch national science organization.
It was founded in 1950 as the Nederlandse Organizatie voor Zuiver-Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (ZWO) (at that time there was still a separate organization TNO for applied research) and renamed NWO in 1988 and given a broader range of tasks.
It has an annual budget of around 625 million euros (2013), largely financed by the Dutch state. This funds research projects in the Netherlands.
The Spinoza Prize , the highest Dutch science prize, is awarded annually. They also organize a national science quiz on Dutch television.
There are different sub-organizations:
- Geosciences and Biosciences (Aard- en Levenswetenschappen, ALW)
- Chemistry (CW)
- Natural Sciences (Exacte Wetenschappen, EW)
- Humanities (Geesteswetenschappen, GW)
- Social Sciences (Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen, MaGW)
- Natural history
- Medicine (Medische Wetenschappen, MW), administered by ZonMw
- FOM, the Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (Foundation for Fundamental Investigations of Matter), a sub-organization of the NWO for basic physical research that has existed since 1946
- Technologie (TW), maintained by the Technologiestichting STW
- WOTRO Science for Global Development
Eight research institutes belong to it, including:
- Astronomical Onderzoek in Nederland (ASTRON)
- Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam
- Nederlands Study Center Criminaliteit en Rechtshandhaving, NSCR, Amsterdam (criminology)
- Dutch Institute for Marine Research , NIOZ Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Zeeonderzoek, NIOZ
- Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)
as well as the FOM institutes:
- Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) in Amsterdam, created in 1966 from a predecessor institute for mass spectrometry. Among other things, ultracentrifuges for uranium enrichment were developed here.
- DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research)
- NIKHEF in Amsterdam, for subatomic physics
They also participate in DANS (Data Archiving and Networking Services) together with the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and the Netherlands eScience Center (NLeSC).