Physics and Chemistry: 'Koester het fundament' manifesto for new cabinet
The Council for Physics and Chemistry has drawn up the ‘Koester het fundament’ manifesto and presented it to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The Council is led by Robbert Dijkgraaf and was set up, on the recommendation of Minister Bussemaker, by Jasper Knoester, Ben Feringa and Niek Lopes Cardozo, chairmen of the Committee of Deans of the Faculties of Science, NWO's former Chemical Sciences division and the former Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM), respectively, in 2016.
In the manifesto, the Council builds on the recommendations for reinforcement of the scientific disciplines made by the Breimer Committee earlier in its report 'Koersvast'. The cabinet had asked the Breimer Committee to draw up these recommendations in its Vision on Science 2025. The manifesto concisely summarises the need to strengthen the natural sciences disciplines and how this can be realised, particularly with regard to physics and chemistry. The Council's objective is to ensure that the new cabinet takes the recommendations to heart and creates possibilities for the implementation of the proposed approach.