LSW supports calls to protect fellow Academy from funding cut

The Learned Society of Wales has added its name to calls for the Flemish government to reverse its decision to defund the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB).

The LSW President, Professor Hywel Thomas, has signed an open letter, endorsed by ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, which makes the case for ongoing funding of independent academies.

This supports their vital work of advancing scientific excellence, supporting links between science and the arts, and informing public debate.

The letter to the Flemish government from the KVAB, which was formed in 1772, argues that academies play an indispensable role in ‘a geopolitically turbulent world, in which traditional values such as academic freedom and independence are under great pressure’.