The organizational structure of the SSH-council is designed to optimally represent the SSH-domain.

Structure of the SSH-council

The SSH-council consists of the chairpersons of the four SSH deans’ councils. These are the top four pink blocks.

The abbreviations refer to the four sectors within the SSH-domain and stand for:

• DSW: Council of Deans in Social Sciences
• DLG: Council of Deans in Arts and Humanities
• RDR: Council of Deans in Law
• DEB: Council of Deans in Economics and Business

In addition, the NWO-SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) domain participates in the SSH-council meetings through two advisory members, namely the Director of the NWO-SSH domain and the Chair of the NWO-SSH domain board (see the light blue block).

The same applies to the chairpersons of the advisory boards RGW (Council for Humanities) and SWR (Social Sciences Council) of the KNAW, who also participate in the SSH-council as advisory members (grey block).

Lastly, the SSH-council has an external, independent chairperson and one or two external members with specific expertise and their own portfolios.

Here, you can find an overview of who currently holds these positions.

The SSH-office

The SSH-office supports the SSH-council. Currently, it consists of an executive secretary, a policy advisor, and a communications officer. You can find their contact details here.

The Deans’ Councils

More information about the composition of the councils of deans can be found here. Each of the four deans’ councils has a secretary for administrative support; these contact details are also available on our website. The deans’ councils have between 9 and 15 members each, representing the deans of the faculties at Dutch universities within the relevant sector. In total, the SSH-council represents about 52 faculties, each represented by its dean in the council of deans, and subsequently through its chairpersons in the SSH-council.

Other domains

The SSH-council is one of the four domain councils in the Netherlands and thus serves as the national consultation and discussion partner for external parties. In addition to the SSH-domain, the medical, science, and engineering domains also each have their own representative body.

UNL stands for Universities of the Netherlands.