Meta Knol heeft een uniek profiel op het kruisvlak van cultuur, wetenschap en samenleving. Ze is actief als auteur, dagvoorzitter, gastconservator en inhoudelijk-strategisch adviseur, steevast met het oog gericht op een duurzame toekomst. Als kunsthistorica is ze gespecialiseerd in moderne en hedendaagse kunst en mengt ze zich graag in debatten over museale vernieuwing. Als directeur van Museum De Lakenhal was ze verantwoordelijk voor de vernieuwing en alom geprezen restauratie en uitbreiding van het Leidse museum (2019). Als directeur van Leiden European City of Science 2022, één van de tien excellente projecten van het wetenschappelijke HorizonEurope programma, ontwikkelde ze een nieuw, bottom-up model voor Public Engagement with Science. Als mede-oprichter van het Ministerie van de Toekomst, een landelijke beweging van tijdrebellen en kathedraaldenkers, richt ze zich op nieuwe, toekomstgerichte vormen van civic design. In 2024 komt Meta's boek uit bij Walburg Pers: het Handboek voor Tijdreizigers.Meta Knol has a unique profile at the intersection of culture, science and society. As an author, moderator, guest curator and content-strategic advisor, she always keeps a keen eye on a sustainable future. As an art historian, she specializes in modern and contemporary art and actively participates in debates about museum innovation. As director of Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden, she was responsible for the integral renewal and the widely acclaimed restoration and expansion (2019). As director of Leiden European City of Science 2022, one of the ten excellent projects of the HorizonEurope programme, she developed a new, bottom-up model for Public Engagement with Science. As co-founder of the Ministry of the Future, a national movement of time rebels and cathedral thinkers, she focuses on new, future-oriented forms of civic design. In 2024, Meta's book will be published by Walburg Pers: the Handbook for Time Travelers.

Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) is one of the world’s leading design schools, recognised internationally for its forward-thinking and renowned professors and alumni. For over 70 years it has trained aspiring designers to make their mark on the future by thinking freely and openly about what design can achieve, consistently exploring design as an instrument of material, social, environmental and critical innovation. Today it is home to a community of many nationalities and cultures, offering an environment where personal perspectives on the world can be translated into meaningful and daring propositions. They are guided in this by a team of professional designers, architects, researchers, writers and curators, all active within the academy as well as in the professional field.DAE is a University of the Arts, offering both BA and MA degrees, specialised in training students in different design perspectives in order to produce critical and socially engaged designers. In conjunction with the educational programmes, DAE has international research Professorships focused on collaborative research projects. The commonality at DAE is the shared political values of an inclusive society that embraces diversity in every aspect. In addition, the hybrid, conceptual, contextual and international approach to design makes DAE’s programmes distinctive.

Leiden European City of Science 2022 was a 365-day science festival packed with activities, lectures, workshops, excursions, exhibitions, and events, for anyone with a curious mind, with the overall aim to connect science and society.The year was officially opened on January 22 by the Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf and EU-Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. Leiden2022 presented the 10th edition of the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), the 33rd final of the EU Contest for Young Scientists and the very first edition of the EU Talenton, a brand-new EU-mission based science-hackathon for early career researchers. Moreover, during Leiden2022, over 100 scientific conferences took place, and many more activities were developed in Leiden, The Netherlands, and beyond. The year-long local co-creation project Knowledge throughout the Neighbourhoods built bridges between science and local society, sharing science, knowledge, art and expertise in the capillaries of Leiden and the region. The activities were organised by neighbourhood associations, residents, the education sector or representatives of social organisations. For scientists who wanted to participate, there were only two rules: step out of our institute and do not give a lecture! That way, everyone was challenged to share their knowledge in different, playful ways. Based on a calender with 365 topics, some 206 small-scaled, bottom-up activities took place. Leiden was the very first European city to present a 365 days science festival, as part of the European Research Area Policy Agenda, Action 14: Bring Science Closer to Citizens. As such, Leiden2022 has developed a new Model for Public Engagement with Science: a scalable co-creation method to spark playful interactions between scientists and citizens, aimed at connecting science with society. With this remarkable year, Leiden2022 pioneered a new, European tradition: in 2024, Katowice in Poland will be the European City of Science.

Museum De Lakenhal is both a classical, elegant institute dating from 1874 and an adventurous, contemporary public space. The museum has a long history, an outstanding collection and a motivated and competent staff. The museum stands out with the refreshing, scientific and visual quality of its exhibitions and collection presentations. Museum De Lakenhal offers its visitors an experience across eras - taking them on an adventure through the ages to the present. The old 'Laecken-Halle' is a clothmakers’ hall built in 1640. As a museum, it houses art, decorative arts and historical relics of Dutch urban culture dating from the 16th century to the present. The Dutch Golden Age is known for its profound influence on the art world, and Museum De Lakenhal is a rich repository of these pieces - including works from the young Rembrandt, as well as remarkable canvases from the Leiden Fijnschilders or ‘fine-painters’ school. Alongside the paintings are superior collections of silver, glass, textiles and period furniture, allowing visitors to truly take a stroll through history. Yet the collection does not focus solely on the past, but rather has been built to include extraordinary works of contemporary art as well. In June 2019 the transformation process of Museum De Lakenhal was crowned with the grand reopening of the restored and expanded museum by King Willem Alexander. The noble simplicity of the 17th Century cloth hall had been restored to its former glory and a brandnew exhibition wing was added. Since then, the renewed Museum De Lakenhal has won a great deal of Dutch architecture prizes, and was recently also nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award.

Yes, I have spent 12 years at the Centraal Museum - as scientific researcher, manager of the exhibitions department and finally (dream coming true) as curator of modern & contemporary art. From their website: The Centraal Museum is your gateway to art and culture from the world of Utrecht. From Rietveld to the Utrecht Caravaggists, from Dick Bruna to Moesman and from Viktor & Rolf to the centuries-old Utrecht ship. A museum which leaves you inspired time after time.

My museum career started at the Stadsgalerij Heerlen, a tiny but fantastic museum in the south of The Netherlands. A few years after I left, it was renamed Schunck. SCHUNCK* is a new kind of multidisciplinary cultural institution that has come into being by a synergy of several previously independent cultural institutions: a museum of modern and contemporary art, a research and presentation centre for architecture, a public library, a music school and an educational department.