The ONWAR logo is adapted from De Homine (1662), by René Descartes, which illustrates his concept of what is involved in a reflex response.
ONWAR is the Graduate School Neurosciences Amsterdam Rotterdam, a collaboration between neuroscience research institutes at several Dutch universities and research centers. They are University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, and Utrecht University. The school brings together PhD students and institutes to coordinate PhD training in the field of neuroscience.
The first Swammerdam Lecture was organized on March 19th, 1982, and ONWA(R) was officially established on May 21st 1991. ONWAR has been recognized by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2009.
As part of your PhD, ONWAR coordinates national training activities and meetings across participating institutes.
Coordinating the training program of the PhD students participating in the school
A set of courses, lectures, annual meetings, and other events in the field of neurosciences
Stimulating collaboration in neuroscientific research between the various participating institutes
Stimulating improvement of the quality of research and education in the neurosciences
ONWAR is a collaboration between participating research institutes in the Netherlands. PhD candidates participate in ONWAR through one of these institutes, where they are appointed and supervised.
Affiliated institutes contribute to ONWAR through research collaboration, education, and expertise.
ONWAR is organized through several governing and coordinating bodies that together oversee the graduate school. The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has acted as its representative since its foundation.
The Board of Directors consists of the scientific directors of the research institutes that are involved. Prof. dr. A.B. Smit is the chair of the Board of Directors and acts as the Scientific Director of ONWAR.
The Teaching Committee consists of senior researchers from the different institutes and PhD representatives from the four institutes with the largest proportion of PhD students. It evaluates and develops the ONWAR training program, the individual courses and events. Prof. dr. C.N. Levelt is the chair of the teaching committee and acts as the Teaching Director of ONWAR
The Swammerdam Lecture committee consists of senior researchers from several institutes in Amsterdam and a PhD representative . It organizes the Swammerdam Lectures series.
