On Thursday 1 and Friday 2 November 2018, the Netherlands Institute of Government (NIG) held its Annual Work Conference in The Hague.
The conference was organised in collaboration with Leiden University, Campus The Hague, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs. The keynote speech: “Great urgency, broad themes and small margins. Reflections on governance in political practice” was given by Prof. Dr. Jet Bussemaker, holder of the new chair in ‘Science, Policy and Societal Impact, focusing on Healthcare at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University.
In her keynote speech she urged academic researchers to reconsider their societal role. In the light of the urgency and complexity of the challenges facing our society simply asking for more money for research is no longer a sustainable position. She hopes that the National Science Agenda (NWA) - that’s she initiated as former Minister of Education, Culture and Science – will stimulate researchers to start developing new methods to increase the societal impact of their research in the context of living-labs and design experiments. 
Before the NIG conference a VB-NIG preconference "Always look on the bright side of life - Towards a more positive public administration” took place. 
Awards During the conference awards were given for the best supervisor 2018 and the best dissertation 2017 (Van Poeljeprijs). Best Supervisor 2018
At the annual conference in The Hague, Prof. Dr. Sandra Groeneveld (Leiden University) was awarded the prize for best supervisor, following a nomination procedure organised by the NIG PhD council. Van Poeljeprijs 2017
Dr. Maarten Hillebrandt (Bielefeld University) winner of the Van Poelje Award 2017 for his dissertation: "Living Transparency. The development of access to documents in the Council of the EU and its democratic implications". The Van Poelje Award is an annually given award for the best dissertation in the field of Public Administration in the Netherlands and Flanders.
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