Tomorrow Today in Research – The Netherlands: AI, trust, and confidence in research

Event details

Date: Thursday, 1 October 2026

Venue: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, New University Building - De Boelelaan 1111, 1081 HV Amsterdam

About the event

Generative AI is rapidly becoming part of everyday research and scholarly publishing, shaping how knowledge is discovered, interpreted, written, reviewed, and shared.

However, the research community is also facing constraints on time and funding and struggle to enable the responsible adoption of AI.

This interactive event brings together researchers, and leaders from library and research office for a combined forum and roundtable discussions around this critical topic: how is the advent of AI impacting how we conduct, teach and manage research? By connecting practical research publishing questions with broader evidence on the future of research, the event is designed to surface actionable insights, encourage peer learning, and identify opportunities for collaboration across libraries, research offices, and researchers. In the first part of this session, speakers from academia, policy and education will provide a provocative vision on the future of research in an AI-centered environment. Next, Elsevier will share Dutch and global insights from the Researcher of the Future report, exploring how technological change and growing pressures are reshaping the research landscape. This will form the basis for a roundtable discussion, held in small groups in the afternoon. We hope to bring together leaders from academia, policy and industry to discuss key evidence on the research ecosystem and identify practical actions to help build confidence in the future.

By connecting practical research publishing questions with broader evidence on the future of research, the event is designed to surface actionable insights, encourage peer learning, and identify opportunities for collaboration across libraries, research offices, and researchers.

What participants will gain:

Practical perspectives on how AI is reshaping scholarly publishing.
Peer discussions on how to strengthen the Dutch research ecosystem.
Areas for collaboration across libraries, research offices, and publishers.

Topics and keynotes

Time	Program	Speakers
09:30	Welcome and coffee	All
10:00	Opening remarks: Why we are convening this conversation now	Day Chairs: Laura Hassink (Elsevier) & Sweitze Roffel (VU)
	Keynote sessions: AI innovations in scholarly publishing
10:10	Hybrid intelligence and trust in research	Frank van Harmelen (VU)
10:40	AI in education	Luuk Terbeek (VU)
11:00	AI for research	Radu Apsan (Network Institute) Sara ben Hmido (UMC)
11:20	Fireside Chat: Challenges of AI in scholarly communication	Hilde van Wijngaarden (VU) Michiel Kolman (Elsevier)
11:50	Trusted AI in research	Anita de Waard (Elsevier)
12:10	Confidence in research: International and national outlook	Andrea White (Elsevier) Charon Duermeijer (Elsevier)
12:30	Lunch break with demos	All
13:30	Confidence in Research: Breakout Groups: in other building: need 2 x 15 minutes to move the groups, hour and a half for discussions Have coffee in the rooms Summarisers move between rooms to close the session, walk back to atrium	All
15.30	Closing: Commitments and next steps	Laura Hassink (Elsevier) Sweitze Roffel (VU)
16:00	Reception and close	All