Complaint Committee KNAW | Berenschot

When we receive your complaint, we check if the documentation is complete and whether there are any questions relating to what you have submitted. We acknowledge receipt of your complaint and inform you about the process and our role in it.

We check whether the complaint is admissible under the rules and procedures. We inform you of our findings within one week of receiving the complaint.

We notify the Head of Personnel and Organisation at KNAW that a complaint has been received and whether it is admissible. In this notification we do not mention your name, we do mention which institution or department of KNAW the complaint originates from.

We contact you by phone or email to gain a good understanding of the complaint and the person(s) involved.

Based on your submission, we draw up a plan of approach to investigate the complaint and we discuss this with KNAW. Of course, the detail of the approach will depend on the nature of the complaint.

We then investigate the complaint and, of course, speak to the person(s) involved. The investigation is conducted in line with the Berenschot protocol.

We write a report based on the principle that both parties should be heard.

We then issue a decision on the complaint.

The Complaint Committee personal behaviour of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) always consists of the two Berenschot consultants Roeleke Vunderink and Laurens Vellekoop. Depending on the nature of the complaint, they may invite a fellow consultant to take part in the investigation.

At Berenschot Roeleke Vunderink specialises in governance and control issues. She focuses on consultancy for the public sector, and particularly for universities. She regularly investigates allegations of unwanted conduct in a range of sectors, including universities. Before joining Berenschot she held various functions at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, including secretary to the Executive Board, director of the Corporate Offices, and secretary to the Supervisory Board.

Laurens Vellekoop has a background in constitutional, administrative and criminal law. He works for Berenschot on various projects relating to integrity, personal interactions and (mis)conduct. He investigates complaints about unwanted conduct and possible violations of integrity and gives advice on prevention. Laurens was also involved for several years on a research project for the Dutch Whistleblowers Authority (Huis van Klokkenluiders).

You can see their CVs here:

• cv Roeleke Vunderink;
• cv Laurens Vellekoop.