Research conducted by
universities is increasingly compromised by the companies or the
organizations who commission it, the Royal Netherlands Academy for Arts
and Sciences (KNAW) has said in an advisory report out on 13 March. Although the academy
has not found "any signs of structural self-censorship or lack of
diversity of perspective," the government and politicians have to remain "alert" to the danger of socially relevant research curtailing academic
freedom and "undesirable influence from a financier on methods,
interpretation and publication of results," the KNAW writes.