Prof. Anniek de Ruijter, professor of Health Law and Policy, has been appointed rector magnificus and member of the Executive Board of the University of Amsterdam by the Supervisory Board. The appointment is for a period of four years and takes effect on 1 September 2026.
The Central Works Council (COR) has given a positive recommendation regarding the appointment. The Central Student Council (CSR) also supports the nomination. De Ruijter succeeds Peter-Paul Verbeek, who will become president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW) after the summer.
‘The Supervisory Board is very pleased with Anniek as our new rector. She is an enterprising and energetic leader with an interesting mix of experience in the fields of administration, education and research, both within and outside the UvA,’ says Supervisory Board chair Jolande Sap. ‘She is a respected professor, led educational reform within the Faculty of Law, and was even active in the participation bodies there as a student. This characterises her active involvement with the university community, which she combines with strong societal commitment: as a jurist, she advocates for health law and women's rights. Both in terms of experience and on a personal level, Anniek is an excellent addition to the Executive Board. Her appointment leaves us with a solid and diverse Board that is well-equipped to lead the UvA in the coming years.’
‘Richard Goldstein and I look forward to working with Anniek,’ says Executive Board chair Vinod Subramaniam. ‘Her impressive achievements within the UvA – the Amsterdam Law Practice, the Amsterdam Law Hub and Law for Health and Life – show how enthusiastic and innovative she is, as well as her eye for impactful education and research, and, particularly, her understanding of the societal role of a university. She knows the DNA of the UvA inside and out and therefore complements our team perfectly.'
About Anniek de Ruijter
De Ruijter studied law at the UvA and at Columbia Law School in New York. She received her PhD from the UvA in 2015 for research into the influence of the EU on people's rights with regard to health. She gained her first administrative experiences as a student and PhD candidate: she was chair of the Faculty Student Council and student assessor of the Faculty of Law, and she represented the faculty in the PhD Council of the UvA.
After her PhD, De Ruijter worked as an assistant professor at Maastricht University. She returned to the UvA in 2017. After initially being an assistant professor and then an associate professor, she was appointed full professor in 2022. In her scientific work, she focuses on the role of law in major healthcare and public health issues, the legal protection of fundamental values such as solidarity and dignity in healthcare, and diversity, equal treatment and human rights.
Initiatives
De Ruijter took major initiatives within the law faculty. She was the founder of the Amsterdam Law Hub and she started and led the Amsterdam Law Practice. This programme for legal experience education won the Dutch Higher Education Premium from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in 2022.
De Ruijter also heads Law for Health and Life, which she initiated, and she has held various roles at the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, where she is still a senior fellow.
Outside the UvA
De Ruijter is also active administratively outside the university. From 2010 to 2022, she headed Bureau Clara Wichmann, which strives for a better legal and social positions for women in the Netherlands. She has been a general board member of that foundation since 2022.
Since this year, De Ruijter has been one of the 23 committee members of the Lancet Commission for the European Health Union. De Ruijter is also a confidential advisor for Scientific Integrity to the RIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) and chair of the Disputes Committee of the independent expertise centre SKGZ.
This article was first published on 25 June by UvA.
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