Astrid Verheusen appointed as Managing Director of the RKD

Astrid has been with the RKD since May 2023 as Director of Operations and CIO. From April 2025, she also served as Acting General Manager and Director following the departure of Prof. Dr. Chris Stolwijk. In this role, she initiated the RKD’s transition from a research institute to a knowledge centre.

Elske van Amelsfort, Chair of the Supervisory Board:

“The Supervisory Board has full confidence in Astrid Verheusen’s performance as Statutory Director of the RKD. This confidence is grounded in the way she has successfully fulfilled her responsibilities as Acting General Manager and Director. We are convinced that her experience, knowledge, and expertise will be invaluable in guiding the institute through its ongoing and future developments.”

In the coming period, the RKD will be working on establishing itself as a knowledge centre. In this capacity, we manage, provide access to, and connect our extensive physical and digital collection on the visual arts of the Low Countries. In addition, the RKD facilitates art historical research by professionals and students through high-quality, digitally accessible data and services.

Astrid Verheusen, commenting on her appointment:

“I look forward to working with the organisation and the Supervisory Board to further develop the RKD as a knowledge centre for the visual arts of the Low Countries in an international context. One that makes its collections and knowledge increasingly accessible digitally and supports others in their research. Achieving this will require sustained commitment and careful attention in the coming period, as we build a strong and lasting foundation for the future.”

Background

After studying history, Astrid Verheusen began her career as a researcher at the former Institute of Netherlands History (now part of the Huygens Institute), then as a product manager at SDU Publishers. From 2001 to 2017, she worked in various positions at the Royal Library, where she was responsible for various programs and projects concerning mass digitisation, digital preservation and the digital library, among others, as Head of Innovative Projects.

From 2017 to 2023, she was Executive Director of LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche - Association of European Research Libraries), a European networking organization of more than 420 national university and other scientific libraries.