The Netherlands and Russia have a longstanding tradition of upholding positive international relations with one another. Most prominently, Peter the Great visited the Netherlands in 1697, marking the beginning of exchange between Russia and the Netherlands. Peter the Great would go on to found the Kunstkamera in 1714. Founded under district Dutch influence, the Kunstkamera became the first museum in Russia. Today the museum bears a cultural heritage to both the Netherlands and Russia. The session will be dedicated to historical events which are unknown to general public, but were crucial for the development of science and culture in both Russia and the Netherlands.

Dr. Natalia Kopaneva (Kunstkamera, Russian Academy of Science), knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
She will give a talk about her research with special emphasis on the history of the St. Petersburg Academy, the Kunstkamera, and connections between Russian science and culture with the Netherlands.
Dr. Tim Huisman (Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Leiden), curator at the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, the National Museum for the History of Science and Medicine in Leiden.
In his presentation dr. Huisman will paint a picture of Herman Boerhaave, his career and his ideas on science and medicine. He will also focus on the influence of Boerhaave and his followers, especially in Russia. Finally Huisman will draw attention to material connected to Boerhaave in Dutch and Russian collections.

In the present-day bilateral relations between Russia and the Netherlands, language is a crucial element. Russian literature is often translated to Dutch, and vice versa. Several universities have complete programmes for people wishing to dedicate their studies to either one of the two countries. Several Dutch authors are popular among the Russian reader, leading to an increasing amount of translations. And although some cultural information may get lost in translation, it remains abundantly clear that rediscovering the lost pages of our mutual histories, alongside further exploration of each other’s literary traditions, is key to strengthening the bilateral relations between Russia and the Netherlands.

Prof. dr. Irina Michajlova (St. Petersburg State University) is the linguist and translator. In 2019 she was awarded the Martinus Nijhoff prize.
In her talk will stress the importance of studying languages and literature, improving the quality of translation and give a review on the reception of Dutch literature in Russia.

Dr. Eric Metz (University of Amsterdam) will touch upon the significant role of literature for both countries and quality of translation; also with a review on the reception of Russian literature in the Netherlands.

The move to wireless devices and the increase of cloud storage in the 21st century's digital economy demands for even denser, faster and more energy efficient data storage. However, the heat produced by modern data centres is already a serious limitation to further increase their performance. Data centres presently consume 7% of the world electricity production, with an annual increase of 7%. It is not clear how to improve this situation which in future might contribute greatly to global warming and energy crisis.

Prof. dr. Theo Rasing (Radboud University) is a winner of the Spinoza Prize and the de Prijs van Wetenschap en Maatschappij. He is a knight of the order of the Netherlands Lion, a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He will give a talk about brain-inspired information processing and ultrafast, least dissipative data storage.

Prof. dr. Dmitry Parashchuk (Moscow State University).
He will give a talk about the potential of photonics for energy efficient data storage.