Hulsewé-Wazniewski Foundation

The Hulsewé-Wazniewski Foundation (HulsewéWazniewski Stichting, HWS) has as its aim the advancement of teaching and research in the archaeology, art, and material culture of China at Leiden University. To realize this aim, HWS financially supports a variety of activities. Over the years, these have included PhD and postdoctoral research, teaching, visiting professorships, academic and cultural events, library acquisition, and so on.

Building on its focus on the archaeology, art, and material culture of China, HWS is also interested in comparative and collaborative academic and cultural work that reaches out across disciplines, themes, and cultural regions; and in collaboration with other funding bodies and academic and cultural institutions such as museums and learned societies.

The visiting professorships enable the relevant communities at Leiden University to invite scholars or artists to visit Leiden for public lectures, workshops, and so on, frequently in collaboration with museums in Leiden and elsewhere in the Netherlands.

The Foundation’s original capital was bequeathed to it in 1997 by Prof. dr. A. F. P. Hulsewé, Professor of Chinese language and literature at Leiden University, and his wife, M. M. Hulsewé-Wazniewski. The Foundation welcomes donations.

The Foundation’s capital is managed by the wealth management department of a reputable bank in the Netherlands.

As regards spending, HWS has a statutory duty to maintain its capital over time. In principle, this limits its spending capacity to the capital’s annual yields. In this light, the HWS Board has long focused primarily on funding (1) PhD research as a fundamental contribution to the field and (2) visiting professorships as an instrument to facilitate collaboration and exchange, networking, and visibility. As such, most of the available funding is structurally earmarked for up to several years.

HWS is a not-for-profit organization and qualifies as a public benefit organization or ANBI (algemeen nut beogende instelling) as defined in Dutch tax legislation (ANBI registration number: RSIN 806210503).

In 2024, HWS realised a positive result of EUR 439.600 from its investments. It supported various projects and individuals for a total of EUR 34.901 in line with its mission.

In 2024, HWS earmarked a further EUR 87.000 for the support of projects and individuals in the coming years.

HWS board members receive no remuneration.