NIOK, which stands for ‘Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek in de Katalyse’ (Netherlands Institute for Catalysis Research), is a virtual institute consisting of Dutch University Groups active in all areas of catalysis. It is a nationwide graduate school (‘Onderzoekschool’) which fosters the advancement of both higher education and research and stimulates collaboration between scientists
of different disciplines and Universities. NIOK acts as the platform and sparring partner for national and international contacts on catalysis with academia, industry and government. It was established in 1991 by the major catalysis groups of seven Dutch Universities. Later, NIOK was recognised by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and it is supported by an industrial advisory board VIRAN which consists of members from Dutch and multinational industries involved in many aspects of catalytic processes. 

In 2006 the Radboud University Nijmegen became a NIOK member. An overview of NIOK’s activities in the 2006-2011 period can be found in the NIOK report “Excellerating Catalysis Education and Research“. A summary of the recent initiatives can be found in the NIOK Flyer.
The University of Amsterdam hosts the coordination with Prof.dr. Joost Reek (University of Amsterdam) as the scientific director and Prof.dr. Emiel Hensen (Eindhoven University of Technology) as the chairman of the board.
NIOK and VIRAN have combined offices in Amsterdam.
The NIOK-office is located at the University of Amsterdam and coordinates the NIOK day-to-day business. For more information about VIRAN take a look here.