Support the two-year master’s programme in Forensic Psychology at Maastricht University, particularly by making research and education projects possible that encourage quality and by awarding study grants to students who would otherwise not be able to follow this programme. For example, in the latter case, these could be students from developing countries, where knowledge of forensic psychology is in its infancy.
The Prof. dr. W.A. Wagenaar Fund was established on 17 January 2013. Willem Albert Wagenaar (1941–2011) was a Dutch psychologist and expert in the field of human memory. He was a professor in Experimental Psychology at Leiden University and became widely known as an expert witness in the trial of John Demjanjuk and the Eper incest case. He has many critical articles and books to his name on subjects within forensic psychology. In the period from 1997–2001, Wagenaar was rector magnificus of Leiden University. He was also rector of the University College Utrecht for a short time, after which he worked as an associate professor in Utrecht, a position he held until his retirement. By naming the fund after him, the initiators of the Prof. dr. W.A. Wagenaar Fund would like to show their great respect to this inspiring academic.
Advisory committee
An advisory committee oversees funds disbursed by the Prof. W.A. Wagenaar Fund. At the time of establishing the Prof. dr. W.A. Wagenaar Fund, the advisory committee consisted of Joost Wagenaar (LLB), Els Hertoghs (LLB) and Professor Corine de Ruiter.
“His talent in bringing complex matters to the light was one of the reasons Wagenaar was frequently called upon as an expert witness. He served as an expert witness hundreds of times, in criminal cases as well as civil cases, and he was never flustered by magistrates and their legal rituals. In many cases, Wagenaar noticed things that judges and officers did not, such as an important witness who had not been heard, an alibi that had not been checked or an accuser whose psychiatric background had not been investigated. That is why many officers and judges were anxious when they saw Willem Albert Wagenaar in court. He could make very sharp analyses of their arguments and if these arguments made no sense from a psychological perspective, he could clearly argue why.”
From: H. Merckelbach (June, 2011), In Memoriam: W.A. Wagenaar, De Psycholoog, p. 34–38.
How to make a donation to this fund?
If you would like to make a donation to this fund, you can do so through the University Fund Limburg Attn Wagenaar Fund, IBAN: NL21 INGB 0653 6632 42. You can also use the donation button below.

Alle fondsen
- A-KO Fund
- Knowledge Transfer Fund
- Nanne de Vries Professor’s Fund
- Peter Elverding chair
- Prof. dr. W.A. Wagenaar Fund
- Science Practice Fund
- UCM Fund
- Age@Minds Fund
- Brain Battle Fund
- Brain Injury Fund
- Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund
- Dept of Pharmacology-Toxicology
- Excalibur Fund
- Healing Heart Fund
- Health in Slums Fund
- Hemker Fund
- Limburg Fund for Rehabilitation
- M4I Fund
- Mark Post Research Fund
- Queen of Hearts Fund
- SHE Fund
- Youth, Food and Health chair