Freek Vonk

Freek Vonk is a Dutch evolutionary biologist, television presenter, professor by special appointment and Chief Scout of Scouting Nederland.

Freek Jacobus Vonk
Freek Vonk

Work outside Scouting

Vonk is perhaps the best-known biologist in the Netherlands, an evolutionary biologist to by exactly. He is researching the process of change in the history of different life forms. He conducts this research as a professor by special appointment at the University of Leiden. He is also active for the Naturalis research institute and natural history museum. He shares the results of those studies as a gast in many television programs. He often takes a special animal with him. Among these animals is his pet, the Rock monitor lizard 'Johan', which is the most famous the Rock monitor lizard in the Netherlands. For his own program “Freeks Wilde Wereld” (Freeks Wild World) he travels all over the world to show the most diverse animals to his viewers.

Chief scout

On September 24, 2021, Vonk was appointed as the second Chief Scout of Scouting Nederland, the most important ambassador and the face of the Dutch Scouting organization. From 1927 to 1937, soldier and politician Jean Jacques Rambonnet fulfilled that role with De Nederlandse Padvinders (Dutch Boy Scout).

Awards and honorary titles

In 2015, Vonk won the "Gouden Stuiver", Television Prize for best children's program with his program "Freeks Wilde Wereld".

The way in which Vonk communicates his scientific information to the general public is rewarded in 2012 with the “Eureka Prize”. This prize is awarded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).