He served the Earth Science community in various functions, including Presidency of the European Geophysical Society.

Cloetingh has received honorary doctorates from five European universities and numerous honours and awards, including the Stephan Mueller Medal, Arthur Holmes Medal and honorary membership of the European Geosciences Union, Fellow and Honorary Fellow of the American Geophysical Union[5] and the Geological Society of America, the Leopold von Buch Medal of the German Geological Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award.

He was distinguished in 2006 as Chevalier de Légion d'honneur and in 2014 as Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion[11] for his contributions to science and European scientific cooperation in research and education.

[14] In December 2018, he became chair of the Board of SAPEA, part of the European Commission's Scientific Advice Mechanism.

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