They have been awarded a Vici grant from the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme set up by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
The Groningen Vici recipients are Deniz Başkent (professor of Auditory Perception) who researches hearing loss, professor of Work and Health Ute Bültmann (‘Today’s youth are tomorrow’s workers’), Gerrit Poelarends (assistant professor of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology) who researches ‘green’ medications, and Hedderik van Rijn (assistant professor of Cognitive Sciences and Neurosciences) for ‘the stopwatch in our brains’.
Quality
Vici is one of the largest personal scientific grants in the Netherlands. NWO selects the Vici recipients on the basis of the researcher’s qualities, the innovative character and the scientific impact of the research proposal and valorisation.
Vici is meant for ‘outstanding experienced researchers who have successfully developed an innovative line of research, taking up a prominent position on both a national and an international level’, according to the NWO. A total of 34 Vici grants have been awarded.