Young UG researchers awarded fourteen VENI grants

Young UG researchers awarded fourteen VENI grants

Fourteen talented young UG researchers were each awarded a VENI grant worth 250,000 euros by research financier NWO. The financier handed out 162 grants this year, for a total of 41.5 million euros.

9 November om 13:27 uur.
Laatst gewijzigd op 22 November 2020
om 16:22 uur.

November 9 at 13:27 PM.
Last modified on November 22, 2020
at 16:22 PM.

Door Christien Boomsma

9 November om 13:27 uur.
Laatst gewijzigd op 22 November 2020
om 16:22 uur.

By Christien Boomsma

November 9 at 13:27 PM.
Last modified on November 22, 2020
at 16:22 PM.

Christien Boomsma

Christien is sinds 2016 achtergrondcoördinator bij UKrant. Ze plant de achtergrondverhalen en begeleidt de auteurs. Bij haar eigen verhalen ligt de focus op wetenschap en academisch leven. Daarnaast schrijft ze veel over onderwerpen als sociale veiligheid en maakt ze graag persoonlijke interviews. In haar vrije tijd schrijft ze jeugdboeken en geeft schrijftrainingen. Meer »

Christien has been background coordinator at UKrant since 2016. She plans background stories and supervises authors. Her own stories focus on science and academic life. She also writes widely on topics such as social safety and enjoys making personal interviews. In her spare time, she writes children’s books and gives writing training courses. More »

More than 1,100 researchers applied for funding from the NWO talent programme. The financier awarded 14 percent of all applications with a grant. More women had their application accepted than men (17 and 12 percent, respectively).

At the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE), Veronica Allen will study how the molecules that led to life on earth arrived here. She will track these molecules as they exist in young star systems, using radio telescopes. Nichole Barry studies the faint glow of interstellar hydrogen by combining software from the Netherlands, Australia, and the United States in order to catch a glimpse of the earliest galaxies. 

Networks

Elise Marie Jerschabek Laetz studies sea slugs. They can do without food for extended periods of time, switching to photosynthesis to avoid starvation, stealing functional chloroplasts from algae. Zoe Christoff at the department of artificial intelligence looks at the impact of social networks on democracy.

Eelco Tromer, who currently works at Cambridge, will return to the UG for his project, focusing on developing new malaria therapies in Cambridge. Ivana Drienovská is starting a project in unnatural amino acids.  

At the arts faculty, Jana Declerq’s research focuses on the communication concerning chronic pain.

Forecasts

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) did well, too. Tom Boot will study econometric models that will help with accurate forecasting in times of crisis. Christiaan van der Kwaak also studies financial crises: he wants to know if policies developed to mitigate crises can actually generate new ones.

Their FEB colleague Björn Mitzinneck looks at how municipalities, companies, and citizens can work together to help in the energy transition.

At religious sciences, Brenda Mathijssen wants to know how various cultures deal with ‘green’ death practices like natural burial.

Depression

The UMCG got three VENI grants. Claudia van Borkulo studies depression. She wants to develop an improved method to measure its symptoms. Geneticist Patrick Deelen wants to use genetic information about common diseases to predict which genes cause rare diseases. Finally, Anouk van der Hoorn wants to improve proton therapy for brain tumours to ensure it causes less damage to the surrounding healthy brain tissue.

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