Number 8, December 2009

News

IODP cruise to Antarctica
From January to March 2010 the ship Joides Resolution will take bore core samples at Wilkes Land, Antarctica. Prof. Henk Brinkhuis is co-chief scientist of this expedition. This climate research is being organised by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP), for which NWO-ALW pays the Dutch annual contribution. 		Foto: William Crawford, IODP-Texas A&M University


Call Vening Meinesz prize
The ALW Divisional Board is seeking candidates for the Vening Meinesz Prize, intended for earth scientists who gained their doctorate less than 5 years ago. The winner shall receive the prize of € 10,000 during the tenth Netherlands Earth Sciences Congress that will be held on 22 and 23 April 2010 in Veldhoven.


Popular book 'Geestdrift, wat cognitiewetenschappers bezielt' [Enthusiasm, what inspires cognitive scientists]
In the book 'Geestdrift, wat cognitiewetenschappers bezielt' science journalist Bennie Mols interviews various cognitive scientists. The reader is served a lively supply of scientists with a range of disciplinary backgrounds, ages and stages of career who are working on the key questions in cognitive science. Are you interested in this recently published book? Then please send an e-mail with your name and address to hersenenencognitie@nwo.nl and you will be sent a copy.


Cross-disciplinary TOP funding round
Several NWO divisions (Earth and Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences and the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw)) have opened a cross-disciplinary funding round for Dutch TOP researchers. The divisions shall divide 14 million euro between research groups that have a superb track record and propose a research programme of excellent quality that opens up new horizons. Under the TOP grant a maximum of 750,000 euro can be applied for. The joint TOP funding round is a one-off initiative for the time being. The deadline for submitting proposals is 15 February 2010.


NIOZ and NIOO Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology merge
The two most important organisations in the Netherlands in the area of fundamental sea and coastal research are joining forces. These organisations are NIOZ on Texel and NIOO Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology (CEME) in Yerseke. This merger will result in an institute that covers all aspects of sea research.


New Foundation for Biosciences and Society workbook on forensic medicine
The average Dutch TV viewer is inundated with crime programmes. The images portrayed do not always concur with the current state of affairs in Dutch forensic medicine. The Foundation for Biosciences and Society, whose office is housed at ALW, has published a new book about forensic medicine. This workbook 'Speuren naar sporen' [Searching for traces] describes the medical expertise deployed to solve crimes.


ALW board and office

The ALW Divisional Board has 3 new members:
  • Chair Prof. Ruby Rabbinge is stepping down after completing the two permitted terms of office. With effect from 1 January 2010 his successor is Prof. J.T. (Jacob) Fokkema, rector magnificus of Delft University of Technology.
  • Prof. N.N. (Nico) van Straalen is professor of animal ecology at VU University Amsterdam.
  • Prof. B.J.J.M. (Bart) van den Hurk is a senior researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

The ALW office welcomes Antoinette Paijens, secretariat; Priscilla Bruinsma-Smiet and Angela Funna-Gopie (secretariat) are leaving ALW.



Grants awarded:

  • Fourteen Vidi grants have been awarded in the area of earth and life sciences.
  • In the Open Programme fifteen proposals have been awarded.
  • Four women have received a Meervoud grant.
  • Nineteen young researchers have received a Rubicon grant.


Programme news

Start of National Initiative Brain & Cognition
On 23 November the National Initiative Brain & Cognition (NIHC) was officially launched. This temporary taskforce has been awarded 65 million euro to fund research in the area of brain and cognition over the next five years. Part of this money is coming from the Economic Structure Enhancing Fund (FES). The NIHC shall consolidate strengths in the areas of fundamental and applied neuroscientific research and cognition research and shall facilitate interactions between scientific and social partners. NWO is coordinating the NIHC.

New Meervoud round in sight
In the spring of 2010 another funding round in the Meervoud programme shall be held. With Meervoud, ALW and Physical Sciences are seeking to increase the number of female postdocs who are appointed as university lecturers. In 2010 it will only be possible to submit an application for projects at a university or a university medical centre. Furthermore, candidates must have obtained their doctorate at least 3 years ago.

From Molecule to Cell
The final document of the From Molecule to Cell programme has been published. It includes six double interviews that a science journalist held with researchers involved in this programme. The programme ran from 2002 to 2009 and was supported by the NWO divisions ALW, Chemical Sciences, and Physical Sciences.


Deadlines

  • 7 January: Veni
  • 14 January: Mosaic
  • 15 January: ZKO Ship time current research
  • 20 January: Ecogenomics
  • 11 February: Vidi
  • 15 February: Cross-disciplinary TOP
  • 24 February: Graduate Programme
  • 2 March: Brain & Cognition – societal innovation in healthcare, education and social safety
  • 12 March: ZKO Ship time Open Programme
  • 30 March: preproposal Vici
  • 1 April: Nano

Click here for further information about the deadlines.


Press releases

Kilimanjaro's snow-covered peak is due to a wet period 11,000 years ago
The regular melting of the ice cap on Africa's highest mountain appears to be part of a natural process of wet and dry periods. It is therefore not just the result of environmental damage caused by humans, concludes molecular palaeontologist Jaap Sinninghe Damsté: Kilimanjaro is a false climate icon.


Simplest bacteria unravelled at the cellular level
Even the simplest of cells turned out to be far more complex than researchers had thought. In three Science articles, researchers including Rubicon winner Vera van Noort, provide a complete picture of a single cell from a systems biology perspective.

Poisonous colours enhance sexual chances
Bright colours enhance the sexual chances of the extremely poisonous Panamanian strawberry poison dart frog. It was previously thought that the colours merely served as a warning signal for predators, says Rubicon researcher Martine Maan.

Two predatory species on the same prey leads to chaos
Predators and their prey often exhibit fluctuations in the size of their populations. If the number of predators increases then the number of prey decreases. Yet if two predator-prey systems are connected this leads to chaos in the food web. This is the conclusion of a team of researchers from University of Amsterdam in an article published in Nature.

Ice on Greenland is disappearing at an ever increasing rate
The quantity of ice on Greenland has been disappearing at an ever increasing rate since 2000. Researcher Michiel van den Broeke has published this finding in Science following research conducted within the framework of the International Polar Year. However, this decrease has been masked by the increased snowfall in Greenland. 		GPS-meting op Groenlandse ijskap