Number 10, May 2010

News Earth and Life Sciences

Utrecht climate researcher wins Vening Meinesz prize
Dr Appy Sluijs has won the NWO Vening Meinesz prize. NWO Division for the Earth and Life Sciences awards this prize to the most promising researcher who has recently gained their doctorate. Climate researcher Sluijs received the prize of 10,000 euro during the Tenth Netherlands Earth Sciences Conference on 23 April in Veldhoven.		 Dr. Appy Sluijs


ALW contribution to Lorentz Center workshops
For the next five years, ALW shall contribute 30,000 euro per annum to the workshops organised by the Lorentz Center. This institute in Leiden organises workshops for leading national and international researchers. More workshops in the field of earth and life sciences are now expected.


NWO receives 6 million euro from Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for Antarctic research
Outgoing state secretary Van Bijsterveldt has set aside 6 million euro for Antarctic research over the next few years. This will be used to set up mobile laboratories on the British base Rothera. The grant from the Ministry of Education is in response to the master plan polar research that NWO-ALW wrote after the conclusion of the IPY. 		Links van dit Bonnerlaboratorium op de Britse basis Rothera komen de Nederlandse mobiele laboratoria.

Preselection for Veni and Vidi
ALW has had to subject applications for the Veni and Vidi rounds of 2010 to a preselection procedure due to the large number of applications in these parts of the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme. Preselection will probably have to be applied more often in the future.


Life sciences in Dutch newspaper supplement
On Thursday 20 May, De Telegraaf newspaper published a supplement about science and innovation. One page about the life sciences was put together by Partners in the Polder, a partnership in the life sciences that ALW participates in.


ALW office

The following have recently left the ALW office:


- Manuela Koelemij
- Dr Marga Verschoor (retired).


New staff at ALW are:


- Joan van Beek-Lutgert, interim head secretariat
- Carlijn van Bussel, secretariat
- Rienie van Dijk-Ammerlaan, secretariat
- Dr Kirsten Spoorendonk, policy officer Rubicon, The Value of
  Animal Welfare


Grants awarded


- The ALW Divisional Board has approved 6 research proposals in the
  TOP grant round;
- Five awards in the area of climate change have been made in cooperation
  with the Knowledge for Climate Research programme;
- Fourteen Rubicon grants have been awarded within the life sciences
  cluster;
- In its April meeting the Divisional Board approved 7 of the 24 applications
  in the Open Programme and earlier in its March meeting, 7 of the 26
  applications;
- Six ALW awards in the Investment Subsidy NWO Medium.

Programme news

The Value of Animal Welfare
On Wednesday 23 June, a launch meeting for the Value of Animal Welfare programme will be held. The five projects awarded in the programme shall take centre stage. For further information please contact
Dr Kirsten Spoorendonk.



New programme 'Planetary Boundaries Freshwater Cycle'
A call for the programme 'Planetary Boundaries Freshwater Cycle' will open shortly. Within the framework of this call for proposals, applicants will be asked to devote particular attention to how their research contributes to determining the worldwide boundaries of freshwater use. A maximum of 1 million euro is available. Further information will be provided in the
Subsidy Guide and on the ALW website.


Netherlands Polar Programme
On 29 March 2010, the Terlouw Committee presented its policy evaluation of the Netherlands Polar Programme and the Dutch IPY.
The most important conclusion is: continue the Dutch Polar Programme.

The concise, and therefore highly readable, report was explained at a meeting of invited guests and can be downloaded.

The commission for this policy emanated from the Interdepartmental Polar Discussion.

Calendar

  • 28 May: Rode Hoed science cafe with Frans de Waal
  • 30 May: Final TV broadcast Voyage of the Beagle
  • 7 June: Bessensap
  • 23 June: presentation new NWO strategy
  • 3 July: closing date FOM-ALW call Towards biosolar cells

More calendar items.



Press releases
Twente Canal bacteria makes its own oxygen for methane decomposition
A bacterium that takes up methane as food without using oxygen in the process attracted attention back in 2006. Microbiologists from Radboud University Nijmegen discovered the bacterium in the mud of the Twente canal. Now they have discovered that the microbe produces its own oxygen, without the need for light in this process. Their results were published in Nature.

Climate change influences subterranean ecosystems
Surface changes such as a higher concentration of carbon dioxide and a higher temperature have major consequences for the contact zone between plant roots and the soil. This is one of the outcomes from the recently concluded research programme Biodiversity In relation to Global Change (BIGC) from ALW.

Dark material between genes not widespread
The activity of suspected 'dark material' between genes appears to be largely noise from the genes. Rubicon researcher Harm van Bakel investigated RNA transcripts – pieces of copied DNA – the use of which was not known until now. In the open access journal PLoS BIOLOGY, he concludes that we must not subscribe any unexplained biological usefulness to these.