31 top Dutch researchers receive a Vici grant

2 February 2010

NWO announces winners of Vici grants

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded 31 innovative scientists a Vici grant. This grant is worth a maximum of 1,500,000 euro per person and with this is one of the largest individual grants in the Netherlands. Researchers can use the grant to build up their own research group over a period of five years.

This year, 220 researchers wrote a brief preproposal for a Vici grant. NWO invited 94 of the researchers to elaborate their proposal. The researchers also had to give a presentation of their proposal to an evaluation committee. Thirty-one proposals were finally selected for funding on the basis of national and international advisory reports. The selected candidates include seven women.

The Vici grant is aimed at highly experienced researchers who have successfully demonstrated the ability to develop their own innovative line of research and who can act as a coach for young researchers. Vici offers the researcher the opportunity to build up his or her own research group, often in anticipation of a tenured professorship.

Knowledge utilisation

This was the first Vici round in which researchers from all scientific disciplines could include their research’s impact on or relevance to society and industry in their application. Until now this had only been possible for the technical sciences. Almost all of the researchers who submitted a Vici application completed this section. By doing this they could exert a positive influence on the final assessment of their application.

The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme

The Vici grant is one of the three types of grant in the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme. The other two are the Veni grant (for researchers who have recently gained their doctorates) and the Vidi grant (for experienced postdocs). The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme is aimed at researchers who want to conduct challenging and pioneering research. The scheme was set up in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Dutch universities.

The list of Vici winners

Here is an alphabetical list of the Vici winners and an indicative title for their research projects (in Dutch).

About NWO

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is the principal Dutch science funding body and its mission is to facilitate excellent scientific research in the Netherlands by means of national competition. Each year NWO spends more than 700 million euro on grants for top researchers, on innovative instruments and equipment, and on institutes where top research is performed. NWO funds the research of more than 5300 talented researchers at universities and institutes. Independent experts select proposals by means of a peer review system. NWO facilitates the transfer of knowledge to society. 
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For further information about the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme please contact:

last modified on 10 February 2010