Millions of euros in grants for 32 top researchers

1 February 2011

NWO announces recipients of Vici grants

Thirty-two innovative scientists will each receive 1.5 million euros to carry out research over the next five years. They have been awarded Vici grants under NWO's Innovational Research Incentives Scheme and with this funding round NWO is investing about 48 million euros in top talent. Vici is one of the largest individual grants in the Netherlands. 

Like the other grants under the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme, Vici is intended for innovative and groundbreaking researchers. The researchers can use the award to build their own research groups over the next five years. As a result, Vici is not only a boost for those receiving an award; it also enables NWO to create opportunities for a large number of young researchers.

Subject areas in which the 2011 Vici laureates are set to carry out research include the psychological side of successful weight loss, agricultural development in Africa, understanding the spread of cancer and using tiny plastic nanocapsules to re-establish processes within a cell.

You will find an alphabetical list of all researchers receiving an award here, together with a brief description of their research projects.

This year, 215 researchers submitted a brief preproposal for a Vici and 103 researchers were invited to elaborate their proposals. A total of 32 researchers will now receive a Vici, a success rate of 15 %. However, the proportion of good proposals is much higher. Unforutanetly, this means that NWO once again had to reject good researchers due to limited funds. 

The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme

The Vici is one of the three types of grant available under the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme. The other two grants are the Veni (for researchers who have recently obtained their PhD) and the Vidi (for experienced postdocs). The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme is targeted at researchers aiming to carry out challenging and groundbreaking research. The scheme was set up in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Dutch universities.

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 euros 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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last modified on 14 February 2011