Thirty-one top researchers receive 1.5 million euro grants

31 January 2012

NWO awards prestigious Vici grants

Thirty-one leading scientists will each receive 1.5 million euros to carry out research over the next five years. They have been awarded a Vici grant from NWO's Innovational Research Incentives Scheme. Vici is one of the largest individual scientific grants in the Netherlands.

NWO selects the Vici laureates based on the quality of the researcher, the innovative character and scientific impact of the research proposal, and knowledge utilisation. The submission of a section about knowledge utilisation had not been obligatory up until now. However, with effect from 2012 all Vici applicants must include such a section in their proposal.

The researchers are free to choose their research subject. The subjects that Vici laureates will investigate include criminality among women, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, exoplanets, brain surgery, and remuneration packages for top managers.

Just like the other grants from the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme, Vici is intended for innovative and groundbreaking research. The researchers can use the grant to build up their own research group over a period of five years. Therefore Vici is not only a boost for the researchers who receive it, but by awarding this grant NWO also creates opportunities for a large number of young researchers.

Go to the alphabetical list of all successful candidates and a brief description of their research projects.

This year 236 researchers wrote a brief preproposal for a Vici grant and 94 researchers were invited to elaborate their proposals. Thirty-one researchers have now received a Vici, an award rate of 13%. The percentage of good proposals was, however, much higher. This means that as a result of limited funding, NWO had to reject very good researchers.

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 grants are the Veni grant (for researchers who have recently gained their doctorates) and the Vidi grant (for experienced postdocs). The scheme has been set up in collaboration with the Ministry of Education Culture and Science, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Dutch universities.

About NWO

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is the national research council in the Netherlands and has a budget of more than 500 million euros per year. NWO promotes quality and innovation in science by selecting and funding the best research. It manages research institutes of national and international importance, contributes to strategic programming of scientific research and brings science and society closer together. Research proposals are reviewed and selected by researchers of international repute. More than 5000 scientists can carry out research thanks to funding from NWO.

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last modified on 10 February 2012