Ten grants for interdisciplinary PhD research at UG Schools

The Ubbo Emmius Fund (UEF) has made ten grants available for research projects at UG Schools for Science & Society as part of the M20 Scholarship Programme. With the grants, ten PhD students who want to further develop into interdisciplinary researchers will be appointed. The M20 Programme is a long-term initiative of the UEF. Like the Schools, the projects are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in nature, and dovetail with societal issues.

The 2024 application round opens on 5 February 2024 and ends on 15 March 2024. The link to the online application portal will be available on this page on Monday 5 February.

M20 PhD Programme

It is the M20 Programme's goal to develop scholars with the interdisciplinary foundation required to address society’s most pressing challenges. The pilot round with 4 PhD students took place in 2022, then 10 PhD projects were selected in 2023, and this year again 10 PhD projects will be selected. The programme complements the University of Groningen’s vision to turn knowledge into impact by prioritising interactions with the private sector, public actors and nonprofits.

Funding for this programme was provided exclusively by a private donor and is managed by the Ubbo Emmius Foundation. The 2024 round offers a total of ten PhD scholarships to the four Schools:

• Wubbo Ockels School for Energy and Climate
• Jantina Tammes School for Digital Society, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence
• Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health
• Rudolph Agricola School for Sustainable Development

Jantina Tammes School

Concentrated on artificial intelligence and digital transmission, the Jantina Tammes School covers the emerging fields of data science, digital society, regulation and ethics of AI, e-health, e-business, technology innovation and robotics. To what extent will their rapid development affect societies driven by knowledge and information? Projects explore new ways to address the challenges presented by ongoing transition into a smart and digital world.

Focus areas include the growing importance of diversity and inclusivity in cognitive AI, the implications of new healthcare tools and methods based on robotics, and smart systems' increasing ability to think critically.

The Jantina Tammes School is led by Ming Cao, full professor in Networks and Robotics at the UG.

Topics

The selected topics for 2024 for the Jantina Tammes School are:

• Digital Literacy & Inclusion
  The goal of this topic is to broaden our understanding of digital literacy and implement strategies that bridge the digital divide.
• Digital Infrastructure & Sustainability
  The goal of this topic is to examine the key priorities across digital infrastructures that need to be addressed to realize a sustainable digital society

• Digital Safety & Security
  The context of this topic is the growing technological, regulation and social concern on the access and use of digital information, in particular amid the recent explosive discussion on regulation of AI.

More information

More information on the M20 programme and the Schools’ thematic areas can be found on the Ubbo Emius Foundation website.