Four VENI grants and a ERC starting grant
Four researchers from the Faculty of Science and Engineering (formerly known as the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences) have been awarded a VENI grant within the framework of NWO’s Innovational Research Incentives Scheme. VENI grants are intended for young researchers who have recently gained a PhD and have significant and original talent for innovative research. Prof.dr. L.V.E. Koopmans from the Kapteyn Institute has been awarded a ERC starting grant. The objective of such a grant is to support researchers to set up a research team or a research programme.
Veni grant
VENI researchers are awarded a total of up to EUR 250,000 over a period of three years. The Innovational Research Incentives Scheme offers three types of grants each year: not only the VENI grants, but also VIDI grants for experienced postdocs and VICI grants for senior researchers.
The new VENI awardees at the Faculty of Science and Engineering are:
                        
Getting in shape: The role of the conserved StkP/PhpP signalling couple of Streptococcus pneumoniae in coordinating cell wall synthesis with cell division
                        
Dr. J.W. (Jan Willem) Veening - Molecular Genetics
                     
                        
Mapping epigenetic quantitative trait loci in Arabidopsis
                        
Dr. F.  Johannes - Bioinformatics
                     
                        
Modelling excited state dynamics in large molecular aggregates
                        
Dr. A.U. Stradomska - Optical Condensed Matter Physics
                     
                        
Ballistic electronics in graphene: clearing the way for electrons in one atom thick carbon
                        
Dr. ir. N. Tombros - Chemistry of (Bio)organic Materials and Devices
                     
ERC Starting Grant
The ERC Starting Grant is a personal European grant, the objective of which is to support researchers in an adequate manner during a period in which they intend to set up a research team or a research programme. Participants in the ERC Starting Grant must be able to demonstrate the high quality of their research. The ERC Starting Grant ensures that young, well-established researchers can make the transition from supervised research to independent research in a relatively early phase of their scientific careers.
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