Major Vici grant for Chris van den Broeck

NWO awards a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros to Prof. Chris van den Broeck (Van Swinderen Institute, also working for Nikhef). Van den Broeck will do research on the nature of black holes by using gravitational waves.

Gravitational waves - ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself - can finally be detected. Van den Broeck will use them to reveal the true nature of black holes, and search for new, exotic compact stars, to further our understanding of gravity at the most fundamental level.

The NWO has also granted a Vici grant to two other top researchers at the Faculty of Science and Engineering: Prof. dr. Syuzanna Harutyunyan (Stratingh Institute of Chemistry) and Prof. dr. Meike Stöhr (Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials). The Vici grant is to be spent on five years of research and the establishment of their own research groups. They have been awarded Vici grants as part of NWO’s Innovational Research Incentives Scheme (‘Vernieuwingsimpuls’).

NWO awards Vici grants on the basis of the researchers’ quality, the innovative nature and academic impact of their research proposal and application of knowledge. The Vici grants are intended for ‘excellent, experienced researchers who have successfully developed a new research line and thus established themselves prominently at both national and international levels’, says NWO. This year, a total of 35 academics have been awarded a Vici grant.