Top Dutch science grants of up to €1.5 million awarded to 34 leading researchers

The Dutch institute for scientific research NWO awarded Vici grants to 34 leading scientists in Natural, Applied, and Social Sciences to further their research in the coming five years. Each of the 18 men and 16 women will get up to 1.5 million euros to “develop an innovative line of research and expand their research group.”

Vici is one of the largest personal scientific grants in the Netherlands. The scientists who received the grants this year study a wide range of topics.

One is investigating whether fiction contributes to citizenship and community. Another is looking into mimicking the energy-efficient strategy human brains use to process massive amounts of data.

Vici grants also went to a study into how nerve cells and immune cells work together to actively switch off pain, and a multidisciplinary approach to improving the decision-making processes of autonomous robots.

The NWO awards Vici grants annually. The institute received 266 applications last year for the 2023 grants - 167 from men and 99 from women. Thirty-four of the applications were granted. More information about these scientists and their research can be found here.