Four Vici grants for UvA scientists
Four researchers from the UvA and the Amsterdam UMC have received Vici grants worth up to €1.5 million. The scientists are doing research, for example, on masculinity in European politics or pressure in blood vessels.
Grants were awarded to Miranda Cheng (mathematics/physics), Liza Mügge (political science), Maartje van Gelder (history), and Stephan Huveneers (medicine).
Cheng is researching shapes, also called topology, and their fundamental role in mathematics and physics. Mügge will research the male-dominated world that politics still is. Van Gelder will look into ordinary people and how they influenced politics before they had the right to vote. Finally, Huveneers will investigate how to stop the leakage of blood vessels in diseases.
The Vici grant is intended for “advanced” scientists who can work with their research group for five years. A total of 337 applications were submitted. Of the 35 Vici grants awarded today by science financier NWO to top researchers, 20 go to women.
11 percent received a grant
NWO received 337 preliminary applications for this Vici round. Of these, 110 researchers were allowed to write an extensive application, and 11 percent were ultimately awarded a grant. Last year 13 percent of applications were accepted. With 20 Vici grants, female researchers are well represented this year. Men submitted more applications, but were less successful: 8 percent received a grant, compared to 14 percent of women.
Recently, three professors calculated that over the years, for the Veni grant for recently promoted researchers, women are more likely to be recipients than men. It seems NWO has gone overboard in catching up with women, the three argued. For the Vici grant, they could not demonstrate this.
