25/07/2026
Congrats to the 21 researchers from the University of Groningen & UMCG who have been awarded a Veni grant of up to €320.000 💶
A Veni grant is a personal scientific research grant provided by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for early-career scientists. It is part of the NWO Talent Programme, alongside the Vidi and Vici grants, designed to help researchers who have recently earned their PhD build independent research lines.
of Groningen
Congratulations to the twenty-one researchers from the University of Groningen and the UMCG that have been awarded a Veni-grant!
It was given to:
- Leon Bäcker, Serte Donderwinkel, Gustavo Medina Toledo, Pooneh Nazari, Jakob Schoeffer, Fabian Schuhmann, Suzanne van der Veldt, Wouter Kiekens, Vesna Bacheva, and Sebastian Hendrickx-Rodriguez from the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
- Jamil Nehme, Aranka Vivienne Ballering, and Laura Bustamante from UMCG.
- Defne Abur, Lucas van der Deijl, Alex Lorson, and Ezra la Roi from the Faculty of Arts.
- Anja Ernst and Joost de Jong from the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences.
- Kamil Majcherek from the Faculty of Philosophy.
- Kritika Saxena from the Faculty of Economics and Business.
The grant, up to €320.000, is designed for outstanding researchers who have recently gained a PhD. The topics of research include the Milky Way’s history, how caloric restriction prevents cancer, AI decision-making, speech irregularities in Parkinson’s disease, the speed of our brains, Rwanda’s land reform and women’s empowerment, and many more.
Together with the Vidi and Vici grants, it is part of the NWO Talent Programme from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). They select researchers based on the academic quality and the innovative character of the research proposal, the scientific and/or societal impact of the proposed project, and the quality of the researcher.
Read more about the researchers' subjects by clicking the link below! 👇
https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/latest-news/news/archief2026/nieuwsberichten/0416-veni-toewijzingen
Photo: Marcel Spanjer