Fourteen Rotterdam scientists will receive a Veni grant of up to 320,000 euros. The Veni is a personal scientific grant from NWO for promising researchers who have recently obtained their PhDs. The grant allows the scientists to further develop their own research ideas based on creativity and passion over the next three years. The laureates come from Erasmus MC, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, International Institute of Social Studies and Rotterdam School of Management.
The researchers who have won prizes for their research:
Erasmus School of Economics
Housing affordability is under strain in many areas. Policymakers are asked to combat this with appropriate policy measures, but there is often a lack of evidence or data on the effects of such policies. This project studies the impact of rental housing policies focusing on the consequences for households. By combining cutting-edge policy evaluation methods with large linked datasets, I can identify causal effects of various housing policies on a wide range of outcomes. The findings of this project contribute to deeper academic understanding of housing issues but also to better housing policy by collaborating directly with policymakers.
Erasmus MC
Integrative genetic scoring for personalised risk assessment of Familial Hypercholesterolaemia
Individuals with familial hypercholesterolaemia have high cholesterol levels in their blood from birth, which can lead to cardiovascular complications in some individuals. Next to diet and medication, genetics play a significant role in determining these outcomes. This study examines to what extent someone’s genetic background can predict their cardiac health outcomes.
Identifying the cause of chronic low back pain using advanced imaging
Chronic pain is a debilitating condition which not only affects normal daily activities but also has profound impacts on one’s mental and emotional well-being. Unfortunately, in many patients with chronic pain doctors cannot identify the exact source of their pain and thus cannot give these patients proper treatment. New, highly advanced imaging techniques have shown promise in pinpointing the precise location and cause of chronic pain. This research will further develop and apply these imaging techniques in patients with chronic low back pain or radiating pain to the leg to optimize treatment.
Advancing Early Detection and Diagnosis of ICI-Mediated Myocarditis – CERTAINTY
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are effective cancer drugs. Unfortunately, they can cause inflammation of the heart, myocarditis. Currently, there is no strategy for identifying patients at risk and diagnostic methods are suboptimal. This results in delayed diagnosis, which can enhance the mortality rate. Therefore, this research will investigate new methods of early detection and non-invasive diagnosis of ICI-mediated myocarditis. Furthermore, implementation of brand-new techniques will also increase knowledge on the mechanism of disease. Taken together, the aim of this research is to identify which patients might be at risk and to diagnose them accordingly, improving patient care.
Measuring Parkinson's in the blood
Therapies which can slow or stop Parkinson's disease are currently being developed. To use these therapies as effectively as possible, it is necessary to start treating long before symptoms develop. We therefore need a blood test to establish and track Parkinson's disease over time. In this project, I will develop such a test based on cell-free DNA in the blood. This cell-free DNA contains a unique bar code from the degenerated mother cell which can be used to measure the pattern of cell damage in PD over time.
Tetralogy of Fallot in 4D: High frame rate 3D blood flow imaging using ultrasound
Patients with repaired Tetralogy of Fallot are often burdened by blood flow leaking backwards through their pulmonary valve, which can result in heart failure at a young age. Researchers and clinicians do not yet understand how this occurs but believe that measuring the 4-dimensional (3 spatial dimensions and time) blood flow patterns in the heart can help in understanding this process. This research proposes a new ultrasound technique for 4-dimenisonal blood flow imaging that can be used to safely measure the blood flow patterns in these patients, at thousands of volumes per second. The new flow information provided can be used by researchers to understand why valve leaking results in heart failure, and may also be used by clinicians for better surgical planning and decision making.
Erasmus School of Philosophy
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Developing creativity in higher education is crucial to solve complex societal challenges (e.g., climate change). Although creativity techniques, like brainstorming, have been developed to support students’ creative process, they often burden students with a higher cognitive workload than they can handle. ChatGPT, a large language model, can provide students with creative examples. This project first identifies how students in co-creation with ChatGPT generate creative ideas. Based on this new knowledge, I will co-design and test instructional support that integrates ChatGPT in creativity techniques. This project will achieve a breakthrough in our understanding of creativity development in higher education via ChatGPT.
Public service organizations (PSOs) are said to have lost sight of what citizens know, want and can, resulting in a decline in citizen trust, satisfaction and identification with PSOs, and endangering the realization of their public tasks. In response, PSOs are experimenting with citizen-centred service design and delivery. Yet, we know surprisingly little about the distinguishing and defining characteristics of citizen-centred services, or about the mechanisms through which they engender citizen trust, satisfaction and identification with PSOs. This project combines diverse theoretical perspectives and methods to study citizen-centred services in search for better public services.
International Institute of Social Studies
Going through a disaster is a profound, life-changing experience that compels one to suddenly rethink the forces of nature to which one is subjected. To explore this pivotal moment that can lead to adaptation, I examine how people in Europe experiencing first-time disruptive flooding learn to live in their new circumstances. With an ethnographic, reflexive, and reciprocal research approach, I support local learning processes through community events (RiverFestivals) including the self-production of disaster management guidelines. Unpacking environmental knowledge formation will advance understanding of adaptation mechanisms and contribute to bottom-up disaster intervention policies, especially relevant as floods are expected to aggravate.
Rotterdam School of Management
Companies and policymakers have tried to make people behave more sustainably with behavioral interventions. But so far, their success has been limited. This research proposal suggests that the one-size-fits-all intervention that is typically applied may work on some, but not all people. Instead, individuals can be more effectively convinced by considering their individual motives: one person can be more easily convinced by the health benefit of eating less meat and another person is compelled by highlighting the financial benefits of a vegetarian diet. Accounting for these differences could make policies more effective.
Present-day businesses wield enormous economic power by controlling the personal data of individuals. This dominance is driven by top-down data governance in which firms decide the terms of using personal data. My project seeks an innovative shift by exploring bottom-up data governance, which will empower individuals through collaborative data institutions. In this context, I study: (i) the economic incentives that enable the formation of bottom-up data institutions, (ii) how businesses should engage with such institutions, and (iii) how business-to-business data-sharing can promote the adoption of these institutions.
- Related content
