Together with Veni and Vici, Vidi is a funding instrument of the NWO Talent Programme. It allows researchers who have already spent several years doing postdoctoral research to develop their own innovative line of research, and to appoint one or more researchers for this. Many scholars of Erasmus University Rotterdam were able to further their research by obtaining a Vidi grant. They study issues such as fatherhood in the 21th century, racial stereotypes in sports journalism and the role of the enzyme CAMK2 in the development of the brain.
Vidi Grants 2023:
Vidi grants of previous years
Vidi Grants 2021 (awarded June 2022):
The inclusion of individuals with a physical or cognitive impairment is an important societal concern. We often think of such impairments in terms of their negative consequences. What if there were positive implications too? Consider, for example, the resilience of someone having had to overcome a disabling disease or impairment. Through a series of (field) experiments, this research will examine if smart interventions may serve to attenuate the negative stigma that surrounds people with disabilities, and thereby offer opportunities for emancipation and business creation.
Obesity of the mother, before and during pregnancy, leads to increased risks of cardiovascular diseases in their offspring. It is not known how maternal obesity increases this risk of adverse offspring health outcomes. This research examines the impact of maternal obesity on the development of the placenta and the embryo in the earliest phase of life, the subsequent effects on offspring cardiovascular health throughout the life-course and potential next steps to prevent these detrimental effects in offspring.
Men and women have different chances to suffer from cognitive conditions. For example, autism has a higher frequency in men and anxiety conditions occur more in women. Because women have two X-chromosomes and men only one, women have to silence one X-chromosome. How this works is not well known and may explain some male-female differences. The researchers will investigate the silencing of the X-chromosome and hope to find an explanation for the mentioned gender differences.
Our kidneys and blood are in a continuous cross-talk as kidneys filters our blood. One major open question is how this cross-talk is changed when the kidney function decreases or when blood cells become abnormal in a blood cancer. Clinical data indicate that this understanding is urgently needed as patients with reduced kidney function have an abnormal blood production and patients with blood cancer have reduced kidney function. We aim to protect the kidney from losing its function in blood cancer and to maintain a normal production of blood cells in kidney disease.
Tumors change over time. Abnormalities in chromosomes are a main cause for these progressive changes in the nature and composition of cells that make up a tumor. These changes can lead to therapy resistance in for instance glioblastoma, the deadliest brain cancer. Biophysicists develop a technology to identify rare cancer cells bearing severe chromosomal abnormalities and to study these cells at unprecedented resolution. They investigate the causes and consequences of abnormal chromosomes in glioblastoma and aim to generate information that can lead to improved treatment for glioblastoma.
Unregulated DNA replication can provide limitless proliferation potential to tumor cells. The mechanisms regulating DNA replication machinery are poorly understood. This research focuses on identifying the specific chromatin organization signatures during replication in cancer cells and target those to cause instability of DNA replication process in cancer cells.
The perception of sound can often be enhanced by stimulus from a different sense. For instance, lip-reading helps the understanding of speech. This fundamental brain function, called “multisensory integration”, depends on putting the right information at the right place at the right time. Researchers will use microscopy and electric recordings to investigate how brain cells connect and communicate with each other, and uncover how they integrate sound information with information from other senses.
Overview of the nine researchers who won a Vidi grant in 2020:
Accurate prediction of patients’ choice behaviour avoids poor policy decisions and ‘trial-and-error’ implementation in healthcare. However, current models study choices as if they are independent of other people’s influence hampering accurate ex-ante (‘before’) evaluation of healthcare policies. This project develops and validates a social-interdependent choice paradigm to fill this gap.
Under limited liability entrepreneurs can walk away from certain debts. This incentivizes them to take more risk. Is this a blessing or curse? Peter Koudijs will dive into the history of the introduction of limited liability in the US and analyze its effects on entrepreneurship and innovation
True democracy requires collective deliberation: citizens should not only vote, but also discuss their views. But what norms can such discussion obey? This is the central question behind this project, in which Frederik Van de Putte will develop formal models of deliberation as an interactive, dynamic process, thus mapping out its normative limitations.
Digital media offer opportunities but also risks for children. Therefore, schools are increasingly investing in digital media literacy. However, being media-literate does not automatically mean that children behave safely online. With innovative game-technology, the researchers examine how children can be empowered to use digital media in a safe and responsible manner.
Precisely timed actions are reflected in virtually every skilled behaviour in humans and do not merely represent normal function of the nervous system, they represent optimal function. This proposal studies how the brain uses memory and signals in the environment to generate rapid and precisely timed actions.
DNA replication stress is a precursor of genome instability, that is linked to tumor development. In this project, the researcher wants to study the factors that cause instability of the DNA replication process and how our cells cope with the genetic instability.
Stroke is caused by rupture of the cap overlying an atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery. In this project, the scientist working on the intersection of cardiovascular biology, technology, and imaging, will tissue engineer caps to identify new imaging biomarkers for the identification of the cap at risk of rupture.
Cancer screening is a one-size-fits-all approach, despite substantial differences in risk in the population. This project aims to bring personalised screening into practice. The researchers will determine the optimal screening strategy based on age, gender and prior screening results and test the advantages of personalised screening in a clinical study.
Overview of the six researchers who won a Vidi grant in 2019:
Modern technology and the internet makes data collection easier such that data sets are growing bigger, but also less reliable. Alfons will therefore develop new statistical methods for rating data that are not influenced by bad data points.
Cities across the world are looking for ways to make their economies more circular, and localised production is seen as key to this process. Brandellero will comparatively examines how making locally is articulated and valued, in order to understand its potential role in sustainable urban futures.
Think before you act. An important feature of voluntary movements is that we can decide about an optimal strategy before execution. It is currently unclear how the brain determines an action plan that guides future movement. Gao will study how the cerebellum (little brain) helps by making a decision.
Miniature gas bubbles have the potential to locally deliver high dosages of drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and cancer which reduces side-effects. Kooiman will address the exact mechanisms between miniature gas bubbles, drugs, and diseased cells so we can bring this bubble therapy to patients.
Hepatitis E virus has emerged as a true global health issues, with particular threatens to pregnant women and organ transplantation patients. Pan aims to identify treatment from existing FDA-approved medications that are safe, cheap and effective to combat this disease in developing and developed counties.
Stoop will deepen the knowledge on poverty using novel field experiments requiring rich and poor households to return envelopes. The experiments mimic daily chores, and the impact of financial stress on their implementation. The results are important for future implementations of government policies.
Overview of the eight researchers who won a Vidi grant in 2018:
Brain activity underlying stereotyped behaviours in autism spectrum disorder
Dr Aleksandra Badura aims to understand how cerebello-cortical brain activity translates into behaviours that adapt to ever-changing environments. She is particularly interested in uncovering the mechanisms of maladaptive perseverative behaviours characteristic of autism spectrum disorder. To this end, she employs a wide range of techniques, ranging from behavioural assays and ‘in vivo’ electrophysiology to virtual reality, calcium imaging and modelling.
Positively Shocking! The redistributive impact of mass mortality through epidemic diseases
Dr Daniel Curtis’ project tests a widely-supported notion that catastrophic shocks such as violent conflict and epidemic diseases were the only times throughout history when societies became more equal. Was this really so, and were there particular societal and epidemiological conditions that allowed the direction of redistribution to deviate from this pattern? In light of contemporary concerns about emerging infectious diseases, it is imperative we understand the capacity of epidemic diseases to shape socio-economic development. This is especially important when we consider the grossly inaccurate predictions of the economic impact of Ebola.
The (none) making of a criminal
In his Vidi research, Olivier Marie examines three phases in an individual’s life during which crime can be prevented. In the first place, at birth, through the selection of individuals who decide to have children. Secondly, during the individual’s teenage years, by proposing novel interventions to prevent escalation. And thirdly, by assigning the right prisoner to the right prison to minimise peer effects. The main question that this research seeks to answer is: ‘During which phase is intervention most efficient to prevent a life of crime?’
Respiratory viruses unmasked: exploring their neurotropic potential
Respiratory viruses, and especially influenza A virus and enterovirus D68, can cause diseases of the central nervous system. However, the underlying mechanism of how this works is largely unknown. In her study, Dr Debby van Riel will unravel how respiratory viruses enter and cause damage to the nervous system and identify important viral factors. The results can be used to optimise diagnostics.
Racial stereotypes in football journalism. How does the audience respond?
Dr Jacco van Sterkenburg is researching the assignment of meaning to ethnicity and skin colour in the production process for televised football broadcasts. He will subsequently examine how this assignment of meaning is translated into media content and audience experiences. This study will be performed in four European countries: England, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. This research is intended to yield new insights into the role played by football in discourses of ethnicity and skin colour and discourses of whiteness.
Perfusion of the cardiac muscle – QUANTO
Following acute treatment for myocardial infarction, the treatment does not result in full restoration of perfusion in the cardiac muscle in one-third of the patients. Dr ir. Rik Vos will be creating a new ultrasound system that will allow us to make ultra-high-speed images of the heart. We will then be able to view and analyse these images in slow motion. This allows us to accurately map perfusion during the procedure and even test various therapies to immediately restore perfusion.
CAMK2 and brain development: inseparably linked?
CAMK2 is one of the most extensively studied enzymes in the adult brain, but its role in neurodevelopment remains unknown. Research recently identified individuals with a neurodevelopment disorder characterised by Intellectual Disability caused by mutations in the CAMK2 genes – indicating that CAMK2 also plays an important role during neurodevelopment. Dr Geeske van Woerden will be investigating the role of CAMK2 in neuronal development and studying the downstream signalling pathways. These findings will provide new insights into and a better understanding of CAMK2’s influence on the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders and will hopefully create openings for the development of therapies for CAMK2-related disorder patients.
Social welfare and dependency passed on from parents to children
ELectrical bIoMarkers guided Individualized Diagnosis And ThErapy of Atrial Fibrillation (ELIMINATE - AF)
Dads, dimes and quarters
Monitoring foetal hormones using the mother's blood
Advanced canced patients' control over their situation
Dutch culture wars?
