Ammodo Science Awards for eight top researchers in the Netherlands
Nadine Akkerman, Lenneke Alink, Teun Bousema, Birte Forstmann, Ewout Frankema, Toby Kiers, Jacco van Rheenen and Stephanie Wehner are the winners of the 2019 Ammodo Science Awards. Ammodo announced this today. The laureates will each receive a cash prize of 300,000 euros. They can use that money in the coming years to explore new avenues in basic scientific research.
The laureates are:
Nadine Akkerman, associate professor of Early Modern English literature at Leiden University.
Among other things, Akkerman (40) described the letter correspondence of Elizabeth Stuart, distant ancestor of Queen Elizabeth, in unprecedented detail. With her innovative research methods, such as the use of X-ray scanners to read unopened letters, she is a forerunner in discovering the role of women in seventeenth-century politics and espionage.
Lenneke Alink, Professor of Forensic Family Pedagogy at Leiden University.
Alink (40) takes the understanding of child abuse to the next level with high-quality experimental research. She has a broad interest in the subject, looking for example at the role of chaos in the household, but also at that of the stress system in abuse and neglect. Her work maps out the causes and consequences of this terrible problem – an important step towards solving it.
Teun Bousema, Professor of Epidemiology of Tropical Infectious Diseases at Radboudumc and associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Bousema (41) is unraveling the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, a deadly parasite that causes the disease malaria via mosquitoes. He is particularly interested in how the parasite manages to enter a new mosquito from an infected human, and discovered, among other things, that some people exhibit an immune response that prevents this step.
Birte Forstmann, professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Center at the University of Amsterdam.
Forstmann (42) is at the intersection between our behavior on the one hand, and the anatomy of our brains on the other. How do they relate to each other, and which mechanisms in the brain make it possible for a person to respond to his or her environment? In her research, she focuses mainly on the subcortex, the middle part of the brain. This area plays an important role in Parkinson’s disease.
Ewout Frankema, professor of agricultural and environmental history at Wageningen UR.
Frankema (44) investigates the historical roots of the global gap between rich and poor. This gap grew dramatically between 1750 and 1990, and has barely narrowed since. In his integrated historical approach, he combines research into the ecological and geographical conditions under which agricultural societies develop with the human-designed economic, political and social relations.
Toby Kiers, University Research Chair and Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the Free University Amsterdam and senior research associate at the University of Oxford.
Kiers (42) is interested in the interaction between plants and microorganisms in the soil. Indeed, lively trade in nutrients takes place between roots and fungi, which can be described with economic theory actually intended for human markets. Her original approach yields new insights into the evolution of societal forms in nature.
Jacco van Rheenen, professor of Intravital Microscopy at Utrecht University and group leader at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek.
Van Rheenen (40) developed a pioneering form of microscopy that allows individual cells to be followed for weeks in a living organism. This new form of research provides valuable information about the behavior of, and interaction between, cells. For example, he was the first to film the process of metastatic cancer.
Stephanie Wehner, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professor at QuTech at Delft University of Technology.
Wehner (41) is working on a fundamental challenge: how to create entanglement over long distances, and then enable a quantum internet. Entanglement is a central concept in quantum mechanics, which enables secure communication and super-fast coordination. She now wants to realize this in the planned quantum network around Delft.
More information about the laureates and their research can be found at:
About the Ammodo Science Award
The Ammodo Science Award was established to encourage particularly talented researchers in a crucial, advanced phase of their scientific career. With the Award, Ammodo wants to strengthen unbound scientific research in The Netherlands across the board. Every two years, eight Ammodo Science Awards are presented to internationally recognized researchers in four science fields: Biomedical Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. Laureates must be affiliated with a university or research institute in The Netherlands and have been awarded a PhD for a maximum of fifteen years.
The presentation of the biennial Ammodo Science Award is an initiative of the Ammodo Foundation. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences takes care of the nomination and selection process.
About Ammodo
Ammodo supports art and science. Together with renowned partners Ammodo initiates, develops and supports groundbreaking projects within the visual arts, performing arts and fundamental science. By offering excellent artists and scientists space for deepening and contributing to the visibility of their work, Ammodo stimulates the development of art and science.
For more information, visit www.ammodo.org.
Juliette de Wijkerslooth (director of Ammodo) about the Ammodo Science Award:
‘Ammodo believes it is important to contribute to unbounded fundamental scientific research: the search for new knowledge without focusing on specific solutions or practical applications. For the third time we present the Ammodo Science Award and we are proud to offer the laureates Nadine Akkerman, Lenneke Alink, Teun Bousema, Birte Forstmann, Ewout Frankema, Toby Kiers, Jacco van Rheenen and Stephanie Wehner the opportunity to follow their curiosity.’
More information:
Internet: www.ammodo-science-award.org, info@ammodo-science-award.org
- Ammodo: Marie-louise Oster, 020 794 45 22 or 06 57812297, marielouise.oster@ammodo.org
- De Wolven: Milou Peeters, 020 620 33 54 or 06 48760756, milou@dewolven.com
