The Veni grant is awarded annually by NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research). This year, multiple researchers from Leiden University and 2 researchers who will soon be working at the university will receive a Veni grant from the NWO. Thanks to this grant, which can amount to up to 320,000 euros, promising young scientists have the opportunity to further develop their own research ideas for three years. In this article we would like to tell you more about our Veni laureates.
Teenage Risk Taking in Times of Tiktok
Neeltje Blankenstein
Whereas previous generations of adolescents grew up in a mostly 'offline' world, the current smartphone-generation does not know a world without internet. Adolescents are characterized by heightened risk-taking, yet strikingly little is known about adolescent risk-taking in the online world, such as sharing personal information, online gambling, and sexting. Therefore I will investigate adolescents' online risk-taking from three theoretical perspectives. Using multiple measuring instruments, I study how online risk-taking changes with age, why some adolescents take more online risks than others, and how the digital social context influences risk-taking, with the ultimate aim of fostering healthy online behavior in youth.
Read the interview with Neeltje Blankenstein here.
An Anthropology of AI at the Limits of Scientific Knowledge
Rodrigo Ochigame
New techniques of artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming the practice of science. The fast adoption of AI is generating controversies about what counts as a scientific "proof." This project is an anthropological study of researchers who are advancing new uses of AI and redefining the meaning of a proof in their respective fields. It covers three different scientific groups: mathematicians who use AI to discover and prove theorems; astronomers and physicists who use AI to make images of black holes; and ecologists and climate scientists who use AI to try to predict extreme climate events in complex ecosystems, particularly Amazonia.
Read the interview with Rodrigo Ochigame here.
Caring for COVID-19 Data: Sustaining Open Data Infrastructures
Kathleen Gregory
Data about COVID-19 were everywhere during the pandemic. Now that the pandemic is waning, it is unclear how these data will continue to be managed and made open. This project uses COVID-19 as a case and investigates three different examples of data infrastructures to better understand how data can still be accessed and used.
Read the interview with Kathleen Gregory here.
The age of information overload: how do we control what we say?
Xiaochen Zheng
We have all been there: you are in the middle of saying something, and suddenly a notification pops up on your phone. Your attention shifts momentarily and you lose track of what you were going to say. In our information-saturated world, it is challenging to avoid all the distractions surrounding us while speaking. How do our brains maintain focus while translating thoughts into words? The researcher will use neuroimaging techniques to investigate how our brain "gates" access to working memory during speaking and to discover how we control our language.
Read the interview with Xiaochen Zheng here.
Touched by a helping hand: the neurophysiological mechanisms of touch in cooperation
Reinoud Kaldewaij
At a time where online encounters are the norm rather than the exception and discussions about unwanted intimacy are reaching unprecedented levels, the question "what is the role of touch in social contact?" is more urgent than ever. Better understanding about how touch works neurophysiologically is indispensable in this regard. During our social interactions with others, synchronisation occurs at the physiological level, which is linked to our decisions to cooperate. This project will show how this connection is made at the neural level, and whether the underlying mechanism is the same when touch occurs between two friends or strangers.
Read the interview with Reinoud Kaldeweij here.
Veni - NWO Talentprogramma
Veni maakt, samen met Vidi en Vici, onderdeel uit van het NWO-Talentprogramma (voorheen: de Vernieuwingsimpuls). Veni is gericht op excellente onderzoekers die onlangs gepromoveerd zijn. Binnen het Talentprogramma zijn onderzoekers vrij om hun eigen onderwerp voor financiering in te dienen. Op deze manier stimuleert NWO nieuwsgierigheidsgedreven en vernieuwend onderzoek. NWO selecteert onderzoekers op basis van de kwaliteit van de onderzoeker, het innovatieve karakter van het onderzoek, de verwachte wetenschappelijke impact van het onderzoeksvoorstel en mogelijkheden voor kennisbenutting. In totaal kregen 89 wetenschappers een Veni-subsidie toegekend.
