WUR researchers Joris Sprakel and Bernice Bovenkerk have been awarded an NWO (Dutch Research Council) Vici grant. Each will receive a sum of half a million euros for cutting-edge and audacious research.
Sprakel is a professor of Mechanobiology, combining physics, chemistry and biology. In the Vici project 'The battle for the membrane' he studies the mechanical weapons fungi use to penetrate plants.
How do fungi infect plants?
Fungi and other threadlike pathogens pose a significant threat to plant health. But how they infect plants remains a mystery. How do they penetrate the plant? The pathogens must break through the protective membrane of the plant in order to infect it. Using physics, chemistry and biology, Sprakel will study precisely how these pathogens breach the plant's defences. He hopes this will result in a new method of protecting crops against disease.
Bovenkerk is an associate professor of philosophy who studies animal welfare and ethics. The Vici grant will enable her to investigate how digital technology can contribute positively to the relationship between humans and animals.
Technology for human-animal relations
Modern technology is currently deployed for optimisation purposes in animals to serve humans. For example, to intensify livestock farming. But it can also be used to improve human-animal relations, Bovenkerk argues. Virtual reality, for example, can increase human awareness of how farm animals experience their lives. Moreover, artificial intelligence can improve communication with animals such as whales. She intends to study under what conditions digital technology positively contributes to the relationship between humans and animals. She also aims to draft ethical guidelines to make the development of digital technology more equitable.
Veni, vidi, vici
The NWO awarded 43 Vici grants to researchers at Dutch knowledge institutes in this round. The grants will enable the recipients to develop research lines and expand their research group. Other Vici grants went toward effective prevention strategies for depression in youths and the development of laptop batteries capable of recharging within a minute.
The Vici grant is one of the Netherlands' largest personal research grants, awarded to experienced researchers. The NWO also awards Veni and Vidi grants to younger researchers, following Julius Caesar's adage: veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered.
