Three EUR academics awarded Rubicon grants

Having been awarded Rubicon grants, three young Erasmus University-affiliated academics will be able to spend some time abroad for research purposes.

Three young Erasmus University-affiliated academics are to receive Rubicon grants from NWO, which will allow them to conduct post-doctoral research abroad.

Annemieke Romein of ESHCC and Marcel Jonker of iBMG will receive stipends generous enough to allow them to conduct research abroad for two years. For her part, Sandra Thijssen of FSW will spend 18 months at the University of Minnesota, where she will investigate the impact the family environment has on the way in which children’s brains develop. To this end, she will examine cerebral processes related to incentive-based behaviour in 9 and 10-year-old children.

Patient preferences

Marcel Jonker will go to Duke University, where he will conduct research on shared decision-making (i.e. patients having a say in their own treatment) in clinical practice. Among other things, he will develop a method to measure patient preferences on an individual level. For her part, Annemieke Romein will stay closer to home. She will spend two years at Ghent University. Her research will focus on how Flemish and Dutch local authorities interacted between 1579 and 1701 to ensure security, enforce the law and protect the state.

Rubicon grants are intended to allow young and talented academics to gain some research experience abroad. This year, 22 out of 78 applications were granted. Last January three other young EUR-affiliated academics also received Rubicon grants.