Five Vidi grants for WUR researchers

Microbiologist Nico Claassens receives the vidi for research on biological CO2 fixation in bacteria. He will explore new routes for CO2 fixation that also are a promising biological solution for more efficient biotechnological production. Earlier this year, Claassens already received a ERC grant from the EU for this type of research.

Communication scientist Sanne Kruikemeier will research how social media contribute to polarization. Conflict, hate, and misinformation have become very prominent on social media, resulting in the perception that social media accelerate polarization, but thorough research on this subject is scarce. Kruikemeier, professor in Digital Media and Society, delves further into it.

Soil geographer Annegret Larsen will conduct research into the interaction between rivers and living beings (except humans) that affect how rivers function. This knowledge can help restoration efforts of rivers in Europe while strengthening nature and biodiversity. In order to properly estimate these interactions, she will, among other things, study old DNA found in river sediment, before people had much effect on these river landscapes.

Nematologist Mark Sterken will study the competition of micro-organisms around a plant root. He will focus on microscopic roundworms (nematodes) that infect and parasitize plants. These nematodes need a plant root to survive and there can be many other nematodes competing for a spot. Which choices nematodes make and how do they compete? If he understands this, Sterken could develop strategies to play them off against each other.

And historian Pim de Zwart will investigate the relations between deforestation and colonialism in Southeast Asia. The rise of global colonial trade since 1850 caused massive deforestation in some regions, but not in others. De Zwart will reconstruct the deforestation from colonial-era vegetation and topographic maps and statistical materials, and he will research how colonial policies, local land rights, and socio-economic and political inequalities influenced deforestation.

A total of 102 researchers of Dutch universities received a Vidi grant this time. The Vidi grants are part of the Talent Program of research funder NWO. NWO also provides Veni and Vici grants, bearing in mind the famous statement of Julius Ceasar.