NWO Veni awards

Political scientist Mariken van der Velden and communications scientist Kasper Welbers have each been awarded a prestigious Veni grant in recognition of their work, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) has announced.

  A Veni grant is worth up to 250,000 euros. Mariken van der Velden receives hers for the project Beloof is Beloofd! (‘A promise is a promise’), in which she examines the electoral consequences of political compromises. Kasper Welbers has been awarded the Veni grant for his research project Poortwachter in het tijdperk van fake news (‘Gatekeeper in the age of fake news’) which takes a close look at the effect of trust on the consumption of online news.

The Veni programme was launched by NWO to encourage innovative research by talented young scientists. It enables those who have recently gained a PhD to develop their ideas further over a three-year period.