Thirteen new research projects to start
FOM awards 5.3 million euro to highly promising physics research
The Project Space is one of the grant instruments that FOM uses to fund physics research. On 6 July 2010, the Executive Board decided to honour six proposals from the spring round of the Project Space, and this week a further seven projects were awarded funding as well. This means that in total 13 projects from the spring round of the Project Space have been awarded funding to the tune of 5.3 million euro.
FOM recently made an additional 3 million euro available, in three rounds of 1 million euro, for research that falls within the focus areas of the Sector Plan Physics and Chemistry. In this round, five proposals were awarded funding using this extra budget (marked * in list below).
The Project Space funds small-scale projects for fundamental research in physics that have an innovative character and demonstrable scientific, industrial or societal urgency. A grant of up to 400,000 euro can be applied for. Proposals from the boundaries of physics can also be eligible for this grant, as long as the research makes a sufficient contribution to physics. If the proposal contains a significant investment component then the amount awarded can be increased to a maximum of 550,000 euro. The Project Space has two deadlines per year for the submission of proposals.
The full list of awarded proposals can be found below and also on our website.
For further information about the Project Space, please contact N.M. (Noortje) Vis, +31 30 600 12 56.
| Applicants(s) | Title | Awarded |
| Prof. L.P. Kouwenhoven (Delft University of Technology) |
Solid state Majorana fermions | 1 PhD, 2 years postdoc and k€ 66 material budget |
| Dr P. Schall (University of Amsterdam) |
Dynamic arrest: A new phase transition in space-time? | 1 PhD, 2 years postdoc and k€ 66 material budget |
| Dr V. Vitelli (Leiden University) |
From soft matter to dark matter: the statistical physics of lensing | 1 PhD, 2 years postdoc and k€ 30 material budget |
| Dr M.P. de Jong (University of Twente) |
Electron spin manipulation in organic semiconductors | 1 PhD, k€ 80 material budget and k€ 111 investment budget |
| Dr D. van Oosten (Utrecht University), Prof. L. Kuipers (AMOLF) |
Trapping an atom with a fraction of a photon | 1 PhD, k€ 80 material budget and k€ 115 investment budget |
| Dr J.P. Hoogenboom (Delft University of Technology) |
Mobile optical nano-antennas | 1 PhD, 26 months postdoc, k€ 55 material budget and k€ 128 investment budget |
| Prof. G.E.W. Bauer, Prof. B.J. van Wees (Delft University of Technology) |
Magnetic insulator spintronics* | 1 PhD, 2 years postdoc and k€ 66 material budget |
| Prof. E.P. Verlinde Prof. J. de Boer (University of Amsterdam) |
An entropic view on gravity and the cosmos* | 1 PhD, 2 years postdoc, k€ 32 material budget and k€ 21 guest budget |
| Prof. H.S.J. van der Zant, Dr J.M. Thijssen (Delft University of Technology)
|
Electric molecular motors* | 1 PhD, 2 years postdoc, k€ 54 material budget and k€ 12 investment budget |
| Dr D. Iannuzzi (VU University of Amsterdam) |
Hunting for the chameleon: dark energy in a table-top experiment* | 1 PhD, 18 months postdoc, k€ 83 material budget and k€ 153 investment budget |
| Dr R. Hanson (Delft University of Technology) |
Dynamic decoupling of single and entangled spins from solid-state decoherence* | 1 PhD, k€ 60 material budget, k€ 106 investment budget and k€ 12 guest budget |
| Dr R.J.C. Spreeuw (University of Amsterdam) |
Nanoscale magnetic trap arrays: quantum simulators on an atom chip | 1 PhD, 1 year postdoc, k€ 75 material budget and k€ 55 investment budget |
| Prof. P.R. ten Wolde (AMOLF) |
The robust ticking of a circadian clock | 1 PhD, k€ 20 material budget, k€ 40 investment budget and k€ 25 guest budget |
* Awarding partly possible due to extra funds made available by FOM in relation to the implementation of the Sector Plan Physics and Chemistry