Six new FOM Programmes launched
FOM has awarded a total of 12 million Euros to six new research programmes. The research groups will work in areas where Dutch physics has a superb international record and there is a clear scientific and societal interest. This varies from researching fundamental questions about the universe that have not been answered by the standard model, up to research into variable behaviour of multi-cellular organisms at the level of individual cells.
Ana Achúcarro is programme leader of one of the research programmes that have been awarded. In this video she comments on her research. Videos of the other awarded programmes will follow shortly.
The Vrije FOM-programma's bring together the best research groups in their respective fields in the Netherlands. In each research programme the specialists from the various Dutch knowledge institutes combine their strengths. With this FOM realises what is termed 'focus and mass' in policy jargon: working on a limited number of challenging scientific subjects, with a large number of the best researchers in the Netherlands, with the research being coordinated at a national level.
The six programmes awarded funding are the winners in a heavy competition that started last spring with 22 proposals submitted for the Vrije FOM-programma's. On the basis of verbal presentations, recommendations from committees and a critical evaluation by international experts concerning the scientific quality of the applications, the FOM Executive Board has awarded the highest-scoring applications. The Executive Board was pleased with the high standard of all proposals. Unfortunately, due to budget restraints it wasn't possible to award all proposals.
Further information about the six new programmes
- Higgs as a probe and portal
Programme leader: Prof.dr. Eric Laenen (Nikhef)
- Two-dimensional semiconductor crystals
Programme leader: Prof.dr. Harold Zandvliet (MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, UT)
- Exciting exchange
Programme leader: Prof.dr. Theo Rasing (RU)
- Magnon spintronics
Programme leader: Dr. Rembert Duine (UU)
- Observing the big bang: the quantum universe and its imprint on the sky
Programme leader: Prof.dr. Ana Achúcarro (LEI)
- The signal is the noise: seeking physical origins of fluctuation in organism-scale behaviour Programme leader: Dr. Tom Shimizu (AMOLF)
In 2016 it will be possible to apply for a Vrije FOM-programma.