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The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded a Veni grant worth up to 250,000 euros to 27 researchers from Utrecht who have recently obtained their doctorate. The Veni grant provides highly promising young scientists with the opportunity to further elaborate their own ideas during a period of three years. The submissions were assessed by means of peer review by external experts from the disciplines concerned. 

SEVEN LAUREATES  

Defying anti-party politics. The party-state in the age of mass democracy: France, Germany, and Italy, 1918-2000
Dr Pepijn Corduwener - History and International Relations
New social movements, the rise of populism, and declining membership numbers jeopardize the position of political parties in European democracies. Yet this is far from new: this project shows how parties have defied anti-party politics throughout the twentieth century by rendering modern democracies ‘party-states’.

Pan-European Diplomacy in the Cold War (1972-90)
Dr Laurien Crump-Gabreëls ​  - History of International Relations 
This project explores how the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1972-90) contributed to a peaceful conduct of the Cold War and its conclusion through Pan-European, multilateral diplomacy. Since such an all-embracing dialogue is currently lacking, this can also teach us how to meet present challenges on European security.

Reading Zoos in the Age of the Anthropocene
Dr Kári Driscoll -  Comparative Literature
Zoos have always told a particular story about humanity’s relationship to nature. Now, with climate change and mass extinctions looming, that story is changing. This project explores how the stories told at zoos and in literature and film about zoos reflect and shape a new environmental consciousness.

The Author as Policy Officer
Dr Laurens Ham - Dutch Language and Culture
Who thought policy was only produced by officials, writing boring reports? This projects shows a different picture. Dutch writers have constantly been involved in literary policies since the 1960s: by protesting against budget cuts, by becoming policy officers and writing novels about what it is like to be an author.

Ibn ʿArabī’s Reshaping of the Muslim Imagination
Dr. Eric van Lit - Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ
Imagination had a central place in the thought of the Sufi Ibn Arabi (d. 1240). It is suggested that his notion of the imagination permeated Muslim culture at large. This project investigates the nature of this impact as well as its consequences that remain valid today.

Towards a human-friendly worldview
Dr Jesse Mulder -  Philosophy and Religious Studies 
The mainstream interpretation of the scientific worldview is biased towards the mechanistic form of understanding that enabled remarkable successes in physics. However, that leaves no place for our self-understanding as rational beings, nor for our diverse scientific practices. This project thus develops an alternative, pluralistic interpretation.

Divine Denkraum: Early Modern Protestant Princes and Theologians Exchanging Thoughts through Things
Dr Eelco Nagelsmit -  Art History
Protestant princes and theologians in early modern Europe exchanged thoughts through things. This project investigates how image-objects provided thought-space for reflection on and contemplation of the divine, by examining three protestant courts in Germany and England, and thus brings together religious history, art history and anthropology.

VENI

The Veni is awarded by NWO every year. A total of 1,127 researchers submitted an admissible research project for funding. 27 of these have now been granted at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ.