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Ruud Hortensius and Verena Seibel have been awarded a grant within NWO’s Open Competition SSH programme. With this grant, NWO wants to give researchers the opportunity to conduct research on a subject of their own choice, without thematic preconditions. Hortensius will investigate the influence of interactions with virtual assistants on the social dynamics of families. Seibel wants to find out why migrants increase their chances on the Dutch labour market if they maintain more contact with native Dutch people. 

The grant that Hortensius and Seibel receive is intended for curiosity-driven, groundbreaking research. On their website, NWO states that the research must be groundbreaking, and that it does not have to be determined in advance whether the intended objective will be achieved. The grants amount to a maximum of 50,000 euros. 

The question is how to describe family dynamics in this era of artificial intelligence.

Virtual assistants

Hortensius states in his project that virtual assistants are increasingly part of families: "The question is how we can describe family dynamics in this era of artificial intelligence." With his project, the Utrecht scientist wants to develop a new group-oriented mobile lab to understand the influence of interactions with virtual assistants on the social dynamics of families. "By using an innovative neurocognition-in-the-home approach, we can take both behavioural and brain measurements of all family members. In this way, we map out the social dynamics in great detail."

It is assumed that native Dutch people transfer systemic knowledge about the Dutch labour market to people with a migration background.

Chances of migrants on the Dutch labour market

Seibel notes in her research project that people with a migration background are still underrepresented on the Dutch labour market, compared to native Dutch people. According to the researcher, this is much less true for migrants who maintain social relations with native Dutch people. Seibel: "The literature assumes that native Dutch people transfer systemic knowledge about the Dutch labour market to people with a migration background, which is crucial for their job search. However, this assumption has never been empirically tested.”The Utrecht scientist wants to investigate with her project why contacts with native Dutch people do indeed increase migrants' knowledge about the Dutch labour market, and thus positively influence the chances of migrants on the labour market. 

In addition to Hortensius and Seibel, have received the NWO grant within the Open Competition SSH programme.