The Executive Board of VU and the Board of Trustees of the Van Coeverden Adriani Foundation (VCAS) invite you to nominate scholarly talent who received their Ph.D. at VU for the VCAS/VU Talent Scholarship. The purpose of the VCAS/VU Talent Fund is to encourage faculties to retain or bring scientific talent back to the VU by matching a portion of the salary bill. The fund explicitly also values achievement in education or social impact.

The deadline for submitting nominations is March 4, 2024. We hope to announce awards around April 1.

Purpose
Over 400 PhD students graduate from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam each year. Some of them would like to pursue an academic career, but the university can only accommodate a limited number of talented PhD graduates. With this grant, the foundation Van Coeverden Adriani Stichting (VCAS) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam aim to see highly trained, talented PhD graduates stay on at (or return to) VU Amsterdam. The VCAS/VU Talent grant provides funding for research projects. During the assessment process, the nominees' efforts with regard to knowledge transfer (societal impact, entrepreneurship and teaching) are weighted the same as their research accomplishments.

What it is
The Executive Board of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Board of the Van Coeverden Adriani Stichting (VCAS) have jointly set up a fund dedicated to keeping talented researchers who gained their doctoral degrees at VU Amsterdam at the university, or bringing them back to the university, by matching the amount of their contract. The VCAS/VU Talent Fund will disburse up to €80,000 each year to two winners (maximum €40,000 per person). The relevant faculty will co-finance the grant for at least one-third of the monetary amount.

Who it is for
The VCAS/VU Talent Fund is particularly seeking promising VU PhDs who generated attention for Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in society at large, for example because they made their research accessible to a wider public or because of exceptional achievements in teaching. They have had a demonstrably positive impact on the reputation of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and exemplify the university’s core values within society.

Conditions of award
Conditions for awarding the grant are as follows:

  • The candidate is nominated by the Dean of the faculty
  • The candidate has gained a doctoral degree from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • The subsidy will be used as a bridging grant to obtain a multi-year academic appointment, or as supplementary funding in the case of renewed multi-year affiliation with VU Amsterdam
  • The relevant faculty indicates that the appointment cannot be made without the grant
  • The candidate has made a demonstrable effort to bring their research and/or teaching at VU Amsterdam into the spotlight in a positive manner, and can provide a five-year plan outlining how that will be furthered through research