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NWO awards ten Veni grants to promising UM researchers

As many as ten young UM researchers have been awarded a Veni grant worth up to €320,000 from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The grant is an incentive for adventurous, talented and pioneering researchers to further develop their own research ideas over the next three years. 

The Veni is a personal scientific grant aimed at researchers who have recently obtained their PhD. The grant instrument allows recipients to conduct research of their own choosing. The projects that receive funding therefore cover a wide range of topics.

The 205 grants from the 2025 Veni round are divided between 59 in Science (ENW), 81 in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), 30 in Applied and Engineering Sciences (AES), and 35 grants at ZonMw.

Below, you can read about the UM researchers and their work.

Dr. T. Hartl

UnveilML: Unveiling hidden drivers via machine learning

School of Business and Economics

Effective policy often depends on factors we cannot see directly, such as the true pace of global warming, market-wide risk, or the business cycle. UnveilML develops new estimation methods for such unobservable factors by combining the scalability and flexibility of machine learning with the interpretability, transparency, and the ability to learn long-term dependencies of traditional time series methods. By deriving the statistical estimation theory, UnveilML improves our understanding of when machine learning yields reliable estimates. By processing larger datasets than traditional methods allow, the project is expected to improve estimates for the business cycle, market risk, and global warming.

Group of students in front of the sbe gate

Dr. J. Trajkovic

Tuning brain communication to improve attention and flexible thinking

Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience

This project develops a new method able to improve how brain regions work together during attention and flexible thinking. Instead of stimulating a single brain area, researchers will use precisely timed magnetic pulses on two connected regions to strengthen their communication. The method will be tested in healthy volunteers to see whether it improves cognitive performance. Moreover, brain activity changes will be closely monitored to track how information moves through these networks. The final stage will examine whether repeated sessions create longer-lasting changes, providing important knowledge for developing future treatments for brain disorders in which communication between regions is impaired.

UM BMC

Dr. C. Sun

Generative AI for Causal Treatment-Toxicity Analysis  in Rare Blood Cancers

Faculty of Science and Engineering

Patients with rare blood cancers suffer serious side effects from treatment (e.g., heart damage, severe infections). Because these diseases are rare, clinical trials and hospital records include too few patients to understand when and why these side effects happen. This research explores whether simulated patient trajectories can help fill this knowledge gap. By combining medical knowledge with generative AI, this project creates realistic treatment pathways and evaluates when they can be trusted for research. This allows researchers to study cause-and-effect relationships and ask “what-if” questions, such as what might have happened if a patient had received a different treatment.

Student hanging out at the Greenport campus in Venlo

Dr. H.J.B. Marcos

When the Ocean Goes Digital: Interpreting Law for AI-Enabled Discovery of Marine Resources

Faculty of Law

For centuries, finding valuable compounds in the ocean required diving teams collecting sponges and algae. These marine resources fuel innovation in biotechnological sectors in which the Netherlands is a significant player. Today, scientists increasingly use artificial intelligence to identify promising compounds without ever going to sea. But legal rules governing these activities were written for a world of physical sampling. This research examines how the law should apply when discovery happens with computers rather than diving expeditions. The findings will help regulators, researchers, and companies navigate this new reality—and ensure that the benefits of marine discoveries are shared fairly.

LAW

Dr. S. Tas

Ensuring a rule-of-law-centred AI governance of EU agencies

Faculty of Law

EU agencies are increasingly developing and/or using Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in sensitive areas such as border management and police cooperation. While AI can improve the agencies’ efficiency and enhances their support to natio-nal authorities, it also raises serious risks to individuals’ fundamental rights (e.g. an individual falsely suspected of a crime). DigiAge analyses how EU agencies, specifically Europol, Frontex and eu-LISA, develop and/or use AI in practice, with the aim of developing a rule-of-law-based approach that safeguards individuals rights and strengthens public trust in EU agencies.

Dr. M.C. Ottenhoff

ITABCI: Decoding the intent to action from non-motor brain areas

Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

Brain-computer interface technology records brain activity and translates it into computer commands that control assistive devices. This way, motor function can be recovered for people that lost (part of) their ability to move. This project will develop a new type of brain-computer interface that uses a fundamentally different way for users to control it. Instead of thinking about ‘move your hand forward’, users now think about what they want to achieve: ‘take bite from apple’. This way, brain-computer interface technology becomes available people with motor impairments caused by cortical damage.

FPN and FHML students

Dr. M. Schepers

Getting the Alzheimer’s brain talking again

Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

In Alzheimer’s disease, not only are nerve cells affected, but also myelin, the insulating layer that enables efficient communication in the brain. This layer can be repaired, but this natural repair process is impaired in Alzheimer’s disease. This project focuses on stimulating myelin repair in human brain cells by targeting specific signals that tell these cells when and how to mature. By studying these processes in human cells and tissue, the research aims to identify new strategies to support brain connectivity and slow functional decline.

Dr. M.M. van der Thiel

Clearing the brain: how menopause affects Alzheimer’s risk

Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of death in the Netherlands, disproportionately affects women, who represent two-thirds of patients. This risk increases after early menopause, when menstruation stops and hormone levels drop. This project studies how hormonal changes during menopause affect the brain’s ability to clear waste products linked to Alzheimer’s disease development. Using advanced brain scans, researchers track early changes in waste clearance after menopause and how they influence dementia risk. The results could help identify women at higher risk and support early, personalized strategies to prevent Alzheimer’s disease in women.

Dr. W.R.P.H. van de Worp

Why cancer causes muscle loss

Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

Many people with lung cancer lose muscle unintentionally, which impacts daily activities and can make cancer treatments less effective. This project studies how tumors release proteins into the bloodstream that reach skeletal muscle and trigger muscle breakdown. Using innovative laboratory models and tracking techniques, researchers will pinpoint which tumor-derived proteins are directly responsible for this process. These insights will help lay the foundation for future treatments aimed at preserving muscle strength and improving quality of life for cancer patients.

Dr. H. Luo

Heartquakes: heart sounds to warn of heart failure

Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

Researchers at Maastricht University will study why the heart makes its familiar “lub-dub” sounds and how these sounds can help people with heart failure. By combining animal measurements, ultrasound that tracks tiny shear waves in the heart muscle, and digital stethoscope recordings, the project will link sound patterns to how stiff the heart is. The findings will feed a smartphone-based system that lets patients record short sounds at home and may alert clinicians to worsening heart failure about a week earlier.

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