Vidi grants are aimed at experienced researchers who have been conducting successful research for several years after their PhD. Together with the Veni and Vici grants, the Vidi grant is part of the NWO Talent Programme, which aims to stimulate innovation and curiosity in science. This year 102 researchers will receive a Vidi grant. The 12 Leiden projects are described below.

A leap into quantum domains

Francesca Arici - Mathematical Institute
In mathematics, one of the main research goals is to find ways to classify different objects (such as sets, shapes, and functions) in a way that captures their most important characteristics without being repetitive (for example a shoe cabinet based on shoe size). In the quantum world, however, objects behave very differently from what we're used to. For example, in a regular space, we can describe points and distances between them. But in a quantum space, we sometimes can't even talk about points in the usual sense. Our goal is to understand these quantum spaces by focusing on a broad class, called quantum domains, and looking at the problem from different angles.

Metaphors in machine translations

Lettie Dorst - Centre for Linguistics
Translating metaphors is not a 'piece of cake' for machine translation systems like Google Translate. Their meaning is often not transparent and they tend to be culture-specific. Mistranslations can be funny, but they can also lead to serious misunderstandings and miscommunication. The team will investigate which metaphors are problematic, when, why and for whom.

From black-box machine learning to scientific knowledge

Marjolein Fokkema - Psychology
Flexible algorithms from machine learning can provide highly accurate predictions, but they are a black box to users. This is problematic for behavioural scientists, who not only want to predict human behaviour, but also want to understand how it works. We will develop effect sizes that quantify the shape and magnitude of predictor variables' effects in ML models. Furthermore, we develop uncertainty quantification, to allow for hypothesis tests and meta-analysis with ML. This will allow behavioural scientists to not only profit from the highly accurate predictions of ML, but to also use it for testing and improving scientific theories.

Seeking other Earths: Telescopes at the fundamental limit for exoplanet characterisation

Sebastiaan Haffert - Leiden Observatory
The future European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) promises groundbreaking discoveries, particularly in identifying Earth-like planets. To achieve this, advanced technologies like Adaptive Optics (AO) and innovative materials such as metamaterials are employed to counteract atmospheric interference. Haffert's work involves pioneering the development of state-of-the-art instruments to enhance the ELT's imaging capabilities. Through initial testing on current telescopes, he aims to directly capture the atmospheric properties of Proxima Centauri b, our nearest neighbour. The results will inform the development of ELT instrumentation in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Uncovering how planets form around other suns

Melissa McClure - Leiden Observatory
Planets are predicted to start forming early, less than a million years after their stars ignite. However, such young planetary systems are still hidden by clouds of cold dust. McClure's team will use novel data from the James Webb Space Telescope to uncover when, where, and how planets start to form, in the process revealing the compositions of planets actively forming in a sample of young systems. These results will help scientists to interpret the diversity of exoplanets seen in the universe today.

The fate of megafauna-adapted palms with massive fruits

Renske Onstein - Institute of Biology Leiden
Plants with large fruits (megafruits) have evolved collaborations with very large animals (megafauna) to disperse their seeds. Alarmingly, most megafauna have disappeared from the Earth in the last fifty thousand years. Onstein will investigate how megafauna extinctions have affected the seed dispersal of megafruit palms, by evaluating which species co-evolved with megafauna, which ones are no longer dispersed and as a result threatened with extinction, and for which ones humans have replaced megafauna by dispersing the seeds in ecosystems today.

Emotion in Science-Based Risk Regulation

Dovile Rimkute - Institute of Public Adminnistration

Risk regulation concerns scientific responses to societal risks. Its fundamental assumption is that regulators develop responses to risks through rational decision-making, with the expectation that citizens will likewise make rational decisions guided by regulators' rules. This project challenges this assumption and advances regulatory governance scholarship by integrating insights from psychology and political theory. It shifts attention from rational to affective regulation by examining the role of emotion in citizen-regulator interactions from both the regulators' and citizens' perspectives. Combining qualitative and experimental methodologies, we study the effects of emotions on (1) bureaucratic responsiveness decisions and (2) citizens' compliance and legitimacy perceptions.

The future of dying: New dilemmas about end-of-life treatment in the context of socio-cultural diversity

Annemarie Samuels - Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology
With the growing availability of invasive, and sometimes painful, life-lengthening medical interventions, healthcare professionals and patients increasingly emphasize that less intervention may lead to a better death. However, patients and physicians may disagree on the limits of treatment. In the context of socio-cultural diversity and inequality this leads to new decision-making dilemmas regarding what 'good' care at the end of life entails. Through ethnographic research in the Netherlands, this project studies how patients, their close others, and health care professionals invoke and enact normative frameworks in end-of-life treatment decisions. Read more>>

Who shall survive? Flexible statistical models for the dynamic prediction of patient survival

Mirko Signorelli - Mathematical Institute
Clinicians and patients rely on accurate predictions of the probability to experience adverse events such as dementia, cancer, or death to make informed decisions about treatments and lifestyle. Current statistical methods for dynamic prediction struggle with many complex features of real-world patient data, and make improper simplifications that can lead to inaccurate predictions.

This project will tackle the limitations of existing methods by creating DynoSurv, an innovative statistical method that avoids such simplifications. DynoSurv will allow researchers to estimate and implement more realistic risk prediction models, empowering clinicians and patients with more accurate prognoses and advice for decision making.

Who was behind every successful scientist in colonial Indonesia?

Fenneke Sysling - Institute for History
Behind every successful scientist…. in colonial Indonesia, were local informants and assistants. They provided information the scientists needed or they collected plants or animals. In this project, the researchers focus on these Indonesian individuals. They show what role Indonesians have played in the making of (scientific) knowledge about nature and culture in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia. This includes their contribution to Western scientific knowledge but also, and more importantly, their influence on local knowledge communities.

Rhythmic hormones for healthy bones

Liesbeth Winter - LUMC
Glucocorticoid-medication is crucial to treat inflammatory diseases, but it is detrimental to many fundamental processes including bone turnover: it leads to osteoporosis with fractures, and thereby loss of quality of life and independency. There is no effective preventive strategy so far. My previous research demonstrated that rhythmicity of glucocorticoids is essential to keep bones healthy. The proposed research will reinstate rhythm in glucocorticoid-signalling during glucocorticoid treatment to secure healthy bones, without compromising its effective treatment of inflammatory diseases. Results will have great impact for all patients dependent on this medication who now suffer from fractures and increased mortality.

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