Veni grants for 3 Humanities researchers

The laureates will thus be able to further develop their own research ideas over the next three years. Within the Faculty of Humanities, 3 Veni's have been awarded, to Tim Groot Kormelink (Journalism Studies), Marek Jancovic (Media Studies) and Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou (Art History) who joins the faculty as a research fellow.

Tim Groot Kormelink
Beyond the news: How people develop insights about social issues is the research proposal for which journalism scholar Tim Groot Kormelink receives the Veni. From the morning news to viral TikTok-videos: we are constantly bombarded with information. This study explores how people deal with this influx to develop understandings of societal issues. “In particular, it looks at the role different media platforms and genres play in this process, as well as the social dynamics involved. The study combines cutting-edge computational and ethnographic methods to capture people’s practices and experiences”, said Tim Groot Kormelink.

Marek Jancovic
Marek Jancovic (Media Studies) receives the Veni for his research proposal titled Agriculture and the Global History of Celluloid Film Manufacturing. Before films became digital, celluloid film was the basis of cinema. Celluloid is a plastic made from agricultural products like camphor, gelatin and cotton. Many of these materials were extracted in colonized regions of the world before being processed in Europe and North America. “By mapping the trade routes and supply chains, this research project will clarify how the film industry has historically relied on and driven the demand for agricultural materials. By doings so, it will examine how cinema has contributed to a global economic system dependent on plants, animals, plastics, nitrogen and other materials”, said Marek Jancovic.

Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou
Art Historian Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou receives a Veni for her research proposal titled Uranium Matters: An Interdisciplinary Study of Radiotoxicity in the Arts. Uranium, the raw material of nuclear technologies, has been neglected in histories of the “nuclear age.” Art history is only slowly directing its attention to artworks that take uranium as their subject, or even use the material itself. “My interdisciplinary research examines uranium in twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, as artists today are finally looking into histories of uranium extraction, its ecological implications, and its toxic legacies. By examining uranium in and through art, this research connects environmental justice to art making”, said Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou.

Talent programme
The NWO Talent Programme gives researchers the freedom to conduct their own research based on creativity and passion. The program stimulates innovation and curiosity. Free research contributes to and prepares us for the society of tomorrow. That is why NWO focuses on a diversity of scientists, domains and backgrounds. Veni is part of the Talent Programme together with the Vidi and Vici grants.

NWO selects researchers on the basis of the scientific quality and innovative character of the research proposal, the scientific and/or societal impact of the proposed project and the quality of the researcher.