In July 2023, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) organised the final round of the Aspasia grant, intended for the appointment of female Vidi candidates to associate professorships. On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, three laureates of VU's Faculty of Science reflect on what the Aspasia grant meant to them.
The higher up the career ladder one goes, the fewer women there are. This certainly applies to university education and research in the Netherlands. NWO's Aspasia grant, which is part of Vidi, was introduced almost 25 years ago as a temporary instrument to accelerate the advancement of women scientists to the level of associate professor or full professor.
Imran Avci (Physics and Astronomy, Biophotonics and Medical Imaging | LaserLaB - Biophotonics and Microscopy)
"Receiving the Aspasia grant had a decisive impact on my career. It enabled my promotion to associate professor and allowed me to hire new personnel for my group. I am deeply grateful to NWO for this opportunity. For someone at an early stage, still finding her path in academia, this support was truly a game changer."
Volha Chukhutsina (Physics and Astronomy, Biophysics of Photosynthesis/Energy | LaserLaB – Energy)
"The Aspasia grant allowed me to sustain my research line during a critical stage of my career, bridging a gap in funding, and to partially support a group member in carrying out an essential data-processing step. I am very grateful to NWO for this opportunity, particularly for its role in supporting scientists from underrepresented groups in academia."
Anouk Rijs (Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, BioAnalyical Chemistry)
"Receiving the Aspasia Grant coincided with my appointment as full professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and gave, together with my VICI, my new position a flying start. The Aspasia allowed me to bring a just-started PhD candidate from my former university to VU Amsterdam, to appoint a postdoctoral researcher to assist in setting up the new lab and developing novel technology such as the hyphenation of mass spectrometry with laser spectroscopy, as well as to purchase my first small UV laser in Amsterdam. Together, this support created a solid basis for establishing my new team and research from day one."
NWO is currently working towards an intelligent way of embedding the Aspasia objective more broadly in its regular funding instruments.