Jan-Willem Veening and Martijn Wieling members of the Young Academy

Jan Willem Veening and Martijn Wieling have been appointed members of the Young Academy. Every year the Young Academy selects ten talented new researchers to add to its ranks. The Young Academy is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. It is an independent platform of leading young researchers that organises activities focusing on interdisciplinarity, science policy, and the interface between science and society.

In addition to their proven research excellence, members of the Young Academy take a broad interest in science and in science communication. Membership is for a five-year period.

Prof. Jan-Willem Veening

Molecular genetics

Jan-Willem Veening (1978) and his multidisciplinary team are examining how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae – which causes diseases such as pneumonia – multiplies, transforms into a pathogen and becomes resistant to antibiotics. They use smart genetic tricks, synthetic-biological methods and advanced microscopy technologies, a combination of approaches that is globally unique in this field of science. Given the societal impact of his work, Veening regularly participates in discussions, for example about synthetic biology and the use of antibiotics.

Dr. Martijn Wieling

Computational linguistics

Martijn Wieling (1981) combines linguistics with information sciences and statistics. He has brought dialectometry and sociolinguistics, which for a long time were regarded as completely separate fields, closer together, thereby making it possible to determine the interwoven impacts of geography and social factors. He is now taking his research on language variation in a new direction, by using articulography to examine the movements that the tongue and lips make when we speak. This specific focus may help improve people’s pronunciation in a second language. Wieling is an ardent supporter of open access and sharing data and methodologies.