Helga de Valk and Rudolf de Boer receive ERC Grants

Prof. Helga de Valk and Prof. Rudolf de Boer both received an ERC Consolidator Grant. The European Research Council (ERC) awards grants to excellent researchers, thus stimulating groundbreaking research in Europe. Consolidator Grants are meant for scientists who want to consolidate their independence by establishing a research team or who have recently created an independent, excellent research team and want to strengthen it.

Helga de Valk

Prof. Helga de Valk is honorary Professor of Migration and the life course at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences. Her research focusses on the demographic characteristics and behavior of migrant populations. De Valk was awarded the ERC Grant for her research Migrant youth mobility in Europe: Patterns, processes and consequences.

Rudolf de Boer

Prof. Rudolph de Boer is Professor in Translational Cardiology at the Faculty of Medical Sciences/UMCG. De Boer will use the ERC Grant to conduct research into the interaction between heart failure and the emergence of cancer. The treatment for heart failure has improved, but the mortality rates remain high. It has become clear over the past few years that patients with heart failure often die of cancer, but this aspect has received little attention. De Boer will research whether different types of heart failure produce direct or indirect effects on the emergence of various types of cancer. It is expected that this will lead to the identification of factors that influence tumour growth, but possibly also to known kidney, liver and lung diseases that often occur alongside heart failure.