Major Vici grant for Syuzanna Harutyunyan

NWO awards a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros to Prof. dr. Syuzanna Harutyunyan (Stratingh Institute of Chemistry. Harutyunyan will be doing research into new chemical reactions using Lewis acids.

Lewis acids can be used to either make unreactive molecules chemically active, or conversely to selectively block reactive groups and direct the outcome of reactions. Combining this concept with copper catalysts Harutyunyan and her team will develop efficient and environmentally friendly alternatives to existing chemical processes for the production of pharmaceutically relevant compounds.

The NWO has also granted a Vici grant to two other top researchers at the Faculty of Science and Engineering: Prof. Chris van den Broeck (Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity) and Prof. dr. Meike Stöhr (Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials). The Vici grant is to be spent on five years of research and the establishment of their own research groups. They have been awarded Vici grants as part of NWO’s Innovational Research Incentives Scheme (‘Vernieuwingsimpuls’).

NWO awards Vici grants on the basis of the researchers’ quality, the innovative nature and academic impact of their research proposal and application of knowledge. The Vici grants are intended for ‘excellent, experienced researchers who have successfully developed a new research line and thus established themselves prominently at both national and international levels’, says NWO. This year, a total of 35 academics have been awarded a Vici grant.