The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has announced the winners of the Heineken Young Scientists Awards. This is the first year that the Academy is presenting this program and selects 5 winners, who  receive EUR 10,000 and a work of art designed especially for the awards.

“The idea of rewarding young researchers is entirely in keeping with the vision and aims of the Foundation,” says Mrs Charlène de Carvalho-Heineken, chairwoman of the Alfred Heineken Fondsen Foundation, which makes the awards possible. “The awards emphasise the relevance of research to society and represent an important addition to the Heineken Prizes, which are among the most prestigious science awards in the world.»

The receivers of the Heineken Young Scientists Awards, who work for a Dutch research organisation and received their doctoral degrees no more than five years previously, are active in the same fields of science and scholarship as the laureates of the Dr. H.P. Heineken Prize and the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prizes. Here is the list of winners along with the projects they’ve developed:

Puck Knipscheer—Biochemistry and Biophysics—research at the interface of biochemistry and molecular cell biology.

Menno van Zelm—Medicine—research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that cause antibody deficiencies, i.e. serious immune system disorders.

Dr Remco Breuker—History—research on Korean identities. He places Korean medieval history within the broader theoretical context of community and identity.

Dr Appy Sluijs—Environmental Sciences—research into the changes that arose in the earth’s ecosystems millions of years ago.

Dr Paola Escudero—Cognitive Science—research on second language speech learning.

The Heineken Young Scientists Awards and The Heineken Prizes will be presented on Thursday 23 September at the Beurs van Berlage Building in Amsterdam.