Veni, for recent PhD graduates

Veni is a funding instrument from the NWO Talent programme (previously the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme).

The NWO Talent programme offers individual grants to talented, creative researchers. The funding instrument makes it possible to do research of one's own choice. Since the NWO Talent programme was set up in 2000, nearly 2000 talented researchers have received funding. The NWO Talent programme is funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

The aim of the NWO Talent programme (Veni, Vidi and Vici) is to provide creative space for adventurous, talented, groundbreaking researchers in which they can do research of their own choice, advance their own line of research and further develop their talent. With an individual grant, the researchers can develop their own innovative line of research that can acquire a structural embedding within a research institute.

Applicants for a Veni grant must be at the start of their scientific career and have demonstrated that they are talented scientific researchers. Needless to say, they must be capable of independently formulating and realising a research project.

NWO is organised in 4 domains:

• Science
• Social Sciences and Humanities;
• Applied and Engineering Sciences; and
• Healthcare Research and Medical Sciences (ZonMw).

ZonMw realises the NWO Talent programme (Veni, Vidi and Vici) for the domain Healthcare Research and Medical Sciences on behalf of NWO (Dutch Research Council). 

• The Veni grant round is open for researchers who, on 1 January of the year of submission, gained their PhD no more than three years ago.
• The Veni researcher can set to work with a maximum grant of €280,000.
• Researchers may submit a Veni grant proposal on a maximum of 2 occasions.
• Foreign researchers can also apply for this funding.

For general information, please see the NWO Talent programme and the programme page on the NWO website.

The research domain Health Research and Medical Sciences (ZonMw), just like the other NWO research domains, works with broadly composed committees of researchers who provide recommendations about the quality and ranking of the proposals.