1.2 Performance
The year 2022 was quite successful in terms of research performance.
A total of five Starter Grants (€1.5 million) from the European Research Council (ERC) were awarded for pioneering individual research at the European level. Dr. Kim De Roover (Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (TSB)) received the grant for developing new structural equation methods. Dr. Sander Verhaegh (TSHD) will start research on the effects of immigration on the American intellectual climate in the years before World War II. Dr. Nicola Pavanini (TiSEM) was awarded the grant to conduct research on the regulation of housing and mortgage markets. Dr. Phillip Paiement (TLS) will investigate how lawyers can effect change to overcome transnational obstacles. Dr. Boris van Leeuwen (TiSEM) is investigating the role of emotional intelligence in strategic interactions and markets.
There was also success in the ERC program. For example, Prof. Dave de Ruysscher (TLS) received a Consolidator Grant (€1.9 million), which allows him to analyze the legal concept of economic sovereignty from a historical perspective. In addition, Prof. Elies van Sliedregt (TLS) received an Advanced Grant (€2.3 million) to develop parameters for a coordinated system of global justice at the national level. Linnet Taylor, full professor of international data governance, and Tineke Broer, assistant professor, received an ERC Proof of Concept Grant to develop a new assessment system for app security.
Individual Tilburg University researchers also achieved success within the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Young Tilburg researchers were successful in the NWO Talent Program: four Veni grants (€280K) were awarded. Dr. Manon van Scheppingen (TSB) will study how multiple life events contribute to personality development in young adults. Dr. Robbie van Aert (TSB) aims to strengthen meta-analysis by taking advantage of replications and pre-registered research. Dr. Marie-Catherine Petersmann (TLS) will explore whether international law should be revised to assign meaning to how humans are connected to non-humans. Finally, Dr. David Schindler (TiSEM) received the grant for his research on the role of non-routine and analytical work in teams. Unfortunately, we did not receive any Vidi or Vici grants.
Four more experienced researchers received grants from the NWO in the form of Open Competition grants (€750K). Prof. engineer Bart Bronnenberg (TiSEM) received the grant for his research on how consumers develop preferences for sustainable and healthy food products. Prof. Jan Fransoo (TiSEM) aims to use digitalization to reduce the logistics costs of independent retailers in developing countries. Prof. Daan van Soest (TiSEM) wants to investigate how effective financial support is in promoting long-term self-sufficiency of refugees in Africa. Finally, Prof. Caroline Vander Stichele (TST) focuses her project on contemporary religious language and how this vocabulary is used in the context of climate change.
Collaboratively, several European successes were achieved. For example, the Horizon Europe research project BOLSTER (€3.8 million) was awarded, coordinated by TLS with Dr. Michiel Stapper as project leader. The goal is to better understand how marginalized communities are affected by climate transition policies. In addition, Tilburg University is a partner in several projects, such as, CircoMod, the INCA project, ENCRYPT, and the Synclusive project.
Tilburg University has received funding for several Dutch collaborations. Prof. Corien Prins (TLS) is a partner in the Gravitation project ALGOSOC, which investigates how we can continue to safeguard public values and human rights with the development of (semi-)automated processes, including artificial intelligence. Also, the AI program ROBUST, in which JADS is a partner, will receive an NWO impulse of €25 million for deploying artificial intelligence for socially relevant issues. Prof. Roland Blonk (TSB) is project leader for a ZonMw Improving Reintegration 2nd track project (€800K). Prof. Henk Akkermans (TiSEM) is involved as a partner in the NWO-KIC Mission-driven innovation systems project Fieldlabs@Scale.
Finally, in 2022, Tilburg was able to provide both a new member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and a new member of the Young Academy. Prof. Bart Bronnenberg, full professor of quantitative marketing at TiSEM, has joined the KNAW. Ingrid Leijten, full professor of Dutch and European constitutional law at TLS, is one of ten new members who will join The Young Academy in 2023.
