Research

The Tilburg University Fund is committed to research projects that are relevant to society’s needs. By providing extra financial support, we make research possible into improving the resilience, care, and wellbeing of individuals and society at large, and help ensure the responsible use of data and the creation of smart solutions in the digital age.

Sustainable Development Goals

A number of these projects contribute towards the Sustainable Development Goals(new window) (SDG) of the United Nations. The specific SDGs are mentioned with each project.

Donations and grants

Thanks to the donations to the university fund, we have been able to contribute towards the following projects. For each project the amount donated is shown, as is when the grant was achieved from donations from the telephone fundraising campaign. The grant amounts are also shown.

Donations received

Grants disbursed

Named fund

Zero hunger lab

 €513

 €0

How can our hunger for data help resolve hunger in the world? Tilburg University Zero Hunger Lab is helping achieve food security throughout the world with data science – bytes for bites. Through the smart application of math and algorithms, the Zero Hunger Lab researchers are helping aid organizations, development organizations, businesses, governments, and knowledge institutes that are dedicated to a world without hunger. In 2022, Zero Hunger Lab published the New Scientist special(new window) with accounts by researchers and partners about collaboration projects aimed at bringing about sustainable food security. This led to new donations that have resulted in, among other things, a new multidisciplinary partnership in the poverty-hunger initiative and the founding of a poverty lab at Tilburg University. Both labs will jointly research how stress and poor diet/hunger can affect the physical and cerebral development of people, and what the consequences of that could be, for both the people themselves and for society as a whole.

Data science for humanitarian resources

€2,500

 €0

Professor Conny Rijken is conducting the first research project to be funded entirely by donors. The ‘Data science for humanitarian innovation’ research study provides a better understanding of ‘victimmigration’ – the traumas experienced by refugees during their journeys. Her research means greater account can be taken of these aspects when drawing up policies on refugees.

Conny Rijken made a podcast(new window) with Mirjam van Reisen, in which they looked in depth at the backgrounds of present-day people smuggling and what countries are doing to tackle it.

Social start-ups

At Bigger Picture Clothing, we design, create, and produce sustainable clothing with a social impact. Every product sold generates a specific donation to a previously announced good cause.

€6,500

€7,900

Entrepreneurship is an important theme at Tilburg University. Under the label IQONIC, the university represents and supports all aspects of entrepreneurship. IQONIC helps our students, alumni, academics, and staff to further develop their entrepreneurial mindset so that they can make a difference in society.

The Tilburg University Fund aims to help these socially responsible entrepreneurs to launch their ideas or businesses successfully. These are start-ups that deserve to be successful in our community because they have an impact on society. Funding was provided for two projects in 2022, including Bigger Picture Clothing(new window).

Bigger Picture Clothing designs, creates and produces sustainable clothing with a social impact. Every product sold generates a specific donation to a previously announced good cause. For example, we have already donated more than 500,000 liters of clean drinking water(new window) to Ethiopia and Tanzania. The entire process of clothing production to the eventual donation is 100% transparent for their community and customers. Thanks in part to the support from the university fund, they have launched a new project with new designs and products. They have also improved the quality of the marketing and web development for the forthcoming launch. 

Refugee academic resumes career

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Our new colleague had to suddenly flee, leaving his family behind. He is very pleased to be working as an academic once again.(new window)

Professor Evelien Brouwers

Annual Fund

€13,875

An academic desperately keen to resume his career after suddenly fleeing his home country. Because of his uncertain situation, he prefers to remain anonymous, but the story about how he has managed to gain a position is certainly worth telling. He has been employed at Tilburg University since 2021. Thanks in part to the support from the university fund, he has been able to expand his academic network and, with several co-authors, has published six articles with Tranzo affiliations in a very short time. The university fund has also helped ensure that he will be able to safely continue his career for the forthcoming year.

The public importance of religion

I am going to investigate why many spiritual people have a tendency to believe conspiracy theories. Who are they? And what is the basis of their beliefs? 

Dr. Suzanne Klein Schaarsberg

€100,000

€23,442

In 2021, the Tilburg University Fund received a large donation of €100,000 from a donor who wished to remain anonymous. The donation is intended for research into how spirituality becomes an expression of anti-institutional politics. As part of her research, Suzanne Klein Schaarsberg is looking at why many spiritual people have a tendency to believe conspiracy theories. Her work is a combination of sociological and theological research. Who are these people? And what is the basis of their beliefs? Is it, for example, a fusion of Christianity, colonialism or Oriental philosophies?