Niels Rietveld, assistant professor at the Department of Applied Economics of Erasmus School of Economics, is awarded a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Veni grants target outstanding academics who obtained their PhD in the past three years and display a striking talent for scientific research. Recipients of a Veni grant are primarily selected based on quality, innovative character and expected academic impact of the proposed research. Niels Rietveld receives a Veni grant of € 250,000 for a 3 years research project.
Niels Rietveld investigates the genetic background of socio-economic differences. Earlier studies have shown that many socio-economic characteristics of individuals, such as their position on the labour market and their educational attainment, are partly heritable. Niels Rietveld: “We know that genes matter for socio-economic outcomes, but not precisely which genes. In the past years, we found the first few of them. With help of the Veni-grant I hope to reveal more of them.” Rietveld also plans to study the relation between several socio-economic characteristics on the genetic level, and whether genetically different individuals respond differently to policy measures.
His research has resulted in several major publications, for example in Science, Nature and the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS). Niels Rietveld has also co-authored an article in Nature Neuroscience. This paper examines the prediction of creativity by genetic risk scores for schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.
Dean of Erasmus School of Economics Prof. Philip Hans Franses is delighted with Niels Rietveld’s Veni-grant: “This witnesses the successful partnership of Erasmus MC and Erasmus School of Economics within the Erasmus University Rotterdam Institute for Behavior and Biology (EURIBEB).”
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About NWO
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is the independent Dutch science funding body and its mission is to facilitate excellent scientific research in the Netherlands by means of national competition. Each year NWO spends more than 500 million euros on grants for top research and top researchers, on innovative instruments and equipment, and on institutes where top research is performed.
For further information please contact: Ronald de Groot, Communication Officer at Erasmus School of Economics. rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, +31 6 53 641 846.