Gratama Foundation - Benefit

Benefit

You get a one-off prize of 20,000 EUR as the winner. The two other nominees each receive 2,500 EUR. This is an incentive award, not a monthly grant. You must spend the money on your academic development, for example a study trip and accommodation, documentation, equipment, or student assistants for your research. Private spending is not allowed. The Gratama Foundation pays the amount to a bank account named by your university, which then checks how you spend it. The Gratama Foundation, the Groningen University Fund and the Leiden University Fund give the award together, for research that is innovative, socially relevant and well known in its field.

Eligibility

• University: When you are nominated, you work at the University of Groningen or Leiden University. You may have done the research itself elsewhere.
• Career stage: You have a PhD, and the nomination happens within 7 years of finishing it. You did the awarded research within 5 years of your PhD.
• Age: You are no older than 40 when you are nominated.
• Field of study: All subjects at both universities can apply.
• Nomination, not self-application: You cannot apply yourself. A faculty of your university must propose you.

How to apply

A faculty of your university puts you forward; you cannot nominate yourself. Nominations must be written in Dutch and reach the assessing body by 28 February. Each fund then sends three candidates to the Gratama Foundation. A jury made up of the foundation's board and two academic advisors picks the winner. The award alternates each year: Groningen in even years, Leiden in odd years.

How realistic are your chances?

This award is cut very narrowly. Only researchers at Groningen or Leiden, within seven years of their PhD and under 40, can be nominated, and each faculty puts forward just one candidate per cycle. Getting nominated is the real hurdle, since your faculty must choose you first. The single 20,000 EUR prize is highly competitive, but the small, tightly defined pool means a strong, well-matched candidate has real prospects.