University of Groningen: Large grant for nine UG research projects

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded substantial grants, each amounting to €750,000, to nine UG research projects. These projects focus on topics including millet as a sustainable crop, misleading advertisements and the strengthening of the constitutional state.

The board of the NWO domain Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) has awarded a total of €22 million to researchers who had applied for the Open Competition SSH round in 2020. These funds will give researchers the opportunity to conduct research on a topic of their own choice. UG researchers are involved in nine of the 34 selected projects.

Overview of awarded projects involving UG researchers:

Salt and power. Early states, Rome and control of resources

Prof. P.A.J. Attema

Salt is of vital importance to the human food economy and therefore of state importance. Following their discovery that salt production took place on the coast south of Rome as far back as the Bronze Age, the researchers examine how scaling-up took place and early Rome’s role as the main stakeholder.

Ancient crops for a sustainable future? Millets and culture in India

P. Berger, PhD and prof. R.T.J. Cappers

Millets belong to the founder crops of agriculture. Recently, they are globally promoted as the “smart food” for the future. But how does crop selection relate to culture? Anthropologists and Archaeobotanists combine their expertise to research the nexus of millets and culture, in contemporary India and throughout Indian history.