University of Amsterdam receives Hestia funding
Two academics who fled their threatening situations in their homelands will be able to continue their academic careers at the UvA. They will receive appointments financed from the fourth round of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) programme ‘Hestia – Impulse for Refugees in Science’.
The funding is available for the appointment of a junior or senior researcher with refugee status for a minimum of 18 months full-time and a maximum of 24 months part-time. In total, the NWO has awarded 11 research proposals in this round, for which a budget of slightly less than 1.4 million euros was available.
The UvA recipients
Global ‘side effects’ of EU pharmaceutical regulation – Case study of the EU Southern Neighbourhood (Amsterdam Law School)
This project will investigate the relationship between the EU’s internal regulation of orphan drugs and the market authorisation of innovative drugs in six southern neighbours of the EU (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia). Using two qualitative case studies – Jordan and Syria – the aim is to gain a better understanding of this area of the relationship between the EU and its southern neighbours.
The project leader leider is Dr Katrina Perehudoff, researcher at the UvA’s Law Centre for Health and Life.
Creative Institutionalism in the Kurdish Diaspora (Faculty of Humanities)
This project explores the potential of art and cultural initiatives to reimagine transnational institutions and ways of being together in the context of the Kurdish diaspora. Examining Kurdish cultural initiatives, the project will shed light on how migrants and refugees creatively experiment with building cultural institutions that cross national borders.
The project leader is Chiara De Cesari, professor of Heritage and Memory at the UvA.
About Hestia
Scientists who have had to flee their home country due to war or other threatening situation often face obstacles such as a different working language and culture in the countries where they settle. This makes it more difficult for them to continue their academic careers. Through ‘Hestia – Impulse for Refugees in Science’, the NWO wants to give these academics the chance to join ongoing Dutch research projects so they can expand their network and increase their knowledge and skills.
The programme gives them the opportunity to get to know the Dutch science system and to use their knowledge and talents. At the same time, these academics enrich Dutch science and society with their expertise and will be able to further develop and profile themselves within the Dutch scientific landscape, with the ultimate aim of enabling them to continue their careers/lines of research in their homelands.