NWO is the national research council of the Netherlands and operates under the auspices of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). It is the foremost sponsor of research at Dutch universities and research institutes. An overview of the existing schemes can be found on its website. While some of these schemes have continued for decades and have regular deadlines, there are also continuous changes to the grants programme. Thus, it is important to stay up-to-date.

Overall, NWO’s research instruments fall under various categories. Traditionally, the focus has been on ‘curiosity-driven’ or basic research (fundamenteel onderzoek). Increasingly, however, NWO also invests in what it describes as ‘thematic research’, that is, research geared towards finding solutions for social, economic and cultural issues and set up partly in consultation with private or civil society partners. NWO also invests in research programmes aimed at international collaboration and exchange or at knowledge dissemination and open access publication of research results. Whether a grant proposal will have a societal impact and thereby promotes impact (kennisbenutting) is an important assessment criterion. Though this evaluation criterion might only weigh for 20% in some cases, performing well on this point can nonetheless make the difference between getting the grant or not (although you are also allowed to choose the option ‘scientific impact only’). 

The frequency of the funding round depends on the instrument and varies from once or several times per year to continuous submission. A selection committee or jury assesses the research proposals. These committees are typically staffed by other Dutch academics. It is important to know that these committees often have broad representation across various fields. As such, it is critical for the proposal to be engaging and understandable to academics outside one’s field. On the other hand, in most instances the committee consults external specialists, who act as peer reviewers. So, the proposal also needs to convince specialists. This can be a difficult balance to achieve.

NWO offers different grant types: individual grants, programmatic grants, grants for cooperation and exchange, and investments in big facilities. Here we list only a few of the more common ones. NWO, however, runs several dozens of very specific schemes. It is therefore worth checking the NWO website to see whether the organisation offers grants that match your specific research interests.

Overall, there are relatively few grant programmes specifically for individual PhD candidates in the Netherlands. Rather, senior researchers acquire funding and then advertise PhD positions to work on particular topics, or specific projects. Particularly in the exact sciences, PhD research usually forms part of a bigger project headed by more senior academic staff. NWO, however, does award several grants that support independent PhDs. These include PhDs in the Humanities and Doctoral Grants for Teachers. Mosaic 2.0 is a PhD scholarship program aimed at the under-represented group of graduates with a migration background from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America and Turkey in the Netherlands.

The goal of the Rubicon programme is to encourage talented recent PhD graduates to pursue a career in postdoctoral research. The Rubicon grant offers researchers who have completed their doctorate in the past year the chance to gain experience at a top research institution abroad (for a maximum period of two years).

The Talent programme (Talentprogramma) is a long-running, highly visible and very competitive funding programme that encourages individual researchers to conduct their own research project independently. It offers individual grants that are also meant to encourage mobility between research institutes. In some cases, the acquisition of one of these grants can lead to a tenure-track position or promotion to associate/full professor. The programme is divided into three parts:

Note that these eligibility windows may be extended due to maternity leave, parental leave, long-term illness and training as a clinical specialist. In recent years, the success rate of these grants has been around 10-15%. In some cases, a shorter pre-proposal is required and only a fraction of those proposers are encouraged to submit a full proposal. For Vidi funding, researchers can only submit applications with an ‘embedding guarantee’ (inbeddingsgarantie), stating the support of the institution where they intend to conduct their research.

The Open Competition (Open competitie) programme encourages research that is not linked to a particular theme. Several NWO divisions organise such open competitions. The programmes fund the cost of research as well as the staffing costs of PhD candidates or postdocs.

In consultation with KNAW, The Young Academy and the Foundation for Refugee Students (UAF), NWO has developed the Hestia programme for researchers residing in the Netherlands as refugees and wishing to start or continue an academic career there. By making short-term funding available, NWO provides the opportunity to join already funded research projects in all fields of research and build a network in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At the same time they will be able to actively share knowledge and expertise, and to familiarise themselves with the research landscape.