The NWO Domain Board Science has approved twenty-two grant applications in the Open Competition Domain Science-M programme. Two of the applications that got approval are from the University of Twente. One of these is called SPACE4ALL, which is led by Monika Kuffer and Mariana Belgiu from the Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) and Anne Dijkstra from the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences (BMS).
The topics vary from climate vulnerability of slum communities, behaviour of atomically thin magnets, and dead zones in Caribbean coral reefs, to bacteria-driven microrobots and symmetries of geometric spaces. M-grants are intended for innovative, high-quality, fundamental research and/or studies involving matters of scientific urgency.
SPACE4ALL: Mapping climate vulnerabilities of slums by combining citizen science and earth observation technology
SPACE4ALL aims to unravel the climate vulnerability of slum communities in six larger and secondary cities by combining Citizen Science and Earth Observation methods. By combining Earth Observation data with qualitative, rich and diverse data from citizen science, local vulnerabilities can be captured. Thereupon, the data can train state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence models. Normally these fall short because of insufficient data in such areas. The open-access results, which will be made freely available for local communities, will allow for prioritizing of risk hotspots in support of local information needs and measures. SPACE4ALL is led by Monika Kuffer and Mariana Belgiu from the ITC Faculty and Anne Dijkstra from the BMS Faculty at the University of Twente. Two PhD positions will be jointly supervised by Kuffer, Belgiu and Dijkstra.
About the NWO Open Competition Domain Science-M
M-grants are intended for realising curiosity-driven, fundamental research of high quality and/or scientific urgency. The M-grant offers researchers the possibility to elaborate creative and risky ideas and to realise scientific innovations that can form the basis for the research themes of the future. There are three categories of M-grants: M-1 (one scientific position), M-2 (two scientific positions in collaboration) and M-invest (investments) that are assessed in competition with each other. Please visit nwo.nl for more information.
