Acknowledging excellence
To acknowledge the excellence of our scientists and to stimulate them to further their career, Radboudumc and its research institutes annually grant several awards and subsidies. Furthermore, our scientists also receive prestigious national and international awards and subsidized grants.A selection
With over 4,000 researchers at Radboudumc, there is so much happening. Here a selection of the grants and subsidies awarded to our researchers.Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO
European Research Council ERC

Spinoza Prize
The NWO Spinoza Prize is known as the "Dutch Nobel Prize". It is a mark of honor and a stimulus for further research. see laureatesOther external grants and awards
Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences

Best Master thesis
Every year, RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding Master's dissertation.
read more
Best PhD thesis
Every year, RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding PhD dissertation.
read moreBest PhD thesis
The doctoral thesis is a proof of the ability of the PhD candidate to perform independent scientific research. Yearly RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding thesis.
Call is open for Best PhD thesis by the PhD candidate who delivered the best thesis of 2022.
Deadline 10 November 2022.
Please send your nominations to: rimls.info@radboudumc.nl
Download the application information.
Previous winners
Year | Winner | Title of thesis |
2021 | Joep Joosten | Mechanistic insights into the piRNA machinery of Aedes mosquitoes |
2020 | Rik Lindeboom | Investigating gene regulation in development and disease using integrative omics approaches |
2019 | Guido van Mierlo | Viewing pluripotency from a multi-omics perspective. |
2018 | Mani Diba | Development of composite biomaterials with self-healing properties. |
2017 | Pascal Miesen | Untangling the piRNA pathway in the arbovirus vector mosquito Aedes aegypti. |
2016 | Kalijn Bol | Dendritic cell-based immunotherapy in melanoma |
2015 | Jeroen de Baaij | The Distal Convoluted Tubule: the Art of Magnesium Transport |
2014 | Ellen van den Bogaard | From skin development to disease pathogenesis and therapeutics - The power of 3D skin models |
2013 | Jurjen Tel | Plasmacytoid dendritic cells & immunotherapy of cancer |
2012 | Theo Plantinga | Modulation of inflammation by genetic variation in innate immunity |
2011 | Jenny van der Wijst | New patches in the molecular understanding of renal magnesium handling |
2010 | Joost Lesterhuis | Dendritic cells in cancer immunotherapy |
2009 | Camiel Boon | Hereditary retinal disease, Clinical and genetic studies on the role of the peripherin/RDS gene, the BEST1 gene, and the CFH gene |
2008 | David Koolen | Opy number variation and mental retardation |
2007 | Lisenka Vissers | Molecular karyotyping by array CGH. Linking gene dosage alterations to disease phenotypes |
2006 | Tom Neijenhuis | Epithelial Ca2+ and Mg2+ channels in health and disease |
2005 | Manon Zweers (shared) Toni Gabaldon (shared) |
Tenascin-X. Clinical and biological aspects Origin and evolution of the mitochondrial proteome: applications for protein function prediction in the eukaryotes |
2004 | Edwin Janssen | Not available |
2003 | Ole Madsen | Not available |
2002 | Anneke den Hollander | Not available |
2001 | Jan Koenderink | Not available |
2000 | Joost Hoenderop | Not available |
1999 | Anne Lenferink | Not available |
1998 | Albert de Roos | Not available |
1997 | Lex Bakker (shared) Marcel Verbeek (shared) |
Not available Not available |

Supervisor of the year
Excellence is shown in many ways, and excellent supervision is something we should all strive for!
read moreSupervisor of the year
The supervisor of the year award is organized by the RIMLS PhD Council.
For 2021 Siroon Bekkering, Jo Zhou and Gerald Verhaegh were the three nominated supervisors. All RIMLS PhD candidates were invited to vote for these nominees. After an exciting neck-to-neck race Gerald Verhaegh, theme Urological Cancers, was elected as Supervisor of the Year 2021!
Call is open for Supervisor of the Year. Vote for your favorite supervisor.
Deadline 10 November 2022.
Please send your nominations to: rimls.info@radboudumc.nl
Download the application information.
Previous winners:
Year | Winner | Theme |
2021 | Gerald Verhaegh | Urological Cancers |
2020 | Frank Hoentjen | Inflammatory Diseases |
2019 | Iris Nagtegaal | Tumors of the digestive tract |
2018 | Matthijs Kox | Infectious diseases and global health |
2017 | Ronald van Rij | Infectious diseases and global health |

Best publication
RIMLS awards a prize for the best peer-reviewed publication annually. The publication should relate to a major scientific "breakthrough" that advances our scientific understanding.
read moreBest publication
Since 2011, RIMLS awards annually a prize for the best peer-reviewed publication. The publication should relate to a major scientific "breakthrough" that advances our scientific understanding. The winner for 2021 is Felix Evers, et al.
Call is open for Best publication. The best peer-reviewed publication of 2022 which should relate to a major scientific “breakthrough" that advances scientific understanding.
Deadline 10 November 2022.
Please send your nominations to: rimls.info@radboudumc.nl
Download the application information.
Previous winners

RIMLS Image Award
Images made by our MIC microscopes which can be used to promote the scientific work of RIMLS.
read moreRIMLS Image Award
Find below an overview from images made with a MIC microscope. The best image of 2021 is from Mariya Chernyavska.
Call is open for Best Image award. Images made by our MIC microscopes which can be used to promote the scientific work of RIMLS.
Deadline 10 November 2022.
Please send your nominations to: rimls.info@radboudumc.nl
Download the application information.
Previous winners:
2021 - Mariya Chernyavska
2020 - Daan ‘t Hart en Valentina Palacio-Casteneda:
2019 - Ben Joosten:
2018 - Leontien van der Bent:
.aspx?width=4000&height=2250&ext=.png&type=BlockColumn1Zoom1)
Travel grant
RIMLS “travel” grants are available for a work-related event (e.g. online events, conferences, workshops, work placements, etc) expenses.
read moreTravel grant
RIMLS travel grants are available for work-related travel (e.g. conference, work placement) expenses with up to 50% of the costs refunded. In 2022, the last RIMLS travel awards were awarded.
Radboudumc has decided to merge the research institutes as of 2023, so RIMLS is no longer a separate institute. The travel bonus will therefore be stopped. You could try to find a travel grant via these links:
RIMLS Travel Grants:
Year | Winner | Journey |
2022 | Wouter van Megen | € 1000,- for a work visit at Bar Harbor, USA |
2022 | Siebren Faber | € 500,- for a workplacement at University of Geneva, Switserland |
2022 | Tim Baltussen | € 500,- for a workplacement at University Manchester, UK |
2022 | Julie Verhoef | € 1000,- for a conference in Woods Hole, USA |
2022 | Felicitas Pardow | € 1000,- for a conference in Pennsylvania, USA |
2022 | Tim Somers | € 1000,- for a conference in San Diego, USA |
2022 | Asima Abidi | € 1000,- for a conference in Oregon, USA |
2021 | Cansu Yanginlar | € 445,- to visit a conference Tübingen/Germany |
2021 | Daan Vieringa | € 1000,- to visit a conference in San Diego, CA, USA |
2021 | Gijs Franken | € 900,- to visit a conference in Andover, NH, USA |
2021 | Lotte Tholen | € 475,- to visit a workshop in Santander, Spain |
2021 | Elke Muntjewerff | € 500,- for a work placement at Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden |
2021 | Teodora-Veronica Grigore | € 500,- for a work placement at Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Sweden |
2020 | Inge Wortel | € 1,000 to visit a conference in Montreal, Canada |
2020 | Farid Keramati | € 300 to visit symposium in Lyon, France |
2020 | Charlotte Hoogstraten | € 950 to visit a Toxicologie meeting in Aneheim, California |
2020 | Quan Xu | € 250 to visit a bioinformatic conference in Leuven, Belgium |
2020 | Noa van den Brink | € 1,000 to visit a symposium in Pennsylvania, USA |
2020 | Mariya Chernyavaska | € 500 for a work visit Zürich, Switserland |
2020 | Sofie Tolmeijer | € 950 for a work visit in Vancouver, Canada |
2020 | Sanne van Lith | € 1,000 to visit a conference in Buffalo, USA |
2019 | Cenna van Manen | € 500 for a work placement at Karls university of Tuebingen, Germany |
2019 | Remco van Cruchten | € 450 to visit the International Myotonic Dystrophy Consortium meeting, Sweden |
2019 | Lisanne Gommers | € 1,000 to visit the conference Keystone Symposia Microbiome: Chemical Mechanisms and Biological Consequences, Canada |
2019 | Elke Muntjewerff | € 1,000 to visit th annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in May 2019, San Diego, USA |
2019 | Daan Panneman | € 1,000 to visit the Gordon Conference on Mitochondrial Dynamics and Signaling, USA |
2019 | Eva-Leonne Göttgens | € 465 to visit the 38th ESTRO meeting in Milan |
2019 | Georgina Flórez-Grau | € 400 for a work placement at the Immunology Institute in Marseille, France |
2019 | Jorge Dominquez Andres | € 500 to visit the Conference: 2nd Human & Translational Immunology, Greece |
2018 | Edyta Swider | € 500,- to visit the ISMRM conference in Paris, France |
2018 | Jos Smits | € 1000,- to visit the International Investigative Dermatology meeting in Orlando, Florida, USA |
2018 | Vera Dunlock | € 700,- to visit the conference “Tetraspanin scaffolds in cancer and infectious disease” in Arizona, USA |
2018 | Nicole Visser | € 1000,- for a work placement at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, USA |
2018 | Daphne Lobeek | € 400,- to visit the 8'n international Symposium Sentinel Node Biopsy in Head and Neck Cancer - Consensus Meeting in London, UK |
2018 | Hanna Niehues | € 1000,- to visit the International Investigative Dermatology meeting in Orlando, Florida, USA |
2018 | Martijn van den Bosch | € 500,- to visit the OARSI 2018 World Congress in Liverpool, UK |
2017 | Marilen Benner | Keystone symposium: "Maternal‐Fetal Cross" Washington D.C., USA |
2017 | Carlijn Bruggeling | Work placement at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution, Baltimore, USA |
2017 | Amelieke Cremers | Work placement at the Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK |
2017 | Andreas Kompatscher | Experimental Biology Meeting 2017, Chicago, USA |
2017 | Svenja Mennens | Symposium EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany |
2017 | Nelleke Spruijt | Keystone Conference: Hematopoiesis. Banff, Alberta, Canada |
2017 | Laurens van de Wiel | European Human Genetics Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark |
2016 | Brooke Latour | Keystone Symposium: Ubiquitin Signaling (X3), Whistler Conference Centre, Whistler, Canada |
2016 | René Marke | The American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference 2016 in San Diego, USA |
2016 | Pascal Miesen | Keystone symposium. Small RNA silencing: Little Guides, big biology, Keystone Resort, Colorado USA |
2016 | Wouter Touw | Work visit, Imperial College, London, UK |
2016 | Lotte de Winde | 7th European Conference on Tetraspanins, Sheffield University Medical School, UK |
2016 | Jenny van der Wijst | 60th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting (in combination with a work visit to the lab of Dr. Yifan Cheng), Los Angeles, USA |
2015 | Christian Büll | Glyco23, 23rd International Symposium on Glycoconjugates, Croatia |
2015 | Alex Garanto Iglesias | Work placement, Iowa, USA |
2015 | Kirsten Kuipers | Pneumococcus congress, Oxford, UK |
2015 | Marije Sloff | TERMIS World Congress, Boston, USA |
2015 | Sophieke van der Steen | 19th Biennial Meeting of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology, France |
2015 | Florian Wimmers | EFIS/EJI Immunology Summer School, Porto Cervo, Italy |
2014 | Michele Fedecostante | IRB-PhD retreat, Barcelona, Spain |
2014 | Tessa van der Geest | IRB-PhD retreat, Barcelona, Spain |
2014 | Lisanne van Oppen | IRB-PhD retreat, Barcelona, Spain |
2014 | Rocio Acuna | Conference European Society for Human Genetics, Milan, Italy |
2014 | Jeroen de Baaij | ISN Forefronts, Boston, USA |
2014 | Ellen van den Bogaard | 8th Georg Bajka Int symp on atopic dermatitis (ISAD), Nottingham, UK |
2014 | Arthur Kuipers | Gordon Conference Barga Lucca, Italy |

RIMLS award
An award as recognition for the extra dedication for RIMLS. read moreRIMLS award
The Annual RIMLS Award for 2021 is for Helma Pluk
The RIMLS award is an annual prize for people who have contributed a lot to the RIMLS institute. Helma Pluk is the coordinator of our research master “Molecular Mechanisme of Disease”. Truly at the heart of our institute. Last year the master programme was extensively evaluated. We are proud to have Helma Pluk as our colleague..
Year | Name | Theme |
2021 | Helma Pluk | Coordinator of our research master ''Molecular Mechanism of Disease''. |
2020 | Otto Boerman | Director of the Radboud Animal Research Facility |
2019 | Jack Fransen | Nanomedicine |
2018 | Bert van der Reijden | Cancer development and immune defense |

Hans Bloemendal Medal
The Hans Bloemendal Medal is bestowed by the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences on very prominent scientists active in a wide variety of research fields. read moreRadboud Institute for Health Sciences

John Graunt Award
Since 2016, the Radboud Institute for Health Sciences honors an outstanding scientist every two years for their extraordinary achievements in one of the population sciences. read more
Richard Grol Visiting Scientist Award
The Radboud Institute for Health Sciences honors a foreign researcher or teacher with the Richard Grol Visiting Scientist Award. read more
4 year PhD positions
To stimulate innovative health sciences research, a number of PhD positions are annually available within RIHS. In 2020 funding will be made available for 6 Junior Researcher projects. read more
RIHS Science Award
The RIHS Science Award is annually awarded to the best peer-reviewed scientific publication within RIHS. read more
RIHS Patient Involvement Award
Since RIHS values patient engagement in research, we launched the RIHS Patient Involvement Award in 2021. read more
RIHS Societal Impact Award
The RIHS Societal Impact Award is annually awarded to a RIHS research product with a high impact on society. read moreFunding and support

Funding and support
Our Grant support office provides our researchers with information and advice on grant opportunities.
see page (intranet)