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 Organisation 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 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.
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Richard Grol Visiting Scientist Award
The Radboud Institute for Health Sciences honors a foreign researcher or teacher with the Richard Grol Visiting Scientist Award.
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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.
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RIHS Science Award
The RIHS Science Award is annually awarded to the best peer-reviewed scientific publication within RIHS.
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RIHS Patient Involvement Award
Since RIHS values patient engagement in research we launch the new RIHS Patient Involvement Award.
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RIHS Societal Impact Award
The RIHS Societal Impact Award is annually awarded to a RIHS research product with a high impact on society.
read moreRadboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences

Best Master thesis
Every year, RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding Master's dissertation.
read moreBest Master thesis
The Master's thesis is a proof of the ability of a Master's student to perform scientific research and to present his/her findings in a clear and concise manner. Yearly RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding Master's dissertation.
The winner of the RIMLS Master Thesis 2020: Mara Nicolasen Major Histocompatibility Complex- class I drives polarisation of the microtubule organizing center in dendritic cell synapsesMara
Previous winners:
Year | Winner | Title of report |
2020 | Mara Nicolasen | Major Histocompatibility Complex- class I drives polarisation of the microtubule organizing center in dendritic cell synapses |
2019 | Julia Verhoef | CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing of pantothenamide resistance genes in Plasmodium Falciparum |
2018 | Eline van Houtum | Glycoengineered molecules to target the sialic acid-siglec axis in tumor immunology |
2017 | Anouk Becker | Novel strategy for targeted nanovaccines for cancer immunotherapy |
2016 | Marilen Benner | Differential effects of microbes on endometrial lymphocytes. Analysis of endometrial and placental lymphocytes and the possible role of the local microbiome |
2015 | Felix Fennemann | Site-directed antibody functionalization for targeted vaccination |
2014 | Bart van Beusekom | Re-refinement in protein structure validation |
2013 | Sarah Weischer | Blocking Aberrant Sialylation in Cancer Cells -A Sweet Way to Augment Anti‐Tumor Immunity |
2012 | Margo Dona | Dissecting the function of ninl and c20orf12 using Danio Rerio as a model organism. Two players of the Usher protein network |
2011 | Pascal Miessen (shared) Christian Büll (shared) |
A novel microRNA inhibitor in mouse cytomegalovirus is veiled as microRNA target Acute Inflammatory Response to Mannan Provides an Activating Environment for Arthritogenic SKG T-cells |
2010 | Veronika te Boekhorst | Control of cancer cell invasion and nuclear deformability by nuclear lamins |
2009 | Anna Haeger | The role of (local) cellular NAD+-levels during glioma growth and migration |
2008 | - | - |
2007 | Hanneke Wittgen | Application of a rapid, reversible and tunable protein regulation method to regulate the expression of the Ca2+ channel TRPV5 |
2006 | Anneke Navis | Characterisation of RPGRIP1 interacting proteins |
2005 | Elisa Börger | The development of signet ring cell differentiation in mucinous carcinomas |
2004 | Stanley Hato | Not available |
2003 | Sophia Bruggeman | Not available |
2002 | Mike de Bruijni | Not available |
2001 | - | - |
2000 | Pascal Duijf | Not available |
1999 | Christiaan de Kock | Not available |
1998 | Manon Zweers | Not available |
1997 | Erik Vossenaar | Not available |

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.
The winner of the RIMLS PhD Thesis of 2020: Rik Lindeboom Investigating gene regulation in development and disease using integrative omics approaches
Previous winners
Year | Winner | Title of thesis |
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 2020 Jeroen de Baaij, Ellen van den Boogaard and Frank Hoentjen were the three nominated supervisors. All RIMLS PhD candidates were invited to vote for these nominees. After an exciting neck-to-neck race Frank Hoentjen, theme Inflammatory Diseases, was elected as Supervisor of the Year 2020!
Previous winners:
Year | Winner | Theme |
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 scientific understanding.
read moreBest publication
RIMLS awards annualy a prize for the best peer-reviewed publication. The publication should relate to a major scientific "breakthrough" that advances scientific understanding.
The winner of the RIMLS Breakthrough Publication 2020: Rebecca Halbach et al. (link) A satellite repeat-derived piRNA controls embryonic development of Aedes
Previous winners

Travel grant
RIMLS “travel” grants are available for a work-related event (e.g. online events, conferences, workshops, work placements, etc) expenses.
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RIMLS award
The Annual RIMLS Award for 2020 is for Otto Boerman
The RIMLS award is an annual prize for people who have contributed a lot to the RIMLS institute. Since 2017 Otto Boerman is the Director of the Radboud Animal Research Facility and transformed this facility into a financial healthy institute. More importantly customer and staff satisfaction has increased enormously, giving the Radboud Technology Center (RTC) a new future. In addition as chair of the RTC board he further improved the organization of the RTC's. We are proud to have Otto Boerman as our colleague.
Year | Name | Theme |
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 2019 for Alison Noble
* Early work
Alison Noble obtained her doctoral degree in computer vision from the University of Oxford in 1989. She subsequently worked as a research scientist at GE Corporate Research and Development Center for five years. In 1995 she was appointed University Lecturer Department of Engineering Science in the University of Oxford, where she became a professor in 2002. From 2012-2016 she was the Director of the Oxford institute of Biomedical Engineering. As of 2017, she is the Senior Scientific Advisor of Intelligent Ultrasound Limited, an Oxford University spin-off in medical imaging, which she cofounded. Professor Noble has made significant contributions to medical image computing, where her research interests combine knowledge of medical imaging and computational science to support decision-making in clinical medicine. Her research activities focus on image analysis in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, women’s health and microscopy. She has made major contributions to methodology development of ultrasound image analysis, for example in fusion echocardiography, multi-modality cardiac image analysis, elasticity and slip imaging for breast cancer diagnosis, and fetal ultrasound image analysis. In 2013, Alison Noble was appointed Order of the British Empire for her services to Science and Engineering. She was the first recipient of the Laura Bassi Award of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2015 and she was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017. Alison Noble inspires the next generation of biomedical scientists and engineers by combining her academic and industrial network and experience to translate new engineering methodologies to clinical practice.
* About the Medal
The Hans Bloemendal Medal is bestowed on very prominent scientists active in a wide variety of research fields.
> read more about the medal

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 moreFunding and support
