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The new 'PhD Mobility Programme' is for PhD candidates of one of the affiliated universities, and for research that cannot be carried out at these universities. In the first round of the programme, six applications were granted. The second application round closes on 1 October 2020.

The HRMSC PhD Mobility Programme supports visits to outstanding, foreign research groups lasting anywhere between one week and six months. It consists of a fixed grant for subsistence costs and reimbursement of travel costs. ‘With the PhD Mobility Programme, we want to stimulate our PhD candidates to acquire new knowledge and build new networks’, says HRSMC Scientific Director Wybren Jan Buma.

‘For many years now we have a very successful Fellowship Programme in place that allows foreign PhD graduates and senior researchers to visit one of our affiliated universities for collaborative research projects. With the PhD Mobility Programme we now enable our PhD candidates to do the same and go abroad. This is important both for their research and their careers.’

How can I apply?

The Holland Research School for Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC) is a joint initiative of the University of Amsterdam, Leiden University, VU Amsterdam and Radboud University. Students who are affiliated to these universities can apply.

First recipients

Applications for the programme are assessed and ranked by the HRSMC Research Committee, advising the HRSMC Board and Scientific Director on awarding the grants. In the first application round in June of this year, all proposals were honoured. The first six HRSMC PhD Mobility grants were awarded to:

Tessel Bouwens

Tessel Bouwens

PhD student with Prof. Joost N.H. Reek (University of Amsterdam), will visit Dr Elizabeth A. Gibson at the School of Chemistry at Newcastle University, UK (2 months). 'Such a fruitful collaboration boosts my research while simultaneously I get to learn about new techniques from the experts in my field.'

Tessel Bouwens studies dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), in particular the recombination issue that is common to DSSCs due to fast electron–hole recombination at the dye–semiconductor interface. She proposes a supramolecular strategy to arrive at pseudorotaxane-based DSSCs featuring a photoswitchable redox mediator. Understanding the electron transfer kinetics of this novel system is of critical importance. At the lab of Dr Elizabeth A. Gibson she will apply time-resolved infrared spectro-scopy (TR–IR) at nanosecond (ns) and picosecond timescales (ps) with a technique pioneered by Gibson.  

Dario Calvani
Dario Calvani

Dario Calvani

PhD student with Dr Francesco Buda (Leiden University), will visit Prof. Adri C.T. van Duin at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Pennsylvania State University, USA (3 months). 'I firmly believe that HRSMC is providing me an unique and great opportunity to personal grow and to develop current and future scientific research.'

Dario Calvani is studying water oxidation catalysts for use in proton exchange membranes in the context of dye-sensitized photo-electrochemical cells for artificial photosynthesis. During his visit he will develop a novel computational representation of the catalysts cycle at reactive molecular dynamics level, using the ReaxFF reactive force-field approach developed by Prof. Adri van Duin.

Zohre Eskandari Alughare
Zohre Eskandari Alughare

Zohre Eskandari Alughare

PhD student with Prof. Michel Orrit (Leiden University), will visit Prof. Don C. Lamb at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany (2 months). 'Collaboration and sharing experiences, knowledge, and equipment increases outcomes and saves time, which all are essential to reach the goals during a PhD journey.'

Zohre Eskandari Alughare studies the binding of individual small molecules, in particular CO, to the heme of myoglobin, an oxygen storage protein in muscle tissue. The binding kinetics can be measured precisely through the quenching of a fluorescent dye attached to the myoglobin using Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). The focus of her visit will be on optimal dye labeling using two mutation variants of myoglobin, and lifetime measurement to obtain FRET efficiencies and CO rebinding kinetic parameters.

Sander Lemmens
Sander Lemmens

Alexander (Sander) Lemmens

Sander Lemmens studies Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) that can be found in the gaseous and dusty regions of the interstellar medium. In the laboratory, he applies laser spectroscopic techniques to acquire high-resolution absorption spectra of these PAHs under the right conditions, i.e. isolated and cold. At the laboratory of Prof. Mattanjah de Vries he will use complementary techniques such as stimulated emission pumping, to obtain insights from a different angle into the photophysical properties of PAHs.

Olga Lushchikova
Olga Lushchikova

Olga Lushchikova

The PhD research of Olga Lushchikova focuses on the spectroscopic characterization of gas phase complexes formed by copper clusters with various small molecules as model systems for catalytic interactions. At the Scheier group in Innsbruck, she will explore a novel technique to study the products resulting from reacting C60+ ions with astrochemically relevant species such as H2, D2, H2O, CH4 and CO2. The technique revolves around helium tagging to arrive at extremely sensitive spectral characterization.

Pascal Vermeeren
Pascal Vermeeren

Pascal Vermeeren

Pascal Vermeeren studies the use of metallylene catalysts for the activation of small molecules. The scope of his visit is to rationally design novel metallylene catalysts for the hydrogenation of a wide range of unsaturated bonds using state-of-the-art computational techniques. For the first time, the combined Activation Strain Model (ASM) of reactivity and the ‘An Automated Reaction Optimizer for New catalysts’ (AARON) approach will be employed.