EUR 2.4 million in funding for four projects under the Digital Sciences for Society program
In the coming years and through its Digital Sciences for Society program, Tilburg University invests in research on the interface of digital sciences, social sciences and the humanities that contributes to solving today’s major challenges. This week, EUR 2.4 million was awarded to four multiyear research projects, whose total budget amounts to EUR 4.7 million. All four projects address the use of digitalization, with each focusing on its own objective: breaking the spiral of poverty, workload support and support in care, improved citizen access to government decisions, and equal opportunity to a healthy lifestyle.
Icon Projects
In the Digital Sciences for Society program, the four research projects to be funded are called Icon Projects. They are:
- AI Deployment Journey in Healthcare: Governance, Design, and Adoption
- Case-Inclusive Transparency for a Digital and Open Government (CITaDOG)
- DIGIQUITY4HEALTH: How digital choice environments affect equity and disparities in healthy consumption
- From impoverished to enriched brains: a lifespan perspective on the link between poverty, nutrition, cognitive functioning and underlying brain networks. This project is co-funded by the Zero Poverty Lab.
The projects aim to offer solutions to complex issues that require a plurality of perspectives. That is why for each project there is a multidisciplinary research team made up of scientists from several Schools and departments and in some cases from other universities as well. Each team also comprises several social partners; these parties are stakeholders, in touch with users of the intended research results, or uniquely placed to contribute specific expertise. These partners include the Netherlands Association of Hospitals (NVZ), the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), the Social Development Corporation (MOM Tilburg), and Nakko, the Dutch market leader in apps for food retail.
(Photo: Academic lead of the Digital Sciences for Society program, Boudewijn Haverkort, congratulates Carol Ou)
Wim van de Donk, Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board of Tilburg University: “Digitalization is a cornerstone of Tilburg University’s strategy. The Digital Sciences for Society program is the logical follow-up to our conviction that digitalization is here to stay and has tremendous potential in all areas of life. Of course, this potential comes with risks and these, too, will be studied by researchers at our university. Tilburg University is in a strong position to make a meaningful and valuable contribution to technological innovation that takes into account the social, legal, and ethical aspects, because that approach is firmly embedded in the university’s profile. This is how we, through Social Sciences, Humanities & Digital Sciences (SSHD), contribute both to resolving today’s major societal challenges and to critical reflection on the effects of digitalization.”
Tilburg University is in a strong position to make a meaningful and valuable contribution to technological innovation that takes into account the social, legal, and ethical aspects, because that approach is firmly embedded in the university’s profile
- Rector Magnificus Wim van de Donk
Growth Projects
Previously, EUR 240,000 had been awarded to fourteen Growth Projects. These, too, are socially relevant projects, albeit smaller ones, on the interface of digital sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, undertaken by multidisciplinary teams and in collaboration with one or more external partners.
The next batch of Icon Projects to be funded comes up in two years, and next year a new call for Growth Projects will go out.
Get ready for the digital future
The Digital Sciences for Society program invests in impactful research, education and collaboration aimed at seizing the opportunities and dealing with the challenges of digitalization for science and society.