The awarded studies:

Hybrid intelligence

The project Hybrid Intelligence (HI): Augmenting Human Intellect, conducted under the aegis of the VU Amsterdam, has been awarded 19 million euros. The UvA scientists taking part in the study are Professor Maarten de Rijke, University Professor of AI and Information Retrieval, and Professor Max Welling, professor of Machine Learning, are attached.

Hybrid intelligence is a combination of human and artificial intelligence. Six Dutch universities, including the UvA, will develop theories and methods for intelligent systems which collaborate with people, adapt to dynamic circumstances and can explain their actions. Ethical and legal values, such as transparency, liability and trust, will be taken into account during the designing of the systems. Using HI systems in healthcare, education and science as a basis, the researchers will show how artificial intelligence can strengthen human intelligence rather than replacing it.

The main applicant is Professor Frank van Harmelen (VU Amsterdam). Co-applicants, in addition to De Rijke and Welling, are Professor Catholijn Jonker (Delft University of Technology), Professor Rineke Verbrugge (University of Groningen) and Professor Piek Vossen (VU).

Mental disorders

The project New Science of Mental Disorders, led by the University of Maastricht, will receive 19.3 million euros. Taking part from the UvA are Professor Merel Kindt, professor of Experimental Clinical Psychology, and Professor Reinout Wiers, professor of Developmental Psychopathology.

Around the world, one in four adults and one in 10 children suffer from a mental disorder. Mental disorders cause considerable suffering and the best available treatments only work for around 40% of patients. The researchers believe that mental disorders consist of dynamic and complex networks of interacting symptoms. They will therefore conduct research into the complex dynamics of these networks and into the transdiagnostic processes that underlie the interdependence between the symptoms. In addition, they will study the effects of interventions tailored to individual patients on the basis of these networks.

The main applicant is Professor Anita Jansen (University of Maastricht). Co-applicants, in addition to Kindt and Wiers, are: Professor Bernet Elzinga (University of Leiden), Professor Anne Roefs (University of Maastricht), and Professor Andrea Evers (University of Leiden).

About the Gravitation programme

The Gravitation programme is financed by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The Dutch Research Council (NWO) selects the research groups on behalf of the OCW. The funding allows researchers to conduct 10 years of high-level university research and to collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis. One of the pillars of the programme is cooperation across disciplines and universities. The scientists jointly set up excellent scientific research programmes.

In total the six consortia will receive Gravitation grants amounting to 113.8 million euros.