Prof. Steven Hoekstra, Prof. Karina Caputi have been awarded Vici grants of €1.5 million each by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
On https://www.rug.nl/news/2022/03/vici-grants-for-three-ug-researchers their research projects are explained:
Prof. Hoekstra's research carries the title 'Searching for missing antimatter with trapped molecules.' By performing a precision measurement on a cloud of molecules, captured and held by electric fields, we can test the Standard Model of particle physics. This is needed because it fails to explain how we (and all the matter around us) have emerged from the Big Bang. Read this recent article: Trapping molecules to find new physics
The research project of Prof. Caputi has been named 'The First Steps of Galaxies.' For many years astronomers have studied galaxies, but their formation and growth after the Big Bang remain largely unknown. This Project will investigate the first steps of galaxy evolution as it has never been possible before, with the largest space telescope ever built: the James Webb Space Telescope.