Dr. Edgar Steenstra is an associate professor at TU Delft. He received his PhD (cum laude) from the VU in 2019 and continued his career with postdoc positions at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C. (USA) and with a Marie Curie fellowship at the University of Münster (Germany). Here he studied the chemical processes that took place during the formation of the early Earth and other celestial bodies. He is currently setting up his own research group, made possible by an ERC Starting Grant to establish a laboratory that mimics extreme environments on Venus. This project contributes to the preparations of future ESA and NASA missions to Venus (this research is related to climate research for Earth). He also leads experimental studies on the interaction between lava and planetary surfaces, funded in part by an NWO M-Investment grant. The committee is particularly impressed by this candidate’s high degree of independence and autonomy.

Review committee:

• prof. dr. Wout Krijgsman, chair (UU)
• dr. Peter Kraal (NIOZ)
• mevr. dr. Elly Morriën (UvA)
• dr. Sander Veraverbeke (VU)
• mevr. dr. Renata van der Weijden (UCR & WUR)

The award was received at the NWO-NAC 2025 in Noordwijkerhout.

Dr. Lydian Boschman is an associate professor at Utrecht University. In her still early career, she has implemented a number of surprising and innovative ideas creating a new field of study at the interface of geology and biology. She did her earth science study at Utrecht University, as well as her doctoral research on making plate tectonic and paleogeographic reconstructions. She then further developed as a postdoc in the Landscape Ecology Group of the Department of Biology at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) as a biologist. She obtained an ETHZ Postdoc Fellowship to study biology, ecology, and biodiversity at ETH, where she additionally focused on developing quantitative reconstructions of paleogeography – in which topography and bathymetry are to be added to tectonic reconstructions. Drawing on her expertise in both geology and biology, Dr. Boschman was appointed assistant professor at the Department of Earth Sciences in Utrecht on Jan. 1, 2022, where she has established a line of research and teaching in geological development that has led to the current biodiversity hotspots, which is now supported by a Veni grant.

Review committee:

• dr. Lennart de Groot, voorzitter (UU)
• dr. Aafke Schipper (RU)
• dr. ir. Jantiene Baartman (WUR)
• prof. dr.  Arjan Hensen (TNO & VU)
• dr. Femke de Jong (NIOZ)

The prize has been awarded at NWO-NAC 2024 in Utrecht. 

The research of dr. Anouk Beniest focuses on plate tectonics. She regularly goes out to the ocean for geophysical and geological research on the Earth’s crust. In particular, back-arc basins have her attention: geological basins on the ocean floor that form where a tectonic plate slides under another tectonic plate, areas of high risk for e.g. earthquakes and submarine landslides. Her skills in the three fundamental pillars of the geosciences, namely geology, geodynamics and geophysics, provide an ideal starting point to lead multidisciplinary projects in geosciences.

In addition to her research Beniest, she has also been committed for years to creating an inclusive, accessible and equal academic environment at the university level, both nationally and internationally. For example, she organized a debate at the European Geosciences Union on bullying in academia.

Review committee:

• Dr. Jorien Vonk, VU (chair)
• Dr. Lennart de Groot, UU
• Dr. Aimée Slangen, NIOZ
• Dr. Riccardo Riva, TUD

Due to residence abroad, Anouk Beniest was unable to receive her award in person at the NAC 2022, therefore this video was recorded.

Dr. Tjalling de Haas has independently set up his own laboratory in Utrecht. There he mimics on a small scale processes on mountain slopes such as debris flows, which he can then put into a predictive model. In his mind, he travels effortlessly back and forth between Earth and Mars, between Mars of four billion years and millions of years ago and Earth’s valleys and mountain slopes of today. The question of the occurrence of life on Mars is closely related to the availability of water. Haas found that over the past millions of years, debris flows were active in impact craters. Identical slopes and debris flows occur on Earth, probably even with the same frequency of ice ages and warm periods.

He graduated cum laude at Utrecht University in 2010, where he also received his doctorate cum laude in 2015. Based on satellite images of the surface of Mars, he concluded that there regularly have been periods with liquid water over the past million years. Before that, it was still thought that CO₂ gas caused the debris flows on Mars.

He has so far secured two NWO grants: in 2016, a Rubicon grant, which took him to Durham University in England. In 2018, he received a Veni grant. For that, he is seeking answers in two Swiss debris flow regions on the question why one debris flow stays small while another grows into an all-destroying stream.

Review Committee:

• Prof. Dr. Appy Sluis, UU (chair).
• Prof. Dr. Läslo Evers, KNMI & TUD
• Dr. Furu Mienis, NIOZ
• Dr. ir. Gert-Jan Steeneveld, WUR
• Dr. Jorien Vonk, VU

The award ceremony took place on April 8, 2021 during the digital NAC and can be seen in this video.

Flooding and drought in river deltas: that is the research area of dr. ir. Niko Wanders. He obtained his PhD on a study that linked satellite image data to flood models in order to better predict floods. He is currently developing a model using satellite data to understand how people use water reservoirs during droughts. Are there differences in periods of water scarcity or water surplus? In this way, he hopes to determine optimal water management to ensure sustainable water use and minimize water waste in the future. Sufficient clean water for households, industry and agriculture is becoming a major societal challenge worldwide. Climate change is affecting precipitation patterns, creating periods of extremes: droughts and floods. Wanders demonstrated, for example, the added value of satellite observations of soil moisture in predicting flooding in large river systems.

After studying in Wageningen, he received his PhD from Utrecht University. With a NWO Rubicon grant, he worked as a postdoc for two years at the renowned Princeton University (USA). In 2017, he returned to Utrecht with an NWO Veni grant. The decisive factor in winning the Vening Meinesz Prize was that Niko Wanders made his achievements while receiving his PhD barely three years ago.

Review Committee:

• Prof. Dr. Guido van der Werf, VU (chair).
• Prof. Dr. Ramon Hanssen, TUD
• Dr. Esther Stouthamer, UU
• Prof. dr. Jakob Wallinga, WUR

The Earth’s magnetic field and physical and chemical properties of natural magnetic minerals: this is Lennart de Groot’s field of research. He studies the Earth’s magnetic field, whose strength fluctuates over time and by region. The earth’s magnetic field protects the earth from cosmic radiation. He investigates the geological history using data from volcanic eruptions, where he was able to improve the testing methods. Lennart de Groot received his PhD cum laude and an NWO Veni grant. His research at the remarkable Fort Hoofddijk is explained in the NWO journal Hypothesis (June 2016).

Review committee:

• Prof. Dr. Kees Wapenaar, TUD (chairman)
• Prof. Dr. Paul Andriessen, VU
• Prof. Dr. Freek van der Meer, UT
• Prof. Dr. Caroline Slomp

The impact of thawing permafrost on climate: the research area of the first female winner of the Vening Meinesz Prize. She combines earth science, hydrology and chemistry. Global warming manifests itself mainly in the Arctic. Her particular interest is Yedoma, a form of permafrost that resembles frozen peat. When it thaws, organic material ends up in the environment.

At NWO, she secured a Rubicon and Veni grant, and after winning the VM prize, among others, an ERC Starting Grant. When she won the prize she was affiliated with the UU and the RUG; since 2016 she is Assistant Professor at the VU. The committee was particularly impressed by her independence and autonomy as a researcher, which is reflected in a great experience abroad.

Review committee:

• Prof. Cor Langereis, UU TUD (chairman)
• Dr. Giovanni Bertotti, TUD
• Dr. Guido van der Werf, VU

This scientist in organic geochemistry researched fat substances in marine sediments. He developed a new method, a primordial thermometer, useful in global reconstruction of temperature changes.

He received his PhD cum laude, secured an NWO Rubicon and Veni grant and an EGU Young Scientist Award. At the time of winning the VM prize, Weijers was at UU; since 2012, he has worked as a senior researcher at Shell.

Review committee:

• Dr. Bert Vermeersen, TUD (chairman)
• Prof. Jeannot Trampert, UU
• Dr. Wim van Westrenen, VU

This climate researcher researches and reconstructs the natural variations of past climate partly from fossil algae remains. Several times he was allowed to join the prestigious IODP drilling expeditions. He showed that a greenhouse world existed 55 million years ago, with palms near the North Pole. His work showed the link between CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere and changing temperatures on Earth. Appy Sluijs is also very active in the fields of education, communication and the contribution of scientific research to public and political debate. He received his PhD cum laude and obtained a Veni grant from NWO. In 2014, he was appointed professor of paleoceanography at UU and received an ERC Starting Grant. He was also part of the Young Academy of the KNAW.

Review committee:

• Prof. Rinus Wortel, UU (chair).
• Dr. Bert Vermeersen, TUD
• Prof. Dr. Jaap Sinninghe Damsté, UU NIOZ

The research of this physical geographer focuses on the role of forest fires and deforestation in greenhouse gas emissions, and the relationship between climate and deforestation. He used both biogeochemical models and fire detection information from satellites, supplemented by atmospheric models. His data research has allowed a better understanding of the contributions of forest fires to elevated atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. He has been a professor at the VU since 2015. In 2016, he received the highest grant within the Renewal Impulse, the Vici, from NWO. He previously received an ERC Starting Grant.

Review committee:

• Prof.drs. Rien Herber, Shell/NAM (chairman)
• Prof. Kees Wapenaar, TUD
• Dr. Esther Stouthamer, UU
• Dr. Giovanni Bertotti, VU
• Prof. Dr. Tom Veldkamp, WUR

The properties of rocks in the interior of planets, that is the research area of petrologist Wim van Westrenen. He studies how the properties and compositions of solid and partly molten rocks change when pressure and temperature are altered. This provides knowledge about, for example, the genesis of planets or the formation of magma that leads to volcanic eruptions. He has been a professor of planetary evolution at the VU since 2013. From NWO, he received a Vidi and Vici grant, among others.

Review committee:

• Prof. Dr. Olaf Schuiling (chairman)
• Prof. Dr. Sierd Cloetingh, UU
• Prof. dr. Nico van Breemen, WUR
• Prof. dr. Stefan Luthi, TUD
• Drs. Rien Herber, Shell/NAM

Because of NWO’s 50th anniversary, there was an additional Vening Meinesz Prize in 2000. Wout Krijgsman of the paleomagnetics laboratory at Utrecht University received this prize from Prof. Dr. W. Harder, chairman of the Area Board ALW. He received the prize, among other things, for his research on the Messinian Crisis; during that period the Mediterranean Sea partially dried up due to the closure of the Strait of Gibraltar. He is currently professor of magnetostratigraphy at the UU. From NWO he received, among other things, a Vici grant.

Review committee:

• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schlager, VU (chairman)
• Dr. Hessel Speelman, TNO
• Prof. Dr. Rinus Wortel, UU

Frédéric Marin studied paleontology and worked as a postdoc from 1994 to 2001 at the Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University, in Peter Westbroek’s biogeochemistry group. His research on the biochemical background of calcium formation in organisms (Metazoa) such as mussels and corals branched out in all directions. He worked for two years for the company IsoTis (Bilthoven), specializing in bone and cartilage implants. In 2003, the CNRS attracted him, to the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon (France). He is currently research director of the Biogéoscience Unit at the CNRS and is mainly concerned with shell biomineralization.

Roel Snieder, with a background in theoretical physics, received his PhD cum laude from Utrecht University in 1987. His theoretical research within the field of seismology focuses on the description of the propagation of elastic waves through the earth. From NWO, he received a PIONIER grant in 1991. He is now a professor at the Colorado School of Mines (Golden, USA) and is still doing committee work for NWO.

Guust Nolet received his PhD cum laude in 1976 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he developed the first network of portable, digital broadband seismographs and where he became a professor in 1985. His research concerns mainly the inversion of massive amounts of data to localize anomalies in the mantle (seismic tomography) and the influence of diffracted energy on the duration of seismic waves. Starting in 1991, he first imaged a large number of thermal excitations (“plumes”) at Princeton. More recently, his interest is in the thermal history of the Earth and the need to image excitations with greater precision by recording seismograms in oceanic regions. To this end, he accepted a third professorial post in Nice in 2008, where he developed robots that function as undersea seismographs. He is now the George J. Magee Professor of Geophyics, emeritus, at Princeton (U.S.) as well as emeritus at Nice (France), and Adjunct Professor of Geophysics at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen (China). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academia Europaea and corresponding member of the KNAW.

Nico van Breemen (tropical soil science, Agricultural College, 1968) earned his doctorate on chemical processes and conditions in acid sulfate soils (‘katteklei’) in Thailand. He received the Vening Meinesz Prize in 1978 from Mr. W.F. de Gaay Fortman, chairman of ZWO, because at the time of award he was doing research on rice culture in the Philippines. As a postdoctoral fellow at the International Rice Research Institute, he researched ‘problem soils’ for rice cultivation in Southeast Asia. Back in Wageningen in 1981, he stumbled upon the deposition of ammonia from the bioindustry in forests and natural areas: one of six completely accidental discoveries in his research career. Since 1986 Nico van Breemen was professor of soil formation and ecopedology at WUR. On his retirement as a professor in 2004, he therefore concluded that truly new scientific insights almost always rest on serendipity: ‘Today I am going to discover something completely new and yet I am so curious to know what it will be.’ Since 2004, he has been active as a modern art gallery owner.

Hans Schouten is a marine geophysicist. He received his doctorate in geophysics from UU in 1970 and then worked on seismic research in the North Sea, North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. He received the award together with Ben Engelen from Prof. Dr. W.C. van Unnik, chairman of ZWO, at the Vening Meinesz Laboratory in Utrecht. At the oceanographic research institute Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in the U.S., he researched such topics as geomagnetism, plate tectonics and mid-oceanic ridges.

In 1963, Ben Engelen received his doctorate cum laude from UU; he conducted research on alpine mountain formation under the influence of gravitational tectonics, focusing on the unique geological genesis of the Dolomites in northern Italy. In 1970, with a ZWO stipend, he stayed as a visiting professor at the Engineering Research Center of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, USA. In 1974, he became a professor of hydrogeology at the VU. He developed into an expert in groundwater flows. Ben Engelen is best known as the founder of regional hydrologic system analysis. Based on this method, land-cover maps of groundwater flow systems in the Netherlands were made in the 1990s

Hans Zijderveld received the prize from Prof. Dr. J.N. Bakhuizen van den Brink, chairman of ZWO, for his great achievements in the field of paleomagnetism. He started the Fort Hoofddijk paleomagnetic laboratory in 1963, when the Utrecht university campus De Uithof did not yet exist. Zijderveld published in 1967 a method to better visualize paleomagnetic directions; these figures are still often called “Zijderveld diagrams. Zijderveld was professor of paleomagnetism at UU and, until his retirement in 1995, the head of Fort Hoofddijk, the oldest active paleomagnetic lab in the world.