KNAW early career award 2024

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) will honour twelve young researchers active in various fields of study with a KNAW Early Career Award. The award recognises talented young researchers who undertake innovative and original research. The laureates will receive a EUR 15,000 monetary prize and a unique work of art. Within the UT (TechMed Center), the award goes to Lonneke Lenferink, associate professor (BMS).

Lonneke Lenferink studies grieving and symptoms of disturbed grief in adults and children. Her research focuses on people who experience the loss of a loved one due to natural causes, but also bereavement in exceptional circumstances, for example, a loved one’s disappearance or death by homicide, a traffic accident, in the downing of flight MH17 or the COVID pandemic. Lenferink has introduced original perspectives and new research methods to the field. For example, she is the first in her discipline to adopt a methodology in which participants keep track of their thoughts and feelings with a view to assessing and treating prolonged grief in everyday life. She also explores the interaction between grief in parents and their children. She has shared the results of her studies on rouwbehandeling.nl, which she developed in cooperation with the Netherlands’ Victim Support Fund.