Christine Mohrmann Stipend for ten female PhD candidates Award for Radboudumc PhD candidates Laura Akkerman and Natalie Nielsen

PhD candidates Laura Akkerman and Natalie Nielsen receive a Christine Mohrmann Stipend, together with eight other female PhD candidates from Radboud University. The aim of the stipend is to encourage PhD candidates to continue their academic careers after the completion of their thesis. The stipend worth 6000 euros gives them the opportunity, for example, to spend a period at a university abroad or to deepen their research in another way. Since 1990, the Executive Board of Radboud University has awarded the Christine Mohrmann Stipends annually to promising women PhD candidates.

Laura Akkerman – malaria research

Laura Akkerman studies the malaria parasite. She works on so-called transporter proteins, which get the right nutrients to the right place in the parasite. Laura discovered a crucial transporter protein, which the parasite needs in order to survive. The next step: finding out which nutrient this protein transports. To do this, Laura will learn new techniques at the University of Kiel in Germany, supported by the stipend. Eventually, her findings will contribute to the development of new antimalarials that make use of this Achilles’ heel of the parasite. 

Natalie Nielsen – research into our working memory 

Natalie Nielsen is interested in how our brain selectively controls the content of working memory to guide actions and attention. Her current project focusses on the neural mechanisms of negative, repetitive, ruminative thoughts that tend to occupy space in working memory. She explores whether distraction can help us let go of these repetitive thoughts using behavioural and neuroimaging methods. Natalie will use the stipend to organise focus groups with patients and clinicians to develop a richer, qualitative understanding of the construct of rumination.

The ten laureates of 2025 next to Akkerman and Nielsen are: Joël Hendrix, Harriet Yates, Marene Dimmendaal, Anne Lieke Ebbers, Fleur Brinkman, Rachel Kollar, Julia Neugarten and Lieke Oosterveld-Haveman.