Donders Institute

Bas Bloem: Parkinson’s is the canary in the coal mine warning us that our environment is sick | Radboud University In a recent publication in The Lancet Neurology, Bloem and a group of internationally recognised scientists place Parkinson's in historical perspective, beginning with James Parkinson, who first descr...

🧠📚 #Longread: Parkinson’s is the canary in the coal mine

In The Lancet Neurology, experts map out the historical development of #Parkinson’s and have a #call #to #politicians: If we act now, we can reverse this pandemic. 👇

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

AI en EEG zetten je brein (om) in actie Je hebt het vast al eens een gezien: zo’n ‘badmuts’ met draadjes, op het hoofd van een proefpersoon of patiënt. We gingen langs bij twee labs, waar AI herseninfo van zo’n EEG-muts koppelt aan acties.

👀 🖥️ #NEMO Met behulp van AI schreef journalist Niels Olfert #NEMO door alleen naar de letters te kijken. Lees en zie hoe dat werkt en hoe je in de toekomst er deuren mee kan openen of zelfs koffie zetten: 👇

www.nemokennislink.nl/publicaties/...

Scientific Director Donders Institute | Radboud University Do you want to work as a Scientific Director Donders Institute at the Donders Institute? Check our vacancy!

Donders Institute seeks to appoint a new Scientific Director to lead our internationally oriented and interdisciplinary organisation 🌍🧠

Are you ready to help shape the future of brain, cognition, and behaviour research?👇

www.ru.nl/en/working-a...

🎓✨ A milestone worth celebrating and framing! 🖼️

Today, the Donders Institute celebrates its #750th #PhD #thesis. The full mosaic of all those thesis covers looks so good, we believe it deserves a spot in a museum.

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

🎯🤝🧠 We were happy to welcome an international press delegation to the Donders Brain Museum last week to share the story of how our 1,400+ researchers advance understanding of the human brain, cognition, and behaviour. Thanks for coming, Tack för ditt besök, Vielen Dank für Ihren Besuch!

Mobility Opportunities between the Donders Institute and Western University | Radboud University The Donders Institute and the Western Institute for Neuroscience (WIN) at Western University (Ontario, Canada) are delighted to continue their mobility collaboration.

🎓🌍🤝 “I had a fantastic time at Western Institute for Neuroscience. I expanded my professional network and learned a lot about their scientific culture. ” — Lucas Billen

Lucas shows exactly why international exchange matters. Curious about the exchange possibilities? 👇

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

🥇 🎉 Yesterday, at the Computable Awards, an event with over 20,000 votes cast. Advanced Neural Control to Restore Brain Function was voted best healthcare project! Curious about the project? Read the article previously featured in ICT&health:

www.icthealth.nl/nieuws/unive...

Radboudumc-neurologist Bas Bloem receives international prize for Parkinson’s research - Michael J. Fox Foundation Pritzker Prize honors work integrating science, care and community for people with Pa... 17 November 2025

🎉 Bas Bloem has received the Robert A. Pritzker Prize for Leadership in Parkinson’s Research from the The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. 'We keep pushing the boundaries of science, care and creativity until Parkinson’s stops.' 👇

www.radboudumc.nl/en/news-item...

Donders’ Research Stimulation Funds: call for new collaborations and focus groups | Radboud University At the Donders Institute, new ideas often begin at the crossroads of disciplines. Through its Research Stimulation Funds, the institute encourages researchers to explore collaborations.

🌱 The Donders Research Stimulation Funds give early-career scientists the freedom to build something new from the bottom up like the #Neuro-#AI #Focus #Group.

A new round of the Donders Research Stimulation Funds is open until December 1st. 👇

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

YouTube video by Radboud Reflects Neurodiversiteit: elk brein uniek? | Amy De Roubaix en Léon de Bruin

🧠 🎥 Elk brein uniek? In de nieuwste Radboud Reflects-lezing gaan onderzoeker Amy De Roubaix PhD en filosoof Leon de Bruin in gesprek over #neurodiversiteit — van #autisme en #ADHD tot #dyslexie: 👇

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-uH...

💪🧠🥦 Can lifestyle slow Parkinson’s disease?

Increasing physical activity, reducing stress, and improving nutrition can not only alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms, they may even slow the progression of the disease. Curious about the latest recommendations? 👇

www.radboudumc.nl/en/news-item...

This Sat: Meet Donders scientists at NEMO during Museum Night! 👊🏃🥶 Explore stress reactions with @epanlab.bsky.social & decision-making with Hanneke den Ouden:

paa.ge/donders

OPEN PHD POSITION - Come join our group! The IMPRS at @mpi-nl.bsky.social is offering an PhD position on modelling structured meaning in the brain, supervised by me and Helen De Hoop at the Centre for Language Studies in the @dondersinst.bsky.social -
www.mpi.nl/imprs-phd-fe... #NeuroJobs #cogsci

Janita Bralten receives NWO Vidi grant for research into link between psyche, body and insulin | Radboud University Assistant professor Janita Bralten (Radboudumc, Donders Institute) has received a Vidi grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

🧠 Assistant professor Janita Bralten receives #Vidi grant to study the link between #psyche, #body, and #insulin.

🎯 She applies diabetes research methods to psychiatry to find biological groups that could receive to more personalised treatments.

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

New MRI discovery helps track disease progression earlier in rare brain disorder 21 October 2025

Shrinkage of a specific part of the brainstem can forecast decline in balance and coordination of people with the rare brain disorder spinocerebellar #ataxia #SCA1.

These findings suggest that MRI measurements could become a valuable tool for future treatment.

www.radboudumc.nl/en/research/...

Answer by Marina Boon of the @radboudumc.bsky.social ; editing and translation by Sjoerd Murris (PhD):
brainhelpdesk.nl/en/vraag/how...

Do you also have a #brain #question? Ask it at the @dondersinst.bsky.social @brainhelpdesk.bsky.social and we will come up with an #answer!

👏 Peter Hagoort, emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute and co-founder of Donders Institute, has been made a Fellow of the British Academy. “A great honour to be elected by colleagues from another country.” More information:

www.mpi.nl/news/peter-h...

🎈 Ready for a (B)rainy weekend? 🧠☔

Vandaag nemen wetenschappers van het Donders Institute het Donders Brein Museum over tijdens het Weekend van de Wetenschap! Tussen 12:00 en 17:00 uur ga je op wetenschappelijke safari!

www.ru.nl/donders-inst...

Veni award for Nicky Scheefhals: How “Mix and Match” synapses keep our brains flexible | Radboud University Supported by a Veni grant, Nicky Scheefhals aims to study a special type of synapse in which components of both excitatory and inhibitory synapses come together: mixed synapses.

🎉 Veni Grant for Nicky Scheefhals to study “mix-and-match” synapses in the brain. Using stem cells and the microSCOOP 🔬, she can isolate and study these synapses in detail.

This could open new paths for autism and developmental disorder research. Read more 👇

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

“A wonderful time, but with a lot of uncertainty” – Paula Fikkert on postdocs | Radboud University During Postdoc Appreciation Week, we reflect on the value of postdocs. For Paula Fikkert, dean of the Faculty of Arts and researcher, it is a familiar theme: “I am an expert by experience, spending te...

🌍 Today is the last day of Postdoc Appreciation Week #PAW_NL.

Paula Fikkert, Dean of the Faculty of Arts reflects on her time as a postdoc and the role postdocs currently have: “Postdocs are indispensable." Read the full story: 👇

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

Navigating the postdoc journey: Abdelrahman Rayan on research, challenges, and self-care | Radboud University As part of Postdoc Awareness Week, Abdelrahman Rayan, postdoctoral researcher at the Donders Centre for Neuroscience in Lisa Genzel’s group and a former member of the Postdoc Council, shares his exper...

🎓 What does it mean to be a #postdoc?

For Abdelrahman Rayan, it’s a journey of discovery, challenge & self-care. From medicine & physics to systems neuroscience, he now studies one of science’s biggest mysteries: sleep.

Read his story for #PAW_NL 👇

🔗 www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

Kick-off Postdoc Appreciation Week (PAW) | Radboud University The very first Postdoc Appreciation Week (PAW) in the Netherlands will take place next week. From 15 to 19 September, Donders Institute is also organising a packed programme in collaboration with part...

🎉 Next week: NL’s first Postdoc Appreciation Week (PAW)! Workshops, talks & networking at Donders, Nijmegen. “Postdocs often fall between the cracks—let's recognise & support them.” —Lisa Groendendaal-van Weert, Postdoc coordinator.

Read more about this week:

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

#PAW_NL

Early maternal sensitivity linked to better children’s physical health | Radboud University Does the way parents respond to their baby’s signals affect not just emotional wellbeing, but also physical health later in life? A new study suggests the answer is yes.

👨‍🍼 Early maternal sensitivity matters. Children whose mothers were more attuned to their signals had fewer respiratory & digestive problems up to age 14.

🏆 Findings from Nijmegen’s 19-year BIBO study, winner of the Radboud Team Science Award.

🔗 www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

🎉 Tomorrow the #Infinity #Festival kicks off in Nijmegen!

🧠 This includes a special exhibition Tracing Changes, showing artworks made by people living with #Parkinson’s where art and science meet such as the artwork shown here.

👉 Curious?

www.ru.nl/en/about-us/...

🎉 The ADHD Escape Room gets €50,000 NWO funding + new timeslots this fall!

Created by RU & HAN students/researchers, this escape room shows the world of #ADHD challenges and creativity.
👉 Book October slots now: www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

ERC Starting Grants for research into language, money circulation and medieval songs | Radboud University Three researchers at Radboud University will receive a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). They will receive a grant of rougly 1.5 million euros.

👀 👂 How does the brain merge what we hear & see? @lindadrijvers.bsky.social got an ERC Starting Grant (≈ €1.5M) for HANDWAVE, studying how we integrate audiovisual signals.

Vital for understanding language disorders & improving diagnostics.👇

www.ru.nl/en/research/...

👏👏👏 Postdoc Appreciation Week (#PAW_NL): 15 - 19 September.

From sessions on well-being and career paths, workshops on research impact and science communication, to networking drinks. We look forward to celebrating postdocs together!

📅 👉 www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

Veni grant for research into curiosity, an important motivator for learning | Radboud University Lieke van Lieshout has received a prestigious NWO Veni grant for her research into curiosity. She will use this grant to gain a better understanding of how we remain curious and how this can improve l...

👀 How do we stay curious – and how can curiosity improve learning?

Congrats to Lieke van Lieshout on her prestigious #Veni grant from NWO! She’ll study how curiosity lasts, how it boosts memory, and whether freedom of choice plays a role.

Curious to know more? 👇

www.ru.nl/en/donders-i...

New research: how to get out of a vicious cycle when dealing with persistent anxiety? Neuroscientist Bob Bramson is with a Veni grant launching a study on how the brain learns from rewards and punishments, and how anxiety affects this process.

❓ Ever stopped presenting after one bad experience, or avoided dogs after one bite? Radboud Recharge spoke with Bob Bramson about how #anxiety shapes learning from rewards & punishments.

👉 www.radboudrecharge.nl/en/article/n...

Een ADHD Escaperoom: Aan ADHD kun je niet ontsnappen Wat is ADHD precies? En hoe is het om ADHD te hebben? Studenten en onderzoekers van de Radboud Universiteit, het Radboudumc en de HAN maakten een interactieve escaperoom over leven met ADHD.

Wat is ADHD precies? En hoe is het om ADHD te hebben? Radboud Recharge bezocht de #ADHD #escape #room die door studenten en onderzoekers werd gemaakt: 👇

www.radboudrecharge.nl/nl/artikel/e...