The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has selected five outstanding young scientists to receive the Heineken Young Scientists Awards on September 27. This is the second time this biennial prize has been awarded.

According to the Armenian Weekly, the winners are the biologist Geert van den Bogaart, the medical specialist Linda van Laake, the sociologist/historian Uğur Ümit Üngör, the environmental scientist Tjisse van der Heide, and the cognitive scientist Floris de Lange. Each winner receives EUR 10,000 and a specially commissioned work of art.

Sociologist and historian Dr. Üngör, 31, is receiving the Heineken Young Scientists Award for History for his historical-sociological research on mass violence, nationalism, and the creation of states. Üngör has already received a number of prizes for his PhD research on the creation of the Turkish nation state in the period from 1913 to 1950, a politically sensitive issue.

He has an impressive list of publications that includes three monographs, and has become an international authority in the field of genocide studies. Üngör is now a lecturer at Utrecht University and a lecturer/researcher with the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD). He also writes satirical columns and essays on cosmopolitan life and on political and cultural boundaries. The jury calls Üngör an outstanding, dedicated researcher who has already achieved a great deal. Amongst other things, it praises his ability to preserve a balance as regards the politically troublesome research topic of genocide.

The Heineken Young Scientists Awards are intended for promising young scientists whose outstanding research means that they set an example for other young scientists. The Academy’s aim with the awards is to provide an additional incentive for talented researchers of the up-and-coming generation.