The notion that healthy soil results in healthy agricultural products that positively influence human well-being and health is becoming increasingly accepted.

Since the soil microbiome is partially transferred to humans and may impact the nutritional composition of agricultural products, it may also affect human health. This relationship has enormous societal implications, as agriculture significantly influences the environment, and food is the primary driver of human health.

This study aims to establish, for the first time, the connection between the impact of agriculture on soil and plant quality/microbiome and its consequences for human health. It also investigates the social and political context surrounding this connection.

Funded by: Dutch Research Council (NWO), Knowledge and Innovation Covenant programme (KIC)

Project period: 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2028

Team

MetaHealth is a large research consortium with fundamental and applied research partners both from public and private organizations. The program includes 19 PhD projects and several research projects by post-docs.

Health in a microbial, sociocultural and care context in the first 1000 days of life.

• to enhance the inclusivity of less-privileged families in health-outcomes-centred research.
• to understand the interplay between microbiome, lifestyle, culture and environment and their role on oral and metabolic health during the first 1000 days of life in a culturally and socially diverse population.
• to provide fundamental knowledge on the establishment of a healthy microbiome and on processes that enhance or diminish a beneficial host-microbiome symbiosis;
• to create and evaluate acceptable interventions that contribute to maintenance of metabolic and oral health with special focus on families from low socio-economic position (SEP), leading towards minimizing the health-disparities gap;
• to create in vitro and in silico models of the host and microbiome interplay in a sociocultural and care context;
• to develop e-health platform for all stakeholders on the maintenance of oral and metabolic health during the first 1000 days of life.

Funded by: Dutch National Research Agenda Research along Routes by Consortia (NWA-ORC)

Project period: 1 Jan 2023 - 31 Dec 2030

Team

Muslim Women's Digital Empowerment

RE-VISUALIZE: Gender and Islam in the French-speaking digital world" is carried by a consortium associating the Saint Louis Universities in Brussels, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Montreal, Universität Halle-Wittenberg and the association PLURIVERS'ELLES Etudes et Formations.​​

This action-research will focus on a new social and digital reality that goes against the grain, and in which Instagrammers, influencers and "Hijabistas" play a leading role as they open up pathways to new styles of influence, inspiration and leadership to fight against prevailing Islamophobia mainly on social networks at the dawn of feminism muslim 2.0.

Funded by: EU ERASMUS+ program

Project period: 1 Oct 2022 to 30 Sept 2025

Team

BROAD-ER aims to build a Research Excellence Network to advance interdisciplinary research and education at the intersection of migration and urban studies. By leveraging the strengths of UvA and UPF, the project will enhance KU’s capabilities and turn its institutional weaknesses into assets. It will strengthen MiReKoc’s leadership in migration research and boost KU’s scientific and management capacities.

This collaboration seeks to close the research gap in the ERA, promote innovation, and expand Turkey’s R&I capabilities in key emerging fields. BROAD-ER aspires to position KU as a regional Centre of Excellence for South-Eastern Europe through activities in knowledge transfer, capacity building, and sustainability planning.

The project includes scientific and research management training, covering proposal development, transferable skills, and international mobility. Outcomes will include joint high-impact publications, improved funding and proposal capacity, and more transparent recruitment practices.

Funded by: European Commission | Horizon Europe, WIDERA (Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area)

Period: 1 November 2022 - 31 October 2025

Team

A Case Study of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

Are Muslim women in the Gulf just interested in the right to drive cars? Or do they also want to sit in the driving seat politically and steer their societies towards gender equality and democratization?

By looking beyond the clichées, this VENI project of Lana Sirri aims to generate a nuanced theorisation of Muslim women’s agency. It focuses on the Gulf Cooperation Council countries—a neglected region in the Anglo-Saxon social sciences, and engages with previously ignored scholarship written in Arabic. research examines women’s life experiences in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to reveal the practical tools employed in the day-to-day struggles of people.

By identifying ‘home-grown’ strategies used to combat patriarchy and religious extremism, this research has the potential to empower Muslim women everywhere and may help to improve counter-radicalization policies in Europe.

Funded by: NWO Veni

Period: 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2026

EnGendering Europe’s Muslim Question proposes a new way of thinking about Muslims and Islam in Western Europe. Two deliberate theoretical and methodological strategies are used to this achieve this objective.

First, by shifting the analytical and methodological focus from ‘the Muslim other’ to the ‘European self’. Second, by centering the analysis in gender and sexuality. 

The project combines elaborate conceptual work with an ‘ethnography of a problematization’ (adapting Bowen’s ‘anthropology of public reasoning’) focused on studying public debates and more precisely key texts in the realms of policy-making and public debate, as well as interviews with key figures. The empirical inquiry focuses on three topics: gender segregation, violence against women, and toleration of homosexuality. The empirical study is focused on the Netherlands, with contrasting case-studies from France, Germany, and Belgium.

Funded by: NWO VICI

Project period: 1 Sept 2018 - 31 Aug 2025

Team

The University of Amsterdam, in collaboration with the GGD, is conducting a long-term study on how children in Amsterdam aged 0 to 4 years and their parent(s) engage with practices related to eating, sleeping, and physical activity.

The research focuses on health practices and their connection to inequality, trust, and the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in research and interventions. In addition, the study examines the effects of these practices on the oral and gut microbiome.

The project is carried out in close collaboration with numerous colleagues at ACTA, Amsterdam UMC, various other faculties, Inholland University of Applied Sciences, and a wide range of partner organizations.

Team