The winners are Bart van Campenhout (Albemarle), Bart Hendriks and Roeland Kooiman (DOW), Ali Saadun (Eastman), Tim Nijssen (Sachem), and Jeroen Dobbelaar (ExxonMobil). For the next two years, they will be receiving five hundred euros every month to pay for tuition - except in August. In return, the students will do an internship with their respective backers. They’re also expected to represent their sponsors at a number of events, like the Career Expo.

Jeroen Dobbelaar, who was a full-time board member at Japie last year, was especially popular with the sponsoring companies. He was invited to no less than three chemical companies. When he was accepted at his favorite company ExxonMobile, he decided to cancel his third appointment himself, he says.

It’s the first time the Top Industry Chemistry grants are awarded to graduate students. The change is meant to introduce  students to VNCI at an early stage, so they will join the association later.