Conference Fund open for applications, special focus on IMSC2026!

The NVMS Conference Fund is now open for applications (1st Feb 2026, 18:00 CET). For 2026, we especially encourage early-career researchers to attend IMSC 2026, where Young NVMS will play an active role in the program and organization. To support this, eight Conference Fund grants are reserved specifically for IMSC participation. Two additional grants are available for other international mass-spectrometry conferences in 2026. For details on how to apply, please visit the NVMS Conference Fund page. The NVMS Conference Fund helps early-career members at Dutch research institutions cover the costs of actively participating in international conferences, workshops, or schools.

Last year, we awarded grants to five young scientists from Dutch universities, including Kevin, Laura and Kimberly. You can read their experience story here:

Kevin Hooijschuur, PhD candidate at Utrecht University: “As one of the lucky recipients of the NVMS conference fund, I had the chance to attend the annual conference organized by the American Society of Mass Spectrometry in Baltimore, Maryland. With an attendance of 6,000 people and over 3,000 researchers presenting their results, this conference was going to be an excellent opportunity to meet researchers and vendors, and get acquainted with new techniques…. My poster on ion mobility mass spectrometry analysis of glycans received very positive attention, both from people within the glyco-field and from people to whom glycans were a complete mystery. A conference dinner at the wonderful National Aquarium marked the end of this great experience, and I am very grateful to the NVMS and its sponsors for providing the funds with which I could attend the ASMS conference.”

Laura Finazzi, PhD candidate at HFML-FELIX Laboratory: “In July I attended the Advancing Mass Spectrometry conference in Atlanta and really enjoyed it. I gained significant knowledge from proteomics and metabolomics talks. A highlight was hearing from a long-time FELIX collaborator, Professor Peter Armentrout, who demonstrated the integration of infrared ion spectroscopy into mass spectrometry. Professor Valerie Gabelica provided a memorable closing talk, offering valuable insights into the future perspectives of ion mobility. The poster session was particularly engaging; I had a great discussion with Prof. Christopher Chouinard, an expert on steroid analysis in mass spectrometry, and received valuable insights. Finally, the lab tour of the new facilities of Vicki Wysocki’s group showed the impressive work her team has done in setting up the new laboratories while continuing their research. I am very grateful to the NVMS for providing the financial support for this great experience.”

Kimberly Garcia, PhD candidate at M4I: “With the NVMS fund I was able to attend the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) Europe 2025 held in the University of Giessen, Germany. The conference was an excellent way for me to showcase my work as well as to learn more about the fundamentals and applications SIMS as a multidisciplinary method spanning different applications. I presented my work as an oral presentation during the Life applications talks, titled “Stable isotope tracing using ToF-SIMS and IHC techniques” (within van Nuffel group at M4I). It was a very positive experience as I had wonderful interactions and discussions with other experts and PhD students alike during the whole conference. This allowed me to form new ideas on how to forward my thesis and form future collaborations as well.”