About the fund


Developments around coronavirus are occupying all our thoughts and are affecting us all. The consequences of this disease are a source of great concern to us all and the measures taken restrict our freedom.

To prevent an even greater outbreak of the virus, there is an all-out effort, 24/7, being made throughout the world to find appropriate solutions, which are being continually and accurately updated on the basis of the most recent developments. Research into new methods or equipment is crucial for this. Work is being done at all levels to look for medication for acute cases, to prevent admissions to Intensive Care and to lower mortality from coronavirus.

Given this exceptional emergency situation, the fund-raising foundations at Amsterdam UMC – the VUmc Fund and the AMC Foundation – have established the ‘Amsterdam UMC Corona Research Fund’ with immediate effect. The academic community in Amsterdam has joined forces in the battle against corona with support from the University of Amsterdam, the VU Amsterdam, the Amsterdam University Fund and VUvereniging.

'We hope that this fund will help us to be able to answer pressing questions as we work towards better prevention against and treatment of the virus.'
Menno de Jong, clinical microbiologist, Professor of Clinical Virology and Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology & Infection Control at Amsterdam UMC

The objective of this fund is to support researchers at Amsterdam UMC to conduct new and urgent scientific research into COVID-19 and to make funding available for equipment at Amsterdam UMC. This exceptional situation calls for exceptional measures. It is particularly important at the moment not to lose any time on grant applications and long procedures. To this end, an accelerated process has been set up at Amsterdam UMC to enable proposals to be assessed immediately in terms of quality, feasibility and practicality. Researchers must get to work as quickly as possible in this battle against coronavirus. This ‘emergency fund’ can help necessary research to start more quickly.

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