Dr. Valeria Gazzola awarded NWO Vici grant
Dr. Valeria Gazzola has been awarded a prestigious €1.5 million NWO Vici grant for her project Empathy, helping and aggression: unravelling the missing neural link.
The Vici grant enables senior researchers to develop innovative research lines and establish their own research group. Gazzola’s project focuses on a fundamental question in social neuroscience: how and when empathy for others can inhibit aggressive behaviour.
Aggression causes significant social and economic harm, yet the underlying brain mechanisms remain only partly understood. While it is known that observing another person’s pain activates brain regions involved in empathy, it is still unclear how these signals influence decision-making and help prevent harmful actions. Gazzola’s research aims to uncover how the brain translates empathy into self-restraint, and how this “empathy brake” adapts across different situations.
By investigating how empathy shapes behaviour, the project will contribute to a deeper understanding of social interactions and may ultimately inform strategies to reduce aggression and support prosocial behaviour.