The Mercator Sapiens Stimulus is awarded by the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (KHMW). It is the largest privately funded science prize in the Netherlands. A distinctive feature of the award is that there are no substantive conditions attached to the research. As a result, the researcher has a high degree of freedom.

Children’s perspective at the centre

Generation Hope places children’s perspectives at the heart of the research. According to Brummelman, children see economic inequality everywhere around them, for example at school, in the street and on social media. Yet little is still known about how they experience this inequality and what meaning they give to it.

Economic inequality can limit children’s view of the future. They may feel that success is only achievable for a small group of people. With this research, Brummelman aims to gain a better understanding of how inequality affects children’s self-image and expectations. He sees developmental psychology and pedagogy as hopeful fields, because it is possible to intervene while children are still developing.

Collaboration across disciplines

The project is interdisciplinary and brings together pedagogy, developmental psychology, economics, sociology, social geography, the humanities and the arts. Children themselves are also given a voice in the research through Lil’Scientist, a KiDLAB platform developed by Brummelman together with De Jonge Akademie and the IMC Weekendschool.

KiDLAB is an interdisciplinary research team that focuses on the ‘developing self’ of children. In his earlier research, Brummelman focused on topics such as self-image, narcissism and inequality of opportunity in education.

Award ceremony

The award ceremony will take place on 12 February 2026 at the Hodshon House in Haarlem. During the event, Brummelman will give a presentation about his research.