Our story and mission

Descin began with Paul Bessems and Ralf Zaal, while working as grant advisors and project and finance controllers in the academic sector. There, they saw how difficult it was for researchers to balance groundbreaking science with the administrative demands of securing funding. And after a few years, they realised something needed to change.

Researchers should be able to focus on discovery, not drown in paperwork.

So in 2014, they founded Descin—Dutch Excellence in Science and Innovation—with a clear mission:
to make sure researchers can focus on their research and relieve them of administrative burdens.

From the moment Descin was founded, the mission quickly resonated. What began as a small initiative soon grew: first one project, then another. And, before long, researchers, universities, startups, and industry partners from across Europe began turning to Descin for support.

What started as a vision between two people has grown into a full-service support partner that helps brilliant ideas become a reality without getting lost in bureaucracy.

Today, we are proud to be a dynamic and diverse team that still believes what Paul and Ralf believed from the start: 
science moves forward when researchers are free to focus on what they do best: innovate.

We are here to make sure that happens.

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Our team

Ralf Zaal

Ralf funded DESCIN B.V. in 2012 together with Paul.

Ralf is an experienced entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in financial project management and business control. He holds a BSc degree in Business Administration and Finance and Control and served as a financial consultant / project controller at more than ten academic institutions in the Netherlands. In between contracted assignments, Ralf also coordinated the financial budgeting of numerous (inter)national grant proposals and periodic reporting of multi-partner research projects.

Paul Bessems

Paul funded DESCIN B.V. in 2012 together with Ralf.

He is an entrepreneur and innovator with strong experience in health science and innovation. He holds an Executive MBA and two MSc degrees - one in Management, Policy Analysis, and Entrepreneurship in Health and Life Sciences, and another in Human Movement Sciences.

Giulia Spano

Giulia holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and previously graduated cum laude in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. She has 2+ years of experience in grant writing and grant management for academic research groups and SMEs. Her experience spans European funding programmes, including Horizon Europe, and Dutch funding schemes.

She is currently involved in the management of a Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network and a large-scale Horizon Europe multi-stakeholder project.

Federica De Majo

Federica has a PhD in Molecular Genetics and previously graduated cum laude in Molecular Biology. She has 5+ years of experience in grant writing for academic groups and SMEs. As a consultant, she has collected experience with multiple grant schemes, from European (i.e., Horizon Europe, ERC grants, IHI calls), including SME-dedicated calls (i.e., Eurostars, EIC calls), to Dutch calls, and which span from individual grants to multi-stakeholder projects. In addition to extensive experience in grant writing, she also has strong proficiency in graphic design and stakeholder management.