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Research Project Grants 2015

Sciences

Dr Nicola Allison
University of St Andrews
The control of coral biomineralisation
£169,406

Dr Simon Ameer-Beg
King’s College London
Super-resolved functional mapping of protein-protein interactions 
£390,143

Dr Edward Anderson
University of Oxford
Sequence-based stereochemical prediction: a new tool for polyketide structure elucidation
£161,082

Professor Peter Andras
University of Keele
Designing and validating novel voltage-sensitive dyes for neuroscience research
£178,374

Dr Steve Atkinson
University of Nottingham
Human body lice – a missing link in plague outbreaks?
£151,469

Dr Wael Bahsoun
Loughborough University
Statistical properties of dynamical systems: an interplay between randomness and determinism
£126,818

Dr Michail Barkoulas
Imperial College London
Quantitative evolution of nematode gene regulatory networks
£173,412

Professor Paul Barlow
University of Edinburgh
Probing regulation of the complement system by factor H on biomimetic surfaces
£218,671

Professor Martin Barstow
University of Leicester
Fundamental physics from observations of white dwarf stars
£349,540

Dr Ulrike Bechtold
University of Essex
Sugar signalling during drought stress; do plants suffer diabetes when stressed?
£229,949 

Professor Simon Belt
University of Plymouth
A novel proxy for reconstructing polar ocean temperatures
£164,557

Professor Michael Benton
University of Bristol
The exceptional early Jurassic fossils of Strawberry Bank, Somerset
£240,754

Professor Timothy Birkhead
University of Sheffield
Evolution of avian egg design
£261,958

Professor Tim Blackburn
University College London
The phylogenetics of invasions: untangling evolutionary and human historical contexts in the introduction and spread of alien bird species
£100,211

Dr Andrew Brennan
University of Dundee
Influence of plant roots on soil resistance to earthquake-induced liquefaction
£168,111

Dr Marc Buehner
Cardiff University
Time and causality in cognitive development
£228,829

Dr Silvana Cardoso
University of Cambridge
Precipitation reactions in environmental plumes: implication for oceanic methane releases
£204,433

Professor Tracey Chapman
University of East Anglia
Evolutionary genomics of the enigmatic male sex peptide: a ‘master regulator’ of female reproduction
£55,399

Professor Brian Charlesworth
University of Edinburgh
Analysing genomewide patterns of DNA sequence variation and evolution in Drosophila
£164,333

Professor Daniel Charman
University of Exeter
Holocene evolution of the Southern Annular Mode using novel peat isotope proxies
£245,011

Dr Dylan Childs
University of Sheffield
Individual energy budgets, life histories and population dynamics in the field
£159,336

Dr Barbara Ciani
University of Sheffield
Designing recyclable self-assembled fibrous biomaterials
£163,670

Professor Jonathan Clayden
University of Bristol
Dynamic communication through reorganisable hydrogen bond networks
£195,989

Dr Claudia Clopath
Imperial College London
Receptive field development through synaptic plasticity
£98,351

Dr Ben Collen
University College London
Predicting the dynamics of African ecosystems under multiple pressures
£293,535

Dr Serena Corr
University of Glasgow
Multifunctional magnetic nanocomposites for artefact conservation
£263,345

Dr Claire Cousins
University of St Andrews
Looking for life in the UV: fluorescence as a tool for planetary exploration
£159,971

Professor Ian Crawford
Birkbeck, University of London
Assessing the potential of lunar geology as a window into galactic history
£174,468 

Dr Mark Crimmin
Imperial College London
Sigma-Bond activation with weakly-coordinated sigma-complexes of copper(I)
£116,532

Professor Darren Croft 
University of Exeter
The evolution of eye salience as a signal for communication
£186,907

Dr Angel Cuesta
University of Aberdeen
Electroreduction of carbon dioxide in room temperature ionic liquids
£138,278

Dr Clare Cunningham
Abertay University
Effects of social and practical experience on tool manipulation skills in small apes
£121,780

Professor Nicholas Dale
University of Warwick
Structural basis of the CO2 sensitivity of Cx26 and role in human physiology
£172,834

Dr Silvia Dalla
University of Central Lancashire
Predicting solar energetic particle radiation at Earth and Mars
£159,542

Professor Peter Davidson
University of Cambridge
Are planetary magnetic fields generated and maintained by inertial waves?
£246,028

Dr Charlotte Dean
Imperial College London
Real-time imaging of murine alveolarization
£112,933

Dr Alfonso De Simone
Imperial College London
Biomolecular mechanisms in heterogeneous systems: the interfacial activation of lipases
£189,084

Dr Bruno Dhuime
University of Bristol
Silicate mineral inclusions and the composition of new continental crust
£184,313

Professor Simone Di Giovanni
Imperial College London
The novel role of reactive oxygen species in axonal growth and regeneration
£280,030 

Dr Simon Doherty 
Newcastle University
Engineering high performance alkaline anion membranes for electrochemical applications  
£106,871

Professor Andrew Dove
University of Warwick
Alkene-containing polymers: novel synthetic elastomers inspired by nature
£184,714 

Professor Judith Driscoll
University of Cambridge
Next generation electronic devices using a new thin film
£241,069

Dr Christopher Duffy
Queen Mary, University of London
Carotenoids in light harvesting: a general molecular theory
£149,718

Dr Bertram Düring
University of Sussex
Novel discretisations of higher-order nonlinear PDE
£257,236

Dr Gregory Edgecombe
Natural History Museum
Anomalocaridids and the origin of arthropods: the view from Chengjiang
£144,321

Professor Martin Eimer
Birkbeck, University of London
Neural and cognitive mechanisms of multimodal working memory
£185,528

Dr Roberto Filippi
Anglia Ruskin University
An investigation of the effects of multi-language acquisition across the lifespan
£279,774

Dr Sergi Garcia-Manyes
King’s College London
LINC-ing nanomechanics to gene expression: a single molecule approach
£199,066

Dr Emmanuil Georgoulis
University of Leicester
Reduced complexity finite element methods
£199,662

Professor Andrew Goodwin
University of Oxford
Ice-like structural disorder in transition-metal cyanides
£223,543

Professor Malcolm Halcrow
Leeds University
Exploiting a spin-crossover module in materials chemistry and nanoscience
£177,228 

Professor Karl Hale
Queen’s University Belfast
Towards a new total synthesis of (+)-acutiphycin via O-directed hydrostannation
£245,468

Dr Karen Halliday
University of Edinburgh
cpRNA proteins: novel candidates for environmental control of photosynthesis
£122,897

Professor Adam Hardy
Cardiff University
The Nagara tradition of temple architecture: continuity, transformation, renewal
£270,284

Professor William Harwin
University of Reading
3D learning in a rich cooperative haptic environment 
£253,141

Dr Ross Hatton
University of Warwick
Engineering hybrid interface materials for thin film photovoltaics
£166,140

Professor Daniel Haydon
University of Glasgow
From observation to intervention: overcoming weak data with new approaches to complex biological problems
£181,909

Professor Douglas Heggie
University of Edinburgh
New science from the phase space of dense stellar systems
£177,131

Professor Alistair Hetherington
University of Bristol
UVA signalling in plants
£63,676

Professor Peter Hollingsworth
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Using DNA to understand bamboo and the complexity of giant panda diet
£253,608

Professor Christopher Howe
University of Cambridge
Biological photovoltaic cells in ultra-small volumes
£171,844

Professor Herbert Huppert
University of Cambridge
Carbon dioxide sequestration: theory, experimental and field verifications
£159,625

Dr Simon Jones
University of Sheffield
Multifunctional catalysts for selective phosphoryl transfer
£50,556

Dr Antonios Kanaras 
University of Southampton
Nanoparticles with synergistic roles: sensing and drug delivery
£191,412

Dr Euan Kay
University of St Andrews
Switching on colloidal catalysts with rotaxane nanoparticle monolayers
£252,602

Dr Kayla King
University of Oxford
Transitions to defensive mutualism: an experimental coevolution approach
£226,955

Professor Ludmila Kuncheva
Bangor University
Prototype selection from streaming, drifting and partly-labelled data using classifier ensembles
£226,625

Professor Tom Little
University of Edinburgh
Cross-generational epigenetic effects of age and diet restriction
£202,932

Dr Karen Lander
University of Manchester
Investigating the role of movement in the recognition of identity from facial composites
£92,703

Dr Jonathan Lee
University of Birmingham
Stimulating the destabilisation of fear and traumatic memories
£180,843

Dr Bruno Linclau
University of Southampton
19F NMR exchange spectroscopy of polyfluorosugar transport across cell membranes
£102,266

Dr Paul Lusby
University of Edinburgh
Autonomous, photochemically-fuelled molecular machines
£248,081

Dr Dermot Lynott
University of Lancaster
If it looks like a duck: emergent categorical structure in the human conceptual system
£132,423

Professor Phil Luthert
University College London
Nature-inspired engineering solutions for the optimisation of heat and mass transfer systems
£111,809

Professor Andrei Malkov
Loughborough University
A novel approach to asymmetric synthesis of homoallylic amines
£162,456

Dr Eros Mariani
University of Exeter
Quantum drum
£258,209

Professor Frank Marken 
University of Bath
New materials for ionic diodes and ionic photodiodes
£204,712

Dr Nathan Mayne
University of Exeter
Examining cloud induced variability in brown dwarfs
£235,677

Dr Sylvia McLain
University of Oxford
Atomic scale insights into the role of water and urea in the protein folding process
£249,313

Dr James McLaughlin
Northumbria University
Revealing the fundamental nature of time-dependent, wave-generating reconnection
£199,773

Professor Simon McQueen-Mason
University of York
Mannitol metabolism in marine microalgae: physiology and applications
£249,173

Dr Reinhold Medina
Queen’s University Belfast
Exploring a novel role for interferon signalling in cellular senescence
£260,505

Professor Joanna Morgan
Imperial College London
Santorini: high-resolution imaging of an active volcano with 3D full-waveform inversion
£228,055

Dr Louis Morrill
Cardiff University
The productive merger of organocatalysis and frustrated Lewis pairs
£175,992

Dr Julie Morrissey
University of Leicester
Air pollution is changing the behaviour of bacteria
£196,713

Professor Klaus Muller-Dethlefs
University of Manchester
Non-covalent interactions: an experimental and theoretical pathway towards exact binding energies
£153,531

Dr John Mulley
Bangor University
Mapping the gerbil genome
£182,005

Dr Maria Paz Munoz-Herranz
University of East Anglia
New transition-metal catalysed cascade cyclisations of tris(allenes)
£161,730

Dr Naomi Nakayama
University of Edinburgh
The form and function of the dandelion fruit
£340,626

Professor Kate Nation
University of Oxford
The Oxford children’s corpus: lessons for learning to read
£182,196

Dr Emily Nurse
University College London
A novel technique to search for dark matter at the Large Hadron Collider
£288,386

Dr Gabriela Ochoa
University of Stirling
The cartography of computational search spaces
£99,147

Dr Gareth Owen
University of South Wales
Hydrogen atom storage catalysts: new reaction pathways and novel synthetic transformations
£190,842 

Dr Susan Perkin
University of Oxford
Electric and magnetic field effects on confined liquids
£241,665

Professor Lazaros Papageorgiou
University College London
A unified framework for formulating and solving optimisation problems of multiple classes
£240,311

Dr Kevin Paterson
University of Leicester
Revealing effects of ageing on parafoveal processing during reading
£150,302

Professor Martin Paterson
Heriot-Watt University
The density matrix renormalisation group for inorganic photochemistry
£142,397

Dr Richard Payne
University of York
Quantifying carbon accumulation and loss in afforested peatlands
£107,831

Dr Deborah Pearce
Oxford Brookes University
pMMO in plants for methane detoxification and as a carbon negative biofuel
£113,868

Dr Annette Plaut
University of Exeter
Controlled stress – thermally-inducing strain in graphene
£133,013

Dr Simon Pope
Cardiff University
Decorated diamonds: new luminescent hybrid materials
£168,148 

Dr Nikola Popovic
University of Edinburgh
The nature of gene expression: model selection and parameter inference
£130,477

Professor Alexander Ruban
Queen Mary, University of London
Inside the photosynthetic membrane of diatoms
£181,352

Dr Shuzo Sakata
University of Strathclyde
The function of sub-second brain waves in REM sleep
£232,495

Professor Manuel Salmeron-Sanchez
University of Glasgow
Living interfaces based on non-pathogenic bacteria to control stem cell differentiation
£182,536

Professor Tatjana Sauka-Spengler
University of Oxford
Deciphering neural crest gene regulatory circuitry in the lamprey
£278,139

Dr Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb
University of Cambridge
Breaking through the non-convexity barrier – optimisation of imaging problems
£232,604

Professor Dmitry Shalashilin
University of Leeds
Understanding the mechanisms of photostability of biochemical building blocks from quantum simulation and imaging experiments
£298,670

Professor Zheng-Ming Sheng
University of Strathclyde
Attosecond light pulses at unprecedented peak power
£151,577 

Dr Hannah Siddle
University of Southampton
Identifying peptide candidates for a vaccine against the contagious cancer, Devil Facial Tumour Disease
£183,759 

Dr Joy Singarayer
University of Reading
Testing the influence of lake/wetland-climate feedbacks on African hydroclimate
£144,570 

Professor Dmitry Skryabin
University of Bath
Solitons and frequency combs in micro-ring resonators
£138,083

Dr Victoria Southgate
Birkbeck, University of London
A longitudinal investigation of the development of mimicry in infancy
£254,146

Dr Imogen Sparkes
University of Exeter
Biophysical and molecular characterisation of ER-organelle interactions in plant
£258,716

Professor Stephen Sparks
University of Bristol
Global explosive volcanism, their hazards and influence on climate
£257,688

Dr Karen Spencer
University of St Andrews
Social networking: understanding the neuroendocrine basis of gregarious behaviour
£107,920

Dr James Sprittles
University of Warwick
Skating on thin nanofilms: how liquid drops impact solids
£145,619

Dr David Summers
University of Cambridge
Indole signalling and the electrical properties of the bacterial cell membrane
£162,118

Dr Paul Taylor
Natural History Museum
Origin of high tropical diversity: a test using bryozoans
£129,039

Professor Adrian Thomas
University of Oxford
Adaptations for low drag, downforce and eddy use in hill stream loaches
£221,958

Professor Geoffrey Vallis
University of Exeter
The atmosphere, ocean and climate of Earth and other planets
£246,785

Dr Baojun Wang
University of Edinburgh
Programmable single-cell biocomputers with scalable signal processing capacity
£160,211

Dr Nicholas Waterfield
University of Warwick
Understanding and exploiting natural molecular syringes
£285,282

Dr Allan Watson
University of Strathclyde
Can amine catalysis generate synthetically useful carbenes?
£101,689

Professor Andrew Weller
University of Oxford
The coordination chemistry of light alkanes with metal centres: a homologous series of sigma–alkane complexes, C–H activation and catalysis
£95,136

Professor Mark Weller
University of Bath
Rare earth element free, sustainable yellow orange phosphors
£150,693

Dr Raymond Wightman
University of Cambridge
How cell wall components contribute to the function of the shoot apical meristem in plants
£156,708

Professor Gregory Wildgoose
University of East Anglia
Developing metal-free electrocatalysts for renewable hydrogen production
£84,157

Dr Joseph Wright
University of East Anglia
Hydrogen bonding relays for CO2 activation: taking a lead from biology
£162,655 

Professor Keke Zhang
University of Exeter
The non-spherical geodynamo driven by both convection and precession
£203,163

Humanities

Professor Paul Allain
University of Kent
Physical actor training – an online A–Z and ebook
£76,908

Dr Jackson Armstrong
University of Aberdeen
Law in the Aberdeen council registers 1398–1511: concepts, practices, geographies
£310,455

Professor Terry Brown
University of Manchester
The identity of the mysterious ‘new glume wheat’ of early European agriculture
£146,043

Dr Fiona Edmonds
University of Cambridge
Brittany and the Atlantic archipelago: contact, myth and history, 450–1200
£139,309

Professor Mark Edmonds
University of York
Sound tracks: acoustic landscapes in the past and present
£88,682

Dr Joanna Evans
University College London
Luis Buñuel: a life in letters
£252,238

Professor Malcolm Gaskill
University of East Anglia
Inner lives: emotions, identity, and the supernatural, 1300–1900
£249,524

Professor Ian Gregory
University of Lancaster
Geospatial innovation in the digital humanities: a deep map of the Lake District
£230,954

Dr Peter Gurney
University of Essex
National Service life stories: masculinity, class and the memory of conscription in Britain
£222,779

Professor Carole Hough
University of Glasgow
Recovering the earliest English language in Scotland: evidence from place-names
£274,523

Dr Siobhan Lambert-Hurley
Loughborough University
Veiled voyagers: Muslim women travellers from Asia and the Middle East
£91,977

Professor Adam Ledgeway
University of Cambridge
Fading voices in Southern Italy: investigating language contact in Magna Graecia
£253,863

Ms Frances Lennard
University of Glasgow
From the golden age to the digital age: modelling and monitoring historic tapestries
£204,283

Dr Francesca Leoni
University of Oxford
Divination and art in the medieval and early modern Islamic world, 1200–1800
£107,547

Professor Alan Lester
University of Sussex
Snapshots of empire: managing a diverse empire all at once
£134,935

Dr Lisa Lewis
University of South Wales
Welsh and Khasi cultural dialogues: an interdisciplinary arts and performance project
£286,349

Professor Donald MacRaild
University of Ulster
The Irish and British famine, 1845–1850: comparing lives lost and lives saved
£235,454

Dr Albert Remijsen
University of Edinburgh
A descriptive analysis of the Shilluk language
£216,564

Professor David Reynolds
University of Cambridge
Stalin’s correspondence with Churchill and Roosevelt in World War Two
£138,996

Professor Neil Roberts
University of Plymouth
Changing the face of the Mediterranean: land cover and population since the advent of farming
£298,065

Dr Sarah Semple
Durham University
People and place: the making of the kingdom of Northumbria, 300–800 CE
£275,742

Professor Richard Sharpe
University of Oxford
The medieval books of Canterbury Cathedral
£117,425

Professor Stephen Shennan
University College London
Supply and demand in prehistory? Economics of Neolithic mining in NW Europe
£370,464 

Dr Andrew Malcolm Taylor
University of Edinburgh
The Cantos Project
£307,852

Professor Gregory Toner
Queen’s University Belfast
Dating of medieval texts through regressive analysis of the lexicon
£229,345

Dr Catherine Whistler
University of Oxford
Transforming our understanding of Raphael with eloquence in drawing as a research theme
£135,265

Social Sciences

Professor Miriam Bernard
University of Keele
The ageing of British gerontology: learning from the past to inform the future
£140,606 

Dr Mitchell Callan
University of Essex
Rejecting innocent victims: the roles of relative judgments and emotional impact
£103,128

Professor Richard Disney
Institute for Fiscal Studies
Modelling heterogeneity in microeconomic investment hazards
£124,167

Dr Jonathan Dean
University of Leeds
Exploring left-wing populism in an age of anti-politics
£141,454

Professor Igor Goncharov
University of Lancaster
Accounting-based value: when is accounting useful in determining firm value?
£79,678

Professor Geoffrey Haddock
Cardiff University
The impact of mindfulness on values and attitudes
£153,878

Dr Stephen Jivraj
University College London
A life course approach to neighbourhood effects
£141,323

Dr Christopher Lloyd
University of Liverpool
Mapping lineages: quantifying the evolution of maps of the British Isles
£186,832

Dr Alberto Montagnoli
University of Sheffield
The impact of austerity policies on the wellbeing of individuals in Europe
£109,726

Professor Ben Rampton
King’s College London
Adult language socialisation in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in London
£227,532 

Dr Olmo Silva
London School of Economics and Political Science
A randomised control trial to identify the causal effect of accelerator programmes
£234,029

Professor David Thomas
University of Oxford
Landscape archaeology of the Kalahari: how did major hydrological shifts affect Stone Age mobility and landscape use in the late Quaternary?
£234,895

Dr Jenny Thomson
University of Sheffield
Evaluating the effect of exposure to digital text on early literacy development
£189,038

Dr Mirco Tonin
University of Southampton
The long term effects of property rights and institutional ownership on regional development
£119,820

Dr Kate Weiner
University of Sheffield
Knowledge, care and the practices of self-monitoring
£217,770

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