Grant winners – 10 December 2015

National Institute for Health Research

Health Services and Delivery Research programme

• Award winner: Gillian Craig
• Institution: City University London
• Value: £375,952

How do different neurodisability services meet the psychosocial support needs of children/young people with feeding disabilities and their families: a national survey and case study approach to mapping and costing service models, care pathways and the child and family experience

• Award winner: Janice Murray
• Institution: Manchester Metropolitan University
• Value: £686,112

Identifying appropriate symbol communication aids for children who are non-speaking: enhancing clinical decision-making

• Award winner: Mike Crawford
• Institution: Imperial College London
• Value: £356,928

Optimising acute care for people with dementia: a mixed-methods study

• Award winner: Michael Sharland
• Institution: University College London
• Value: £2,532,730

Efficacy, safety and impact on antimicrobial resistance of duration and dose of antibiotic treatment for children with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP): a randomised controlled trial – CAP-IT

Public Health Research programme

• Award winner: Linda Bauld
• Institution: University of Stirling
• Value: £207,068

Mass media for public health messages

Royal Society

University Research Fellowships

• Award winner: Stamatia Giannarou
• Institution: Imperial College London
• Value: £493,467

NEURO: navigation with enhanced surgical vision for robot-assisted operation

• Award winner: Katherine Joy
• Institution: University of Manchester
• Value: £472,559

The moon’s archive of solar system bombardment

Economic and Social Research Council

Research grants

• Award winner: Sarah Cassidy
• Institution: Coventry University
• Value: £203,460

The forgotten half million: New methods for mapping mental health outcomes of adults with autism spectrum conditions in the UK

• Award winner: Nigel Gilbert
• Institution: University of Surrey
• Value: £636,723

HomeSense: digital sensors for social research

In detail

Award winner: Goretti Horgan
Institution: University of Ulster
Value: £199,849

Buying abortion through the internet: exploring the social harm of criminalising abortion in Northern Ireland and the UK

In the UK, abortion remains a criminal offence unless certain conditions are met. In Northern Ireland, the law does not even permit it. Northern Irish women still have abortions, but have to travel to England and pay privately for them. Every year, hundreds of women who cannot afford this buy pills over the internet to cause a miscarriage – a “medical abortion”. These are the same pills used in about half the NHS abortions in Britain. By talking to women who have illegal medical abortions, this project will explore what public opinion on abortion really is in Northern Ireland. It will investigate whether they think women ought to be threatened with prison for taking pills that are readily available on the NHS in England, Scotland and Wales, and will also consider where the “social harm” occurs because of these illegal abortions – whether it is caused by the woman taking the pills or the state that will not allow her to do it legally.