Grant winners - 5 March 2015

Royal Society/British Academy

Newton International Fellowships

Awarded to non-UK, early career postdoctoral researchers working across all disciplines of the humanities, engineering and natural and social sciences, these fellowships allow recipients to carry out research at UK institutions. Fellows receive support in the region of £100,000 each for a two-year placement.

• Award winner: Bahareh Shirinfar (Iran)
• Institution: University of Bristol

Fluorescent receptors for glucose sensing

• Award winner: Nicholas Steinmetz (US)
• Institution: University College London

The influence of two different feedback inputs on visual cortical activity and on perception

• Award winner: Giorgia Vocino (Italy)
• Institution: University of Cambridge

The episcopal promotion of the trivium in early medieval Italy

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Standard Research

• Award winner: Ian MacLaren
• Institution: University of Glasgow
• Value: £391,288

Fast pixel detectors: a paradigm shift in STEM imaging

• Award winner: Steven Neale
• Institution: University of Glasgow
• Value: £217,131

Assembly of electronic components with optoelectronic tweezers

• Award winner: Julian Dunne
• Institution: University of Sussex
• Value: £671,814

Evaporative cooling of internal combustion engines

Leverhulme Trust

Early career fellowships

In 2014, these fellowships provided 50 per cent of the salary costs of a three-year research position, meaning up to £23,000 a year, with the host university providing the balance. Research expenses of £6,000 a year were also available.

Sciences

• Award winner: Alison Banwell
• Institution: University of Cambridge

Calculating current and future mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet using a coupled hydrology/ice dynamics model

Research Project Grants
Sciences

• Award winner: Saverio Brogna
• Institution: University of Birmingham
• Value: £147,656

What are the functions of ribosomes within the nucleus?

• Award winner: Huiyun Liu
• Institution: University College London
• Value: £181,602

High-efficiency GaAsP nanowire solar cells on silicon

• Award winner: Brian Huntley
• Institution: Durham University
• Value: £249,730

Modelling vegetation development during Pleistocene glacials and interglacials

In detail

Award winner: Sheila Cunningham
Institution: Abertay University
Value: £106,336

The ‘me’ in memory: exploring the developing self and its influence on cognition

By around three years of age, children can describe autobiographical memories, use personal pronouns to refer to themselves, recognise their reflection in a mirror, and show embarrassment. These developments suggest they have established a sense of self. An important question is whether this developing self impacts on cognition. Adults and teenagers show a consistent memory advantage for information processed with reference to self over information processed about other people – the “self-reference effect” (SRE). What is unclear is how the SRE operates before age 10. This project will compile a broad picture of emergent self systems and has the potential to increase student engagement and support memory during learning. Self-processing issues may also be important in investigating autism spectrum disorders.