Grant winners – 2 July 2015

Economic and Social Research Council

Research Grants

• Award winner: Alissa Goodman
• Institution: UCL Institute of Education
• Value: £1,513,140

Cross-cohort research programme: employment, health and well-being

Europe Fellowships

• Award winner: Hussein Kassim
• Institution: University of East Anglia
• Value: £103,763

UK in a changing Europe: assessing UK membership of the EU – insights on influence and impact

• Award winner: Laura Cram
• Institution: University of Edinburgh
• Value: £158,986

The European Union in the public imagination: maximising the impact of transdisciplinary insights

• Award winner: Jo Hunt
• Institution: Cardiff University
• Value: £111,487

The devolution of legal powers to Wales in the context of the UK’s membership of the European Union

• Award winner: Michael Keating
• Institution: University of Aberdeen
• Value: £114,580

A changing UK in a changing Europe

• Award winner: Simon Hix
• Institution: London School of Economics
• Value: £52,091

Marginalised Britain? Positions and influence of UK actors in EU decision-making

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

• Award winner: Fiona Charnley
• Institution: Cranfield University
• Value: £467,457

RECODE: Consumer goods, big data and redistributed manufacturing

• Award winner: Mark Green
• Institution: King’s College London
• Value: £327,314

Functional nitride nanocrystals for quantum enhanced technologies

• Award winner: Ivan Fesenko
• Institution: University of Nottingham
• Value: £2,331,858

Symmetries and correspondences: intradisciplinary developments and applications

• Award winner: Jingsheng Ma
• Institution: Heriot-Watt University
• Value: £163,538

Pore-scale study of gas flows in ultra-tight porous media

In detail

Wellcome Trust Biomedical Sciences Strategic Award

Award winner: Karl Hoffmann (PI)
Institution: Aberystwyth University
Value: £3.7 million

Flatworm Functional Genomics Initiative (FUGI)

This project aims to develop game-changing research tools for the study and manipulation of the parasitic flatworm species responsible for the devastating diseases echinococcosis (hydatid disease) and schistosomiasis (bilharzia). Such tools could “increase the rate and number of significant biological discoveries; many of which will lead to the identification of novel control strategies”, said Karl Hoffmann, professor of parasitology at Aberystwyth. “While existing control is primarily based on chemotherapy, there is a real risk that this strategy is unsustainable due to the generation of parasites resistant to the limited drugs currently being used.” Investment in flatworm genome sequencing projects in recent years has boosted research in this area, but without the proper tools academics are hampered in their work. The team intends to generate the first ever tools with the ability to functionally manipulate parasitic flatworm genomes. These techniques will enable researchers to conduct the gene-level investigations needed to understand how each gene participates in the complexities of flatworm development, host interactions and the development of disease.