Grant winners – 10 March 2016

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Research grants

• Award winner: Christopher Blenkinsopp
• Institution: University of Bath
• Value: £99,525

Waves in shallow water: a new approach based on high-frequency remote sensing and wave-by-wave analysis

• Award winner: Chris Richards
• Institution: University of East Anglia
• Value: £323,525

Catalyst diversity from chiral palladacycles

• Award winner: Marco Conte
• Institution: University of Sheffield
• Value: £96,468

Microporous metal oxides for the oxidation of alkanes to primary alcohols

Royal Academy of Engineering/Lloyd’s Register Foundation

Research Fellowships

• Award winner: Amanda Foust
• Institution: Imperial College London
• Value: £755,804

Holographic light shaping for reverse engineering neural circuit learning

• Award winner: David Phillips
• Institution: University of Glasgow
• Value: £623,290

Sensing and actuation of nano-scale mechanics in biological systems

• Award winner: Marco Endrizzi
• Institution: University College London
• Value: £639,501

Laboratory-based X-ray dark-field microscopy and microtomography

Economic and Social Research Council

Research grants

• Award winner: Nick Manning
• Institution: King’s College London
• Value: £531,106

Mental health, migration and the Chinese mega-city

• Award winner: Erica Gold
• Institution: University of Huddersfield
• Value: £280,690

Using big data to understand the big picture: overcoming heterogeneity in speech for forensic applications

• Award winner: Helen Norman
• Institution: University of Manchester
• Value: £158,775

Which fathers are involved in looking after their children? Identifying the conditions associated with paternal involvement

In detail

Award winner: Mick Cooper
Institution: University of Roehampton
Value: £835,000

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness trial of humanistic counselling in schools: individual randomised controlled trial (ETHOS project)

This project will assess the benefits of professional school-based counsellors in supporting young people with emotional problems. The study also aims to establish a dedicated counselling service in just under 20 secondary schools in England. Mick Cooper, a chartered counselling psychologist and professor of counselling psychology at the University of Roehampton, said that young people in the UK “deserve the very best care for their mental health, and this study will help us understand what that is”. “There are a number of possible ways that we might support young people to tackle mental health problems,” he added. “This study will help us understand the contribution that school-based counselling can make, its cost-effectiveness, and the ways in which we might be able to improve it.” The project will see free counselling services established in schools, staffed by qualified counsellors experienced in dealing with issues faced by young people. Pupils experiencing emotional distress and who want to participate will be split into groups, half of which will receive 10 weeks of counselling, with the rest receiving the school’s existing support provision. Outcomes in educational performance will also be assessed to determine whether or not counselling helps improve work standards.