Grant winners – 6 October 2016

Leverhulme Trust

Research grants
Sciences

• Award winner: David Chesmore
• Institution: University of York
• Value: £310,933

Automatic acoustic observatories: non-invasive long term monitoring of acoustic species

• Award winner: Michael Morgan
• Institution: City, University of London
• Value: £122,047

A Bayesian approach to the control of eye movements in human subjects

• Award winner: James Kilner
• Institution: University College London
• Value: £149,231

The role of emotion in believable acting

• Award winner: Sarah Horswell
• Institution: University of Birmingham
• Value: £245,580

Advanced bioelectrochemical measurements on unsupported membranes

Natural Environment Research Council

Research grants

• Award winner: Colin Forsyth
• Institution: University College London
• Value: £481,247

Determining and predicting the size and onset times of substorms

• Award winner: Jarrod Hadfield
• Institution: University of Edinburgh
• Value: £442,528

The genetic basis of family effects and the evolutionary limits to large body size

• Award winner: Andrew John Biggin
• Institution: University of Liverpool
• Value: £436,183

Phanerozoic palaeomagnetic variations and their implications for the Earth’s deep interior

Economic and Social Research Council

Research grants

• Award winner: Adeline Delavande
• Institution: University of Essex
• Value: £152,727

The effects of a tailored health warning on socio-economic behaviours and health outcomes

• Award winner: Katherine Twomey
• Institution: Lancaster University
• Value: £144,531

Understanding infants’ curiosity-based exploration

• Award winner: Sergio Carrera
• Institution: Queen Mary University of London
• Value: £80,589

Anti-smuggling policies and their intersection with humanitarian assistance and social trust

In detail

Award winner: Michael Silk
Institution: Bournemouth University
Value: £286,487

Sex work in the context of sports mega events: examining the impacts of Rio 2016

This project will explore the implications of sports mega events (SME) on informal sex economies. The aim is to address the spatial regulation of informal sex economies during a SME, the normalisation of specific sexual identities/practices through these processes, and the challenges this poses for sex workers. “Research into Olympic cities and those hosting other mega sporting events tends to focus on national-identity making, media representation and urban regeneration,” said Michael Silk, professor of sport at Bournemouth University. “There has been much less interest in the relationship between sporting events and the informal economies that spring up around them. Media speculate that there will be a heightened demand for sexual services, but policing and other control measures are often used to disrupt the sex trade.” Displacing sex workers and “moving them even further towards the margins can have all sorts of consequences for safety, criminal control and violence. In Brazil, the situation is very complex as sex work is a recognised legal profession, so marginalisation can leave people in vulnerable situations,” he said. The project will involve partners from the UK, Canada and Brazil.