Grant winners

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH RESEARCH

The NIHR's Health Technology Assessment programme produces independent research information on the effectiveness, costs and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests for those who plan, provide or receive National Health Service care. Listed here are the April-May 2009 research grant awards.

Award winner: Gail Topping

Institution: Dental Health Services and Research Unit, University of Dundee

Value: £2,870,181

FiCTION - Filling Children's Teeth: Indicated Or Not?

Award winner: David Weller

Institution: University of Edinburgh

Value: £243,660

The value of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in pre-operative staging of colorectal cancer

Award winner: Simon G. Thompson

Institution: Institute of Public Health

Value: £259,976

The growth and rupture rate of small abdominal aortic aneurysms: implications for population rescreening intervals

Award winner: Ibrahim Abubakar

Institution: Centre for Infections, Health Protection Agency

Value: £172,479

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the current evidence on the duration of BCG protection

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL

URGENCY GRANTS

Award winner: J.W. Silvertown

Institution: The Open University

Value: £45,546

Experimental investigation of the origin of fynbos plant community structure after fire

Award winner: K. McCaffrey

Institution: Durham University

Value: £53,977

A LiDAR and field study of surface rupture and post-seismic slip for the 6 pril 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (M6.3)

ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL

Award winner: J. Hein

Institution: University of Edinburgh

Value: £37,289

Multiscale modelling of magnetised plasma turbulence

Award winner: A. Peacock

Institution: University of Southampton

Value: £339,525

Fiberised silicon: a new platform for nonlinear photonics devices

Award winner: A.S.H. Marmier

Institution: University of Exeter

Value: £340,473

Modelling negative linear compressibility: from crystals to scaffolds

Award winner: H.J. Jensen

Institution: Imperial College London

Value: £82,481

Scaling in complex systems

Award winner: G. McHale

Institution: Nottingham Trent University

Value: £324,170

Particle-based superhydrophobic surfaces: lab models-to-field sample behaviour

Award winner: T.G. Constandinou

Institution: Imperial College London

Value: £157,730

A bidirectional power/data transfer platform based on electro-optical effects in standard CMOS

Award winner: D.J. Tozer

Institution: Durham University

Value: £412,116

State-of-the-Art TDDFT for light-emitting complexes

Award winner: P.W. May

Institution: University of Bristol

Value: £362,768

Microplasmas from diamond arrays

Award winner: A.J. Bell

Institution: University of Leeds

Value: £88,524

High-temperature piezoelectric materials

Award winner: P.G. Lagoudakis

Institution: University of Southampton

Value: £341,233

Engineering polariton non-linearity in organic and hybrid-semiconductor microcavities

Award winner: G. Held

Institution: University of Reading

Value: £6,285

The first layers of the metal-solution interface: interactions of enantioselective modifier and reactant molecules on a wet model catalyst surface

Award winner: S. Chakraborty

Institution: University of Manchester

Value: £402,957

Aperiodic lattices for photonic engineering of terahertz quantum cascade lasers

IN DETAIL

Award winner: Stefan Doerr

Institution: Swansea University

Value: £52,835

The catastrophic Victoria wildfires: impact of extreme burn severity on the soil system

This urgency proposal aims to collect soil samples from the site of the wildfires near Melbourne, Australia in February 2009, to determine the impact it has had on the soil system. Extreme wildfires are expected to occur more often as the effects of global warming begin to materialise, which will affect vegetation recovery, hydrological response, soil erodibility and other local ecosystems. Dr Doerr and his team will make the soil samples available to the scientific community for future analyses, and will also obtain data to allow for more accurate predictions of the impact of severe wildfires.