Grant winners

WELLCOME TRUST AND THE ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL

A total of £41 million has been awarded to four new UK centres of excellence in medical engineering in a joint funding scheme between the Wellcome Trust and the EPSRC. The centres, at higher education institutions across the UK, will facilitate collaborations between clinicians, biomedical scientists and engineers, with the aim of producing advances in fields such as imaging and genetics. (Figures are rounded to the nearest million.)

Award winner: Ross Ethier

Institution: Imperial College London

Value: £11 million

OSTEOARTHRITIS

Award winner: Reza Razavi

Institution: King's College London

Value: £10 million

MEDICAL IMAGING

Award winner: Lionel Tarassenko

Institution: University of Oxford

Value: £8 million

PERSONALISED HEALTHCARE

Natural Environment Research Council

Award winner: M. Joshi

Institution: University of Reading

Value: £26,465

HIGH-RESOLUTION CLIMATE DYNAMICS

Award winner: T. Murray

Institution: Swansea University

Value: £39,899

EXTENDING THE TIMESCALES OF GLACIER VOLUME CHANGE IN REGIONS OF GRACE-GRAVITY ANOMALIES IN NORTHERN GREENLAND

Award winner: S. Steacy

Institution: University of Ulster

Value: £36,880

TESTING A HYBRID COULOMB/STATISTICAL MODEL OF AFTERSHOCK OCCURRENCE

Award winner: A.L.D. Densmore

Institution: Durham University

Value: £,604

RAPID ASSESSMENT OF SEDIMENT DYNAMICS ON AN ACTIVE DEBRIS-FLOW FAN

Award winner: R. J. Hardy

Institution: Durham University

Value: £37,396

HOW DOES AQUATIC VEGETATION MODIFY THE KINEMATIC AND GEOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS OF COHERENT FLOW STRUCTURES IN OPEN CHANNELS?

Award winner: A. Hubbard

Institution: Aberystwyth University

Value: £53,057

A HOLISTIC MODEL OF OUTLET CALVING, DYNAMIC ACCELERATION AND DRAWDOWN FOR THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET

Award winner: C. Wilson

Institution: University of Stirling

Value: £63,541

Assessing spatial variability of C, Fe and Al concentrations in gleyed soils as a means of understanding the stabilisation of soil organic carbon

Award winner: M. Huxham

Institution: Edinburgh Napier University

Value: £40,531

The mangrove carbon-cycle influence of below-ground processes and managed cutting

Award winner: V. R. Phoenix

Institution: University of Glasgow

Value: £23,268

Opening the black box: imaging nanoparticle transport with magnetic-resonance imaging

Award winner: D. Dobson

Institution: University College London

Value: £43,248

CONTAINERLESS HEATING FOR EXTREME MELTS AND GLASSES: DETERMINING THE MELTING TEMPERATURE OF THE LOWER MANTLE

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 May-June 2009 research grant awards.

Award winner: Matthew Thompson

Institution: Department of primary healthcare, University of Oxford

Value: £125,326

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND VALIDATION OF CLINICAL PREDICTION RULES FOR IDENTIFYING CHILDREN WITH SERIOUS INFECTIONS IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS AND URGENT-ACCESS PRIMARY CARE

Award winner: Jill Colquitt

Institution: Wessex Institute, University of Southampton

Value: £178,793

THE CLINICAL AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF BONE-ANCHORED HEARING AIDS (BAHAS) FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BILATERALLY DEAF

Award winner: Peter Hillmen

Institution: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

Value: £469,367

A randomised, phase II trial in previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia to compare fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab with fludarabine and cyclophosphamide, mitoxantrone and low-dose rituximab (CLL6)

In detail

Award winner: John Fisher

Institution: University of Leeds

Value £11 million: Fifty more years after 50

The challenge of catering for an ageing population is behind the development of this centre of excellence, which aims to improve the quality of life for people over the age of 50. John Fisher's team will look at ways to assist the skeletal, muscular and cardiovascular systems in supporting the human body through improved prosthetic implants and technologies to help tissues regenerate. Research at the centre will also explore the process of degeneration, with the intent of improving diagnoses and helping to provide more appropriate methods of treatment.