Grant winners

LEVERHULME TRUST

Research Project Grants

Basic sciences

• Award winner: Neil Spooner

• Institution: University of Sheffield

• Value: £86,263

Neutron identification from tracks

• Award winner: John Quinn

• Institution: University of Oxford

• Value: £65,252

The evolutionary ecology of learning ability in a wild population of birds

• Award winner: Tobias Capwell

• Institution: The Wallace Collection

• Value: £98,000

Core collections research: Eastern European, Islamic and Asian arms and armour

• Award winner: Hugh Gordon Dickinson

• Institution: University of Oxford

• Value: £59,988

Epigenetic control of meiotic recombination frequency and location

• Award winner: Anatoly Konechny

• Institution: Heriot-Watt University

• Value: £78,615

Geometry of renormalisation group flows of two-dimensional quantum field theories

• Award winner: John Pryce

• Institution: Cardiff University

• Value: £67,663

Widening application of structural analysis for differential algebraic equations

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH RESEARCH

Health Technology Assessment programme

• Award winner: Hayden McRobbie

• Institution: Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry

• Value: £857,617

A peer-support weight management programme to supplement brief advice in general practice for obese adults from deprived communities

• Award winner: Tess Harris

• Institution: St George's Hospital Medical School

• Value: £1,037,651

Randomised controlled trial of a pedometer-based walking intervention with and without practice nurse support in primary-care patients aged 45 to 74

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

ESRC/Department for International Development Joint Scheme for Research on International Development (Poverty Alleviation)

• Award winner: Ernestina Coast

• Institution: London School of Economics

• Value: £256,726

Pregnancy termination trajectories in Zambia: socio-economic costs

• Award winner: Martin Prince

• Institution: King's College London

• Value: £407,335

The economic and social effects of care dependence in later life

IN DETAIL

• Award winner: Sonia Johnson

• Institution: University College London

• Value: £2,030,741

Randomised controlled trial of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a contingency-management intervention for reduction of cannabis use and of relapse in early psychosis

Drug use compounds the difficulties faced by people with severe mental health problems. Early intervention services (EISs) aim to improve the prognosis for young people with early psychosis by reducing relapse and promoting attainment of social goals such as returning to work or education. Almost half the young people on EIS caseloads use cannabis, which impedes recovery greatly. At this stage of illness, there is no effective method to help people cut cannabis use. The team proposes to adopt a new approach, contingency management, which involves rewarding positive behaviours such as attending appointments and passing drug tests with, say, vouchers for use in a local shop. The study will compare two groups - one on CM, the other not - tracking their progress as measured by relapse, cannabis use, ability to function in society, and symptoms.