Grant winners - 21 August 2014

Royal Society

Wolfson Research Merit Awards

Awards are worth £10,000-£30,000 a year, which is a salary enhancement

• Award winner: Françoise Tisseur
• Institution: University of Manchester

New approaches to numerical solution of nonlinear eigenvalue problems

• Award winner: Michael Sumetsky
• Institution: Aston University

Surface nanoscale axial photonics (SNAP)

• Award winner: Andrew Shepherd
• Institution: University of Leeds

Improved assessment of the polar ice sheet contribution to global sea level rise

• Award winner: Sach Mukherjee
• Institution: University of Cambridge

Statistics and machine learning for precision medicine

National Institute for Health Research

Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation programme

• Award winner: Kathryn Beardsall
• Institution: University of Cambridge
• Value: £725,120

Real-time continuous glucose monitoring in neonatal intensive care

Health Technology Assessment programme

• Award winner: Doreen McClurg
• Institution: Glasgow Caledonian University
• Value: £741,763

Abdominal massage for neurogenic bowel dysfunction in people with multiple sclerosis (AMBER: abdominal massage for bowel dysfunction effectiveness research)

• Award winner: Janet Wilson
• Institution: Newcastle University
• Value: £1,678,739

The national trial of tonsillectomy in adults (NATTINA): a clinical and cost-effectiveness study

Leverhulme Trust

Research Project Grants
Social sciences

• Award winner: John Tsoukalas
• Institution: University of Glasgow
• Value: £119,082

Where is the news in business cycles? A new approach with novel methodologies

Sciences

• Award winner: Michaele Hardie
• Institution: University of Leeds
• Value: £239,463

Structurally dynamic cages and frameworks

• Award winner: Anotida Madzvamuse
• Institution: University of Sussex
• Value: £258,593

Unravelling new mathematics for 3D cell migration

In detail

Award winner: Fernando Montealegre-Z
Institution: University of Lincoln
Value: £249,154

The evolution of acoustic communication in fossil and extant insects

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This project will explore how insects evolved ultrasonic hearing abilities over millennia. A cochlear organ for frequency selectivity was thought to be unique to hearing in mammals until a similar mechanism for frequency analysis was found in bushcrickets in South American rainforests two years ago. Scientists believe this discovery could pave the way for technological advancements in bio-inspired acoustic sensors, including medical imaging devices. The team aims to develop an integrated understanding of how the bushcrickets developed cochlear-like systems in response to changing evolutionary pressures. “There are around 7,000 living species of these insects, but what we know about cochlear mechanisms has been investigated in only two or three,” said Dr Montealegre-Z. “Through data from fossils and existing species, we aim to unveil major changes in sensory ecological niches and in the auditory ecology of species that have evolved from a single ancestral species.”