Grant winners – 12 March 2015

Leverhulme Trust

Philip Leverhulme Prizes

Prizewinners receive £100,000, which may be used for any purpose that would advance their research

Biological sciences

• Award winner: Michael Brockhurst
• Institution: University of York

Evolutionary biology and experimental evolution

• Award winner: Ewa Paluch
• Institution: University College London

Cell biophysics

History

• Award winner: Hannah Skoda
• Institution: University of Oxford

Medieval socio-cultural history, particularly violence and reactions to change

Major Research Fellowships

• Award winner: Cathy Shrank
• Institution: University of Sheffield
• Value: £126,673

Conversation and community: English dialogues, 1475-1675

• Award winner: Yongjin Zhang
• Institution: University of Bristol
• Value: £79,205

International relations in ancient China: ideas, institutions and law

Royal Society/ British Academy

Newton International Fellowships

Awarded to non-UK early career postdoctoral researchers working in the humanities, engineering and natural and social sciences, these fellowships allow recipients to carry out research at UK institutions. Fellows receive support in the region of £100,000 each for a two-year placement

• Award winner: Valentin Fischer (Belgium)
• Institution: University of Oxford

Drivers of diversity in ancient pelagic predators

• Award winner: Ellen Garland (New Zealand)
• Institution: University of St Andrews

Culture in whales: transmission of a complex display

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Research Grants

• Award winner: Neil Hunter
• Institution: University of Sheffield
• Value: £3,380,116

Engineering new capacities for solar energy utilisation in bacteria

• Award winner: Malcolm Bennett
• Institution: University of Nottingham
• Value: £538,582

Hydropatterning

• Award winner: Ari Sadanandom
• Institution: Durham University
• Value: £341,035

Hydropatterning: a novel mechanism controlling root branching

• Award winner: Yizhi Cai
• Institution: University of Edinburgh
• Value: £625,446

14-ERASynBio – IESY (inducible evolution of synthetic yeast genomes)

In detail

Centre for Economic Policy Research and the Department for International Development

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Award winner: Elias Papaioannou
Institution: London Business School
Value: £331,039

The effects of landmines on development and entrepreneurship: evidence from Mozambique

This project will look at landmines’ effects on various aspects of economic development, including entrepreneurship, trade and human capital, as well as the impact of landmine removal. Understanding these issues could increase the speed of clean-up efforts in many war-prone countries where landmine fields – such as those in the case study, Mozambique – endanger human life and impede economic opportunity. Elias Papaioannou, associate professor of economics at the London Business School, said: “There is very little research assessing the local and economy-wide effects of landmines, and this funding will provide us with the means to shed some light on these issues that have profound implications for millions of people.”