Grant winners – 20 April 2017

Leverhulme Trust

Research Project Grants
Social sciences

• Award winner: Peter Flugel
• Institution: Soas, University of London 
• Value: £284,410

Jaina prosopography: monastic lineages, networks and patronage

Sciences

• Award winner: Ozgur Yazaydin
• Institution: University College London
• Value: £110,235

Engineering of electric field controlled molecular gates in porous materials

Research Leadership Awards

• Award winner: Clare Burrage
• Institution: University of Nottingham
• Value: £802,923

New searches for dark energy

Science and Technology Facilities Council

• Award winner: Philippa Browning
• Institution: University of Manchester
• Value: £355,859

Multi-scale modelling of heating and particle acceleration in twisted magnetic fields in solar flares and coronal heating

• Award winner: Edward Shellard
• Institution: University of Cambridge
• Value: £1,079,280

Revealing the structure of the universe: from extreme gravity to exoplanets

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

• Award winner: Andrew Cooper
• Institution: University of Liverpool
• Value: £427,527

Newton Fund: practical hydrogen-fuelled vehicles for China

• Award winner: Tiziana Rossetto
• Institution: University College London
• Value: £493,558

Learning from earthquakes: building resilient communities through earthquake reconnaissance, response and recovery

Royal Society

Wolfson Research Merit Awards
The scheme provides up to five years of funding, after which the award holder continues with a permanent post at the host university. The focus of the award is a salary enhancement, usually in the range of £10,000 to £30,000 per annum.

• Award winner: Frank Vollmer
• Institution: University of Exeter
• Value: £125,000

Exploring the nanoscale dynamics of single proteins

In detail

Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant

Award winner: Elli Leadbeater
Institution: Royal Holloway, University of London
Value: £249,516

The evolution of cognition: ‘intelligence’ in the wild

“We assume that sophisticated cognitive abilities are evolutionarily advantageous because they allow animals to make good decisions, solve problems and adapt to change,” Elli Leadbeater, reader in the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London, told Times Higher Education. “However, the fact that animals vary in their cognitive abilities suggests this isn’t always the case. The aim of this project is to elucidate the circumstances under which cognitive abilities are evolutionarily useful, and when they are not, in our specific model system (social bees).” Previous attempts to answer this question in organisms other than humans have proved difficult, she continued, because in order to relate cognitive abilities to survival and reproductive success, animals must be living in the wild rather than the lab. “Our bumblebee system offers a unique advantage in this respect, because we can keep colonies in the lab for cognitive testing and control confounding variables such as previous experience and parasite loads, but allow individuals to forage in the natural environment to assay fitness,” Dr Leadbeater added.