Grant winners

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH RESEARCH

Health Services and Delivery Research programme

• Award winner: Rachel O'Hara

• Institution: University of Sheffield

• Value: £168,690

Decision-making and safety in emergency care transitions

Public Health Research programme

• Award winner: Simon Moore

• Institution: Cardiff University

• Value: £652,159

Randomised controlled trial of all-Wales licensed premises intervention to reduce alcohol-related violence

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

Research Seminar Awards

Law and legal studies (socio-legal)

• Award winner: Laura Siobhan Caulfield

• Institution: Birmingham City University

• Value: £17,372

Enrichment activities? Arts, creativity and spirituality in criminal justice systems

• Award winner: David Gurnham

• Institution: University of Manchester

• Value: £14,949

Criminalising contagion: legal and ethical challenges of disease transmission and the criminal law

• Award winner: Mairead Enright

• Institution: University of Kent

• Value: £14,358

The public life of private law

• Award winner: Tanya Wyatt

• Institution: Northumbria University

• Value: £17,899

The ESRC green criminology research seminar series

• Award winner: Richard Sparks

• Institution: University of Edinburgh

• Value: £14,871

Crime control and devolution: policymaking and expert knowledge in a multi-tiered democracy

LEVERHULME TRUST

Research project grants

Sciences

• Award winner: Darren Crowdy

• Institution: Imperial College London

• Value: £242,640

"Holey" optical fibre (MOF) fabrication: towards a mathematical model

• Award winner: Nick Lane

• Institution: University College London

• Value: £248,883

A far-from-equilibrium reactor to investigate the origin of life

• Award winner: Marcel Jaspars

• Institution: University of Aberdeen

• Value: £218,4

Natural product nanotechnology: engineering natural products for new uses.

IN DETAIL

Health Technology Assessment programme

• Award winner: Miles D. Witham

• Institution: University of Dundee

• Value: £1,172,592

Does oral sodium bicarbonate therapy improve function and quality of life in older patients with chronic kidney disease and low-grade acidosis? A multi-centre randomised placebo-controlled trial

Many people (most commonly older people) with advanced kidney disease have high levels of acid in the blood, which is associated with muscle weakness and declining bone, blood vessel and kidney function. Bicarbonate (used in baking powder) is often used to treat high acid levels, but its effectiveness is not yet known, and it can cause elevated blood pressure and bloating. The trial will give 380 older patients either bicarbonate or placebo tablets three times a day for two years. The team will test participants' muscle strength and bulk, walking and balance, quality of life and kidney, bone and blood vessel function over the two years. They will record blood pressure and side-effects, falls, admissions to hospital and contact with GPs, and assess the cost of following the treatment against the cost of not doing so. The results should show whether the health benefits of taking bicarbonate outweigh the side-effects.