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University of Auckland celebrates $20.6 million in Marsden fund awards

Thu Nov 03 2016 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

University of Auckland celebrates $20.6 million in Marsden fund awards

03 November 2016

The University of Auckland is celebrating the success of 38 of its researchers and research groups whose projects have won $20.6 million in the Marsden Fund round, representing the best ever result for the University.

The awards amount to around one third of the total funding this year.

The research supported by the fund will address diverse topics including a novel peptide delivery strategy for the development of vaccines, information on volcanic eruptions held in cave stalagmites and how to learn a second language unconsciously.

“The Marsden Fund supports research which is at the cutting edge of discovery, and these awards reflect the calibre of researchers at the University of Auckland and the excellence and breadth of our research,” says University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon.

“We congratulate our researchers for this recognition of their outstanding work.”

Seventeen research projects from the Faculty of Science received a total of $9.6 million. Among these, Dr Jodie Johnston will carry out research to improve understanding of internal communication within proteins. Professor Neil Broderick will research new optical sensors for geophysical applications.

Grants of $4.2 million were awarded to seven research projects from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, including Professor Larry Chamley whose research will investigate whether fetal DNA might be introduced permanently into maternal cells during pregnancy.

Six projects from the Faculty of Arts were awarded a total of $3.2 million. These include Professor Thegn Ladefoged, who will research ‘The making of Māori society: an archaeological analysis of social networks and geo-political interaction’.

Grants worth a total of $1.7 million were awarded to four projects from the Faculty of Engineering, including for Dean of Engineering, Professor Nic Smith, for research into how coronary blood flow survives the heartbeat.

Two research projects from the Business School received a total of $1.4 million, including Dr Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy for the research ‘New Methods of Panel Data Forecasting Applied to New Zealand’s Property Market’.

Dr Arie Rosen from the Auckland Law School was awarded $300,000 to research ‘A Law Beyond Democracy: The Insulation of Private Law from Democratic Change’ and Dr Melinda Webber from the Faculty of Education and Social Work received $300,000 to research ‘A fire in the belly of Hineāmaru – Ngāpuhi distinctiveness’.

Applications to the Marsden Fund are highly competitive. This year the fund distributed $65 million to 117 research projects around the country.

Successful projects from the University of Auckland

 

For more information contact

Pete Barnao
Media Relations Adviser – Team Leader
The University of Auckland

Tel: +64 9 923 7698
Mobile: + 64 (0)21 926 408
Email: p.barnao@auckland.ac.nz