Thirteen projects led by researchers from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington have been awarded grants in the latest round of Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden, the Marsden Fund.
Of the 13 projects, nine receive standard grants that provide funding of up to $944,000 over three years. A total of $8.48 million has been awarded across the nine projects.
The remaining four projects receive fast-start grants of $360,000 each.
Recipients of standard grants are:
- Dr Benji Compton, Ferrier Research Institute. Project: Developing new and improved mRNA vaccines to better control bacterial diseases ($941,000)
- Professor David Ackerley, School of Biological Sciences. Project: Using high-throughput enzyme discovery to train AI for development of next-generation plastic degrading enzymes ($941,000)
- Professor James Bell, School of Biological Sciences. Project: Can microbes help sea sponges adapt to climate change? ($941,000)
- Dr Mat Anker, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences. Project: The next generation of high-density data storage materials for data centres ($941,000)
- Professor Martha Savage, School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences. Project: Stuck or creeping? Earthquake and tsunami potential of the southeastern North Island ($944,000)
- Dr Rachael Shaw, School of Biological Sciences. Project: How does individual experience affect cognitive performance and impact the evolution of cognition in the wild? ($941,000)
- Associate Professor Robert Keyzers, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences. Project: Development of new antifungal peptides derived from a New Zealand marine sponge ($941,000)
- Dr Shaun Eaves, Antarctic Research Centre. Project: How will Southern Hemisphere climate and the Antarctic ice sheet be impacted by a fundamental change in global ocean circulation? ($944,000)
- Professor Simon Davy, School of Biological Sciences. Project: Evading digestion in the coral-algal symbiosis: a possible mechanism for improved coral reef survival in our warming seas ($941,000).
Fast-start grants of $360,000 have been awarded to:
- Dr Alistair Brown, School of Biological Sciences. Project: Using bacteria to create sustainable dyes.
- Stephen Piva, Antarctic Research Centre. Project: Synchronising critical climate records from the Ross Sea to address future Antarctic-Southern Ocean responses to climate change
- Dr Stephen Skalicky, School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. Project: Artificial intelligence modelling of irony in modern natural language processing
- Dr Yao Zhang, Robinson Research Institute. Project: Building faster, smaller, and energy-efficient memory for the global explosion of data
These results represent an application success rate of 11.3 percent, which is higher than the national average of 10.9 percent.
Fellowship awards
In addition to receiving a Marsden grant, Professor James Bell from the School of Biological Sciences is one of two recipients of the Mana Tūārangi Distinguished Researcher Fellowship. He will receive $220,000 over up to two years and be supported by the Royal Society to extend his leadership role.
Dr Rachel Denee from the School of Education and Jesse Kearse from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences have received the Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowships. These fellowships, which have been awarded to 20 promising early-career researchers, include funding of $820,000 over four years.
All fellowship holders participate in the hui-a-tau annual workshop to promote links across the science, innovation, and technology system.
The Marsden Fund is administered by the Royal Society Te Apārangi.