May 1, 2019, by Rob Ounsworth

Research fellowships: bringing exceptional talents to our University

By Professor Dame Jessica Corner

Nottingham Research and Anne McLaren Fellowship schemes

I’m delighted to update on the latest round of recruitment interviews for our incredibly successful Nottingham Research and Anne McLaren Fellowship schemes.

I had the privilege to meet some extraordinary people as we interviewed 33 candidates over four intensive days. We made offers to 22 inspirational candidates and I’m gratified to say that all candidates have now accepted.

Our final candidates were narrowed down from nearly 600 expressions of interest. Of the 22 offered fellowships, 10 are women, 22% are BAME and six have been offered an Anne McLaren Fellowship, which support female scholars in STEM disciplines. Thirteen are external, and nine are internal candidates. Several appointees are from Oxbridge, eight are European nationals and others from as far afield as McMaster University, Ontario.

The faculty spread is: Arts (2), Social Sciences (2), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (5), Science (10) and Engineering (3).

Research areas include:

• The use of RNA protein to understand molecular and cellular basis for HIV infection in human cells to aid rational design of new anti-HIV therapeutics
• Research to reveal fundamental insights into neural network architectures underlying learning and memory processes
• The development of a novel technology platform to study electrical properties of biological tissue, with sub-microscopic resolution
• Working to develop personalised asthma medicine
• Developing the first transnational history of the symphony
• Exploring the role of the chromosome periphery in disease pathways such as cancer
• Research to understand how the leakiness of blood vessels is controlled to identify new ways to treat disease
• Understanding how hydrogen is produced in bacteria to improve hydrogen production
• Investigating the experience of whole life imprisonment in England and Wales
• Exploring the use of waste materials from plants to produce sustainable sources of energy

We’re attracting exceptional people to the University of Nottingham

It was heartening to hear that our world-leading facilities and research groups, the strong interdisciplinary nature of our research ecosystem, together with the platform to secure future funding and establish new collaborations, were all factors in attracting these exceptional people to Nottingham.

This latest round takes us to 58 fellows, well on our way to the 100-fellow target by 2022, and we have more beacon fellowship recruitment to come with further interviews in June.  Our fellowships provide three years’ independent research funding, and are linked to a permanent academic position, and 2020 will see fellows recruited in the first year of our Research Vision move into academic positions, with fellows from previous cohorts having successfully made this move.

A fantastic cohort of fellows

This year, we have already seen funding successes of approximately £2m and 2017/18 reporting awards with fellows as principal investigator stood at £5.4m. Highlights include a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship for Rahul Bhosale (Future Food Beacon Fellow), and a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship for Gary Mirams (School of Maths Fellow), who has recently been promoted to Professor of Mathematical Biology by the promotions panel. We have a newly appointed fellow in the School of Geography, Arabella Fraser, who is co-investigator on a GCRF Inter-disciplinary Hub on Urban Disaster Risk Transitions. A number of our fellows are in the running for UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships, and we are working hard to support this fantastic cohort to achieve even greater success.

I feel inspired by the colleagues that will be joining us later this year and by the overall quality of the fellowship programme at Nottingham, which is a huge success of our Research Vision.

Professor Dame Jessica Corner is Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange.

Find out more about our research fellowships

 

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