Royal Society announces prestigious University Research Fellowships for 2010

The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, has announced the appointment of 30 new University Research Fellows (URFs) for 2010. The scientists will take up their new posts at institutions across the UK in October.

The University Research Fellowship scheme aims to provide outstanding scientists, who have the potential to become leaders in their chosen fields, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. The scheme is extremely competitive and URFs are expected to be strong candidates for permanent posts in universities at the end of their fellowships. 

 The newly appointed URFs are working on a wide variety of projects including new chemical keys to unlock microbial antibiotics; studying clumps of Dark Matter; the development of nitride semiconductors for energy-efficient devices; and the evolutionary biology of retroviruses such as HIV/AIDS.

The full list of appointments is as follows:

Dr Jonathan Baxter, Genome Damage and Stability Centre, University of Sussex
Understanding the mechanisms of termination of DNA replication in eukaryotes

Dr Thomas Bell, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
Ecosystem functioning of natural bacterial communities

Dr John Bower, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
New Transition-Metal Catalysed Methods for C-N Bond Formation

Dr Duncan Cameron, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield
How do plants parasitise fungi? The physiology and evolution of mycoheterotrophy

Dr Michele Cappellari Department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford
Tracing the cosmic growth of the total mass in galaxies

Dr Sinead Collins             
Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh
Integrating genetic and environmental complexity into adaptive theory

Dr David Conlon
Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge

Extremal and Probabilistic Combinatorics

Dr Christophe Corre, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick
New chemical keys to unlock microbial antibiotics

Dr Mark Crimmin, Department of Chemistry, University College London
Generating Reactive Intermediates at f-Block and Group 3 Metal Centres

Dr Cristina Flors, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh
Super-resolution fluorescence imaging of nucleic acids

Dr Gavin Hesketh, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London
Higgs Physics and the Mystery of Particle Masses

Dr Madeleine Humphreys, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford
Using fO2 to unravel the volatile evolution of arc magmas

Dr Aris Katzourakis, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
The Evolutionary Biology of Retroviruses

Dr Janet Lovett, Department of Chemistry, University of Leicester
Biological Structure Determination by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance

Dr Jessica Metcalf, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
Demographic processes and the cross-scale dynamics of infectious disease

Dr Julien Michel, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh
Small molecule control of intrinsically disordered protein function

Dr Victoria Money, Department of Chemistry, Durham University

Investigating the Form and Function of Proteins from Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Dr Michelle Moram, Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, University of Cambridge
Novel multifunctional nitride semiconductors for energy-efficient devices

Dr Liam Morrison, Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow
The host/parasite interface: trypanosomes as a paradigm.

Dr Iohn Norberg, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh
Studying clumps of Dark Matter with galaxy surveys

Dr Dmitri Panov, Department of Mathematics, King’s College London
Geometric structures on complex and symplectic manifolds

Dr Eugenia Piddini, The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge
Mechanism and function of cell competition in development and tissue homeostasis

Dr Asel Sartbaeva, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford
New flexible frameworks for catalysis, energy materials and nanotechnology

Dr Stephanie Schorge, Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy, University College London
Changing ion channel expression in the development and treatment of disease

Dr David Silver, Department of Computer Science, University College London
Representing Knowledge, Learning and Planning from Experience

Dr Constantinos Skordis, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham
Testing gravity on cosmological scales

Dr Steven Spoel, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh
Protein modification as a tool for reprogramming gene activity

Dr Hugh Tuffen, Lancaster Environment Centre, University of Lancaster
Fracture and fluid flow in volcanic conduits and lava domes

Dr Jamie Warner, Department of Materials, University of Oxford
Engineering carbon nanomaterials using controlled electron beam irradiation

Dr Jonathan Weaver, Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool
A New Materials Platform for Structuring Liquids into Complex 3-D Solids

For further information on any of the projects listed above or to arrange interviews with the scientists appointed please contact the Royal Society press office.