Royal Society announces prestigious University Research Fellowships for 2012

The Royal Society has announced the appointment of 36 new University Research Fellows (URFs) for 2012. The scientists started to take up their new posts at institutions across the UK at the start of October.

cThe Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, has announced the appointment of 36 new University Research Fellows (URFs) for 2012. The scientists started to take up their new posts at institutions across the UK at the start of 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 exploring the mysteries of giant planets in our solar system; precision calculations for the Large Hadron Collider; and chemical systems biology to study circadian control of plant immunity.

The full list of appointments is as follows:

Dr Christopher Arridge - University College London                      

Mass and energy transport in giant planet magnetospheres throughout the universe

Dr Andrew Ashley - Imperial College London                     

New catalytic hydrogenations of CO2 and N2: Fuelling and feeding the future

Dr Nathan Bastian - Liverpool John Moores University       

Searching for variations in the stellar initial mass function    

Dr Guido Bell - University of Oxford            

Precision calculations for the Large Hadron Collider

Dr Goncalo Bernardes - University of Cambridge               

Chemical approaches to biology and medicine

Dr Anthony Bishopp - University of Nottingham

The regulation of vascular pattern in flowering plants

Dr Andrew Buckley - University of Edinburgh                     

Jet substructure and new physics studies with the ATLAS experiment

Dr Clare Burrage - University of Nottingham           

Dark Energy: Preparing theory to meet experiment

Dr Christopher Cordier - Imperial College London             

The union of asymmetric organocatalysis with transition metal chemistry

Dr David Craven - University of Birmingham           

Representation theory and local finite group theory

Dr Toby Cubitt - University of Bristol           

Quantum channels in mathematics and physics

Dr David Fairen-Jimenez - University of Cambridge                      

Rational design of nanoMOFs for drug delivery and bioimaging

Dr Leigh Fletcher - University of Oxford                 

Exploring the mysteries of the giant planets in our solar system and beyond

Dr Ross Forgan - University of Glasgow                  

Engineering metal-organic frameworks as artificial enzymes

Dr Lucinda Green - University College London                   

Magnetic helicity evolution of solar active regions

Dr Anders Hansen - University of Cambridge                     

From spectra to sampling - Functional analysis meets applied harmonic analysis

Dr David Loeffler - University of Warwick              

L-functions and Iwasawa theory

Dr Cecilia Mattevi - Imperial College London                      

Novel atomically thin two-dimensional layered materials for energy applications

Dr Gavin Morley - University of Warwick               

Bismuth in silicon quantum information technology (BISQUIT)

Dr Steven Murdoch - University of Cambridge                   

Understanding, measuring and improving Complex System Security (UMICSS)

Dr Magnus Myreen - University of Cambridge                   

Systems verification – The last mile

Dr Rebecca Notman - University of Warwick                      

Modelling the lipid layers of the human skin barrier

Dr Vardis Ntoukakis - University of Warwick                     

Role of chromatin remodelling in plant microbe interactions

Dr Sijme-Jan Paardekooper - University of Cambridge                  

Extreme planet formation simulations

Dr Andrew Pilkington - University College London            

Establishing the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking

Dr Taufiq Rahman - University of Cambridge                     

Structure and function of lone and clustered IP3 receptors

Dr Sarah Reece - University of Edinburgh                

Plasticity in parasites: adaptive strategies for survival and reproduction?

Dr Sebastian Schornack - University of Cambridge            

Plant cell mechanisms to accommodate filamentous pathogens or symbionts

Dr Susanne Shultz - University of Manchester                   

Incorporating historical processes in behavioural and brain evolution

Dr Jennifer Smillie - University of Edinburgh           

Multiple jet production at the Large Hadron Collider

Dr Robert Smith - University of Cambridge             

Interacting Bose gases in uniform and layered potentials

Dr Michael Smith - University of Nottingham                      

Extensional flow and jamming of concentrated colloidal suspensions

Dr Tobias Uller - University of Oxford

Epigenetics in context: the evolutionary ecology of development

Dr Alexander Thom - University of Cambridge                   

Towards predictive quantum chemistry: high accuracy from stochastic methods

Dr Gerben van Ooijen - University of Edinburgh                

Chemical systems biology to study circadian control of plant immunity

Dr Robert Young - University of Lancaster             

GaSb quantum dots for a room-temperature light-matter interface