Royal Society - EPSRC announce Fellowships partnership

A new collaboration between the Royal Society and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) was announced today that will support early career Royal Society research fellows who are working within EPSRC’s priority areas.

Researchers recently awarded Royal Society University Research Fellowships (URFs) and Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships by the Royal Society will receive further research funding from the EPSRC. The first seven fellowship awards range between £190k- £320k and are spread across six of the UK’s leading universities.

Professor David Delpy, EPSRC Chief Executive, said: “This partnership will help us achieve our goals of developing the next generation of leaders in science and engineering, promoting excellent research and driving knowledge forward.”

Professor John Pethica, Vice-President of the Royal Society, said: “We’re pleased to partner with EPSRC so that these young researchers, identified by the Royal Society as excellent and potential leaders in their fields, will have access to further funding to advance their research and develop their careers.”

The seven fellows receiving EPSRC funding are:

Christopher Cordier - Imperial College London
Anders Hansen - University of Cambridge
Cecilia Mattevi - Imperial College London
Ross Forgan - University of Glasgow
Michael Smith - University of Nottingham
Steven Murdoch - University of Cambridge
Akane Kawamura - University of Oxford

Dr Ross Forgan, from the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry said: “The Royal Society- EPSRC support has given a huge boost to my research group in its early stages, allowing us to investigate the unusual biomimetic properties of synthetic porous materials that have huge implications for the way we carry out catalytic reactions. This funding opportunity will underpin and rapidly develop a new research area across the interface of chemistry and biology at a vital stage of my career and provide a welcome platform for my future research.”

Dr Cecilia Mattevi, from Imperial College London’s, Department of Materials said: “The Royal Society – EPSRC support has provided an essential contribution to establish my first research group in the area of two dimensional atomically thin materials. The funding will therefore support research in the newly emerging area of inorganic graphene analogous, with the ultimate aim to revolutionise a wide range of technologies spanning from energy conversion, energy storage, photonics, large area electronics on unconventional substrates and geometries, electronic textile, sensors and spintronics.”