Royal Society announces latest recipients of esteemed Wolfson Research Merit Award

The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, has announced the appointment of 21 new Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holders.

Jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the scheme aims to provide universities with additional support to enable them to attract science talent from overseas and retain respected UK scientists of outstanding achievement and potential. Five of the awardees will be moving to the UK from universities overseas, including Professor Sebastien Perrier from the University of Sydney andProfessor Mohan Balasubramanian from the National University of Singapore who will both be moving to the University of Warwick totake up their award positions.

The newly appointed award holders are working on a wide range of projects including looking at the way users interact with mobile technology in developing regions, and using a pre-clinical model to help advance neuroprotective therapies for infants that experience perinatal asphyxia.

The full list of appointments is as follows:

Professor Bashir M. Al-Hashimi – University of Southampton

Energy-efficient and reliable many-core computing systems

Professor Miguel Araújo – Imperial College London

Improving forecasts of biodiversity change

Professor Mohan Balasubramanian – University of Warwick

Cytokinetic actomyosin ring structure, assembly and function

Professor Katharine Cashman ­­– University of Bristol

From magma to ash

Professor Peter Cox – University of Exeter

Emergent constraints on climate-carbon cycle feedbacks

Dr Pierre Degond – Imperial College London

Mathematical models of collective dynamics and self-organization

Professor Ernesto Estrada – University of Strathclyde

Physico-mathematical modelling of communication patterns in complex networks

Professor Gregory Gutin – Royal Holloway, University of London

Parameterised combinatorial optimisation problems

Professor Claire Halpin – University of Dundee

Understanding lignin biosynthesis to redesign plant biomass

Professor Gabriele Hegerl – University of Edinburgh

Learning about the climate system from the observed record

Professor Matt Jones – Swansea University

Information interaction for "bottom of the pyramid" users in developing regions

Professor Jon Lloyd – Imperial College London

Soils and the functional biogeography of tropical lowland forests

Professor Douglas Parker – University of Leeds

Interaction of moist convection with weather and climate systems

Professor Sebastien Perrier – University of Warwick

Functional soft nanotubes from molecular engineering

Professor Kosmas Prassides – University of Durham

New chemistry of functional molecular materials

Professor Nicola Robertson – University College London

Advancing neuroprotective therapies using a perinatal asphxyia model

Professor Ben Sheldon – University of Oxford

The selective and adaptive landscape in an avian model

Professor Peter Skabara – University of Strathclyde

Conjugated STARS: Substituted Truxenes And Related Superstructures

Professor Damon Teagle – University of Southampton

The timing and duration of mid-ocean ridge flank hydrothermal chemical exchange

Professor Rein Ulijn – University of Strathclyde

Adaptive molecular technology through minimal biomimetics

Professor Anatoly Zayats – King's College London

Functional metamaterials for nanophotonics

The Wolfson Foundation is a grant-making charity established in 1955. Funding is given to support excellence. More information is available from www.wolfson.org.uk