Over £1.7m funding package for St Andrews

Wednesday 14 December 2016

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The University of St Andrews has received over £1.7m in a funding package from the Leverhulme Trust.

The grant-making foundation, which funds around £80m a year in scholarships for research and education, has awarded the funding to six researchers at St Andrews.

In their latest round, the Trust awarded a Research Leadership Award, a Major Research Fellowship and four Research Project Grants to St Andrews.

The largest sum – almost £1 million – was granted to Dr Philip King of the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy. The £999,629 five-year package was awarded for his project entitled ‘Engineered quantum states via atomic-scale assembly of artificial 2D heterostructures’.

The four Research Project Grants were awarded to:

Professor Jason König (School of Classics) – £186,123 over three years for ‘Mountains in ancient literature and culture and their post-classical reception’.

Dr David Ferrier (School of Biology) – £167,184 over three years for ‘Determining major general regulatory mechanisms in the ParaHox gene cluster’.

Professor Stephen Read (Arché Research Centre, School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies) – £155,655 over three years for ‘Theories of Paradox in Fourteenth-Century Logic: Edition and Translation of Key Texts’.

Professor Russell Morris (School of Chemistry) – £105,312 over two years for ‘Metallorganic frameworks as anode materials for high performance batteries’.

The Major Research Fellowship will see the return of Professor Christopher Smith – currently on secondment as Director of the British School at Rome – to the School of Classics at St Andrews for three years. In their letter of offer, the Leverhulme Trust said that there was keen competition for the 33 Fellowships awarded this year, with almost 200 applications.

Accepting the awards, the University’s Vice-Principal (Research) Professor Derek Woollins said: “Research funding is ever more competitive and I am delighted with these successes.  The funding reflects both the generosity of the Leverhulme Trust and the quality and breadth of research in St Andrews, stretching from artificial 2D heterostructures in physics through to mountains in ancient literature in classics. I look forward to seeing the results of the research over the next few years.”

Projects will launch from March onwards next year.


Pictured (clockwise from top left): Dr Philip King, School of Physics & Astronomy; Professor Stephen Read, Arché Research Centre, School of Philosophical, Anthropological & Film Studies; Professor Jason König, School of Classics; Professor Russell Morris, School of Chemistry; Dr David Ferrier, School of Biology; and Professor Christopher Smith, School of Classics

Notes to editors
The Leverhulme Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers. Since 1925 the Trust has provided grants and scholarships for research and education. Today, it is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing approximately £80m a year.

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews, contactable on 01334 462530/467227 or email [email protected].


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