Grant winners – 15 September 2016

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Research grants

• Award winner: Frans Maathuis
• Institution: University of York
• Value: £684,773

Developing rice with increased resistance to salinity and drought

• Award winner: Samar Hasnain
• Institution: University of Liverpool
• Value: £409,358

Why does Nature use modular enzyme architectures for biological catalysis?

National Institute for Health Research

Health Technology Assessment Programme

• Award winner: Harbinder Sandhu
• Institution: University of Warwick
• Value: £1,575,854

Improving the well-being of people with opioid treated chronic pain – I-WOTCH

Public Health Research Programme

• Award winner: Lucy Platt
• Institution: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• Value: £482,441

Measuring the impact of reducing police enforcement on sex workers’ health in East London: a mixed-method evaluation of a natural experiment

Leverhulme Trust

Research project grants
Sciences

• Award winner: Matthew Johnson
• Institution: University of Sheffield
• Value: £178,389

Organisation of photosystem I and ATP synthase in plant photosynthetic membranes

• Award winner: Norman Fenton
• Institution: Queen Mary University of London
• Value: £383,510

Improved understanding of causal models in dynamic decision-making

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Research grants

• Award winner: Darren Walsh
• Institution: University of Nottingham
• Value: £446,260

Ionic liquid electrolytes for intermediate-temperature electrolysers

• Award winner: Ben King
• Institution: Plymouth University
• Value: £100,957

Electron-seeded pair creation in intense laser pulses

• Award winner: Savvas Tassou
• Institution: Brunel University London
• Value: £1,642,830

Optimising energy management in industry – OPTEMIN

In detail

Award winners: Annalu Waller (PI) and Per Ola Kristensson
Institutions: University of Dundee and University of Cambridge
Value: £1 million

Augmenting Communication using Environmental Data to drive Language Prediction – ACE-LP

This project aims to change how people with no speech and complex disabilities can converse. Current computer-based systems – voice output communication aids (VOCAs) – use word prediction to speed typing. These average about 15 words a minute, but people without impairments speak about 10 times faster. The research team aims to produce a VOCA system that will predict words and phrases and also offer extended interaction by predicting narrative text elements tailored to a conversation. “In current systems, users sometimes pre-store monologue ‘talks’, but sharing personal experiences and stories interactively using VOCAs is rare,” said Annalu Waller, professor of human communication technologies at the University of Dundee. “Being able to relate experience enables us to engage with others and allows us to participate in society.”