University of Bristol recipients of the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants

BRISTOL, 21-Sep-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — Five early-career researchers from the University of Bristol have been awarded over €7M in European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants in recognition of their ‘excellent science’ and potentially ground-breaking research.

Five early-career researchers from the University of Bristol have been awarded over €7M in European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants in recognition of their ‘excellent science’ and potentially ground-breaking research.

This figure places the University joint 4^th in the UK for the number of Starting Grants awarded in 2017.

The ERC’s Starting Grants support exceptional researchers, who are between two and seven years from having completed their PhD, in undertaking ambitious research projects. The grants are awarded under the ‘excellent science’ pillar of Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme.

The grantees at Bristol will pioneer research on a wide range of topics across disciplines as diverse as engineering, health, geographical sciences, mathematics and modern languages.

University of Bristol recipients of the ERC Starting Grants are:

• Dr Krishna Coimbatore Balram in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering for his project ‘Stimulated Brillouin Scattering based RF to Optical Signal Transduction and Amplification’
• Dr Adam Dixon in the School of Geographical Sciences for his project ‘Legitimacy, Financialization, and Varieties of Capitalism: Understanding Sovereign Wealth Funds in Europe’
• Dr Rebecca Gould in the School of Modern Languages for her project ‘Global Literary Theory: Caucasus Literatures in a Comparative Context’.
• Dr Rebecca Pearson in the Bristol Medical School, Population Health Sciences for her project ‘Genetic, behavioural and cognitive mechanisms underpinning the association between mother and offspring mental health problems: mental health intergenerational transmission’
• Dr John Russo in the School of Mathematics for his project ‘Soft Water: Understanding what makes a fluid behave like water’

“The ERC Starting Grants are highly competitive so for five University of Bristol scientists to receive such significant grants clearly demonstrates the excellence and pioneering nature of their research. The grants will enable them to establish their own research teams and pursue their ground-breaking ideas.

“The fact University of Bristol is top five in the UK for the number of the grants awarded further reinforces our position at the forefront of cutting-edge research,” said Professor Nishan Canagarajah, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research.

SOURCE: University of Bristol

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