After lots of anticipation, the winners of the sixth round of the internally-funded Rising Stars Initiative have been announced today. Awards of up to £10,000 each are being granted to assist researchers in gaining experience of managing and leading their own research projects. Although this is funding is not limited to ECRs, priority was given to ECRs.
What an amazing list of research project! Congratulations to all:
Dr Kirsten Jenkins (School of Environment and Technology) will explore the social justice challenges and values connected to smart energy systems in UK households, and the role of social justice principles in the design and implementation of such systems.
Dr Judy Price (School of Media) will test how photography, artist-moving image and sound can make visible through the overwritten histories and redrawn boundaries of the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and emphasise the post-apartheid transition of this contested landscape.
Dr Joao Inacio Silva (School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences) will work with partners in the Pharmacy School of the University of Brasilia on fungi that produce asparaginase (a therapeutic agent enzyme used in treating cancers such as lymphoblastic leukaemia).
Dr Marlon Lee Moncrieffe (School of Education) will bring together oral life-history interviews, photographs and career memorabilia to present stories of Black-British born champions in cycling, considering how these stories help with reflecting upon and advancing education in society about race equality.
Dr Konstantina Vogiatzaki (School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics) will work with two UK companies in innovative energy system solutions, and model new tools for the use of liquid gases in transportation and power generation; these ‘cool’ sustainable energy technologies have the potential to revolutionise energy sustainability.
Dr Linda Tip (School of Applied Social Sciences) will conduct scoping research to inform the development of a self-help mental health app for use among Syrian resettled refugees in the UK.
Dr Lucas Bowler (School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences) will explore differences in protein expression between strains of the bacterium Streptococcus uberis, an increasingly important cause of mastitis in dairy herds, and consider its potential utility as vaccine component.
Dr Jaime Vera (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) will explore the experiences of young people with HIV in Zambia and consider whether mobile health may address structural and individual barriers to these young people’s engagement with care services.
Dr Sarah Leaney (School of Applied Social Sciences) will compare social housing policy in Brighton and Vienna, exploring social housing tenants’ experiences of home and how these are impacted by social, economic and architectural provision of social housing.
Dr Louise Mackenzie (School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences) will test compounds in Tabernanthe iboga, a plant whose root extract increases the amount of insulin produced in rat subjects. The active component will be used in developing a new drug to improve diabetes treatment in Gabon.
Dr Nick McGlynn (School of Environment and Technology) will explore the intersection of geographies of sexualities and fatness/obesity, developing a database of UK ‘Bear’ (large-bodied gay/bisexual men) spaces and investigating how these spaces contribute to feelings of empowerment in the Bear community.
Dr Nadia Terrazzini (School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences) will explore the link between cancer and fungal infections, focusing on how the skin reacts to the fungus Candida Albicans (a common cause of infection in human skin), by analysing the expression of key inflammatory proteins by skin cells in response to Candida stimulation.
Dr Donna Ewing (School of Applied Social Sciences) will investigate the impact of sleepiness on children’s reactions to anxiety-provoking situations, testing whether sleepy children avoid these situations more or less than other children, and whether their fear of these situations reduces more or less than other children over repeated exposure.
See more: https://staff.brighton.ac.uk/the-hub/Pages/Rising-Stars-2018—2019.aspx?dm_i=1SNX,5OD5B,L7VDK5,M35KS,1
