Groundbreaking research from the University of Aberdeen has been recognised in the autumn 2024 RSE Research Awards open call.
Ten researchers from the university will share the £686,000 total funding alongside a number of other Scottish higher education institutions. Recipients will use the funding to further their research across a diverse range of topics including international child protection laws, real estate advertising and biological diversity.
The Aberdeen researchers who received the funding are:
- Dr Jesse Barker, whose research project Out of frame: Ecomedia in Spain examines how Spanish media has engaged with environmental themes amid a history of civil war and dictatorship.
- Dr Vasilis Louca, who will use hydrophones to record the diversity of underwater sounds emitted by aquatic plants and invertebrates in Scottish wetlands, with the aim of understanding how sound diversity reflects actual levels of biological diversity in these ecosystems.
- Dr Miracle Israel Nazarious with collaborators Professor Javier Martin-Torres and Dr Bartosz Kurjanski. Their project will advance a novel liquid sampling and ion analysis technology specifically designed for long-term deployments. The technology could have benefits from monitoring the quality of our local water supplies, to investigating the role of liquid environments such as rivers, lakes and oceans on Earth's climate.
- Professor Katarina Trimmings, whose project Cross-border protection of children: The 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention will investigate the legal challenges surrounding the protection of children in cross-border situations involving transnational families.
- Dr Rainer Schulz, who will examine strategies of real estate agents when they advertise residential properties on local listings platforms.
- Dr Arianna Zampollo and Professor Beth Scott, whose collaborative project with the CNR Institute of Marine Sciences in Italy will study the impacts of blue renewable energy (wind farms and floating solar panels) on hydrodynamics and nutrient dispersion in Scottish and northern Adriatic coastal waters.
- And Professor Marian Wiercigroch’s project, Advanced modelling techniques for energy transition technologies, will explore the cutting edge nonlinear structural dynamics experimental methods for offshore wind turbine monitoring, which support the GB Energy agenda.
The RSE’s Research Awards Programme runs twice a year in spring and autumn. It aims to support Scotland’s research sector by nurturing promising talent, stimulating research in Scotland, and promoting international collaboration. Aberdeen is one of 10 of the 19 Scottish higher education institutions successful in this round of funding.
Professor Nick Forsyth, vice-principal (research) said: “The University of Aberdeen has been at the forefront of groundbreaking interdisciplinary research for more than 500 years and these projects are testament to the commitment and ambition of our researchers. Recognition in this latest round of RSE funding demonstrates the global impact of work undertaken at the university and my congratulations go to our researchers for this exceptional achievement.”
RSE vice-president, research, Professor Anne Anderson OBE FRSE said: “The RSE's Research Awards Programme is crucial in supporting Scotland's vibrant research community. These awardees will drive forward knowledge, address global challenges, and make valuable contributions to Scottish society. On behalf of the RSE, I congratulate these outstanding researchers and their international collaborators, and I look forward to following the outcomes of their work."