More than a million dollars will be given to four of the country's top academics as part of the James Cook Research Fellowship programme.Professor Paul Rainey, Associate Professor Poul Nielsen, Professor Susan Schenk and Associate Professor Tony Poole hav
More than a million dollars will be given to four of the country’s top academics as part of the James Cook Research Fellowship programme.
Professor Paul Rainey, Associate Professor Poul Nielsen, Professor Susan Schenk and Associate Professor Tony Poole have been awarded the fellowships worth $126,500 a year for two years each to help their projects.
Research, Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp said research was the foundation of modern society and so discoveries would contribute to lifting the economy.
“Innovative research in any discipline ultimately adds value for everyone. It improves productivity by creating better technologies and new ways of doing things,” he said.
Professor Paul Rainey from Massey University will look into the detailed workings of genetic evolution, contributing to a better, more predictive theory of evolution.
Associate Professor Poul Nielsen from the University of Auckland will develop new tools for use in biological modelling.
Professor Susan Schenk from Victoria University of Wellington will work on understanding drug addiction by using new techniques to identify what causes long-term changes in brain structure and function that create a craving for drugs.
University of Otago’s Associate Professor Tony Poole will study a flock of sheep with mutated primary cilia – a hair-like structure that acts like a probe for cells – in an effort to better understand how primary cilia work and how they are important to diseases.
The government invests $720,000 in the James Cook Research Fellowships every year. Previous fellows include Professors Sir Paul Callaghan, Dame Judith Binney and Peter Hunter.
