Leading international researchers awarded Newton International Fellowships

The eighth round of Newton International Fellowships has been awarded jointly by three of the UK’s national research academies – the Royal Society, the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences.

The Newton International Fellowships are funded by the UK Government’s Department for Business Innovation and Skills to ensure that the UK engages with the world’s most promising early career academics.

The Fellowships provide an opportunity for some of the most talented post-doctoral researchers working overseas to carry out world class research in UK institutions across all disciplines of humanities, engineering, and natural and social sciences. Fellows will receive support in the region of £100,000 each for a two year placement in the UK.

In 2015 the Academies have awarded 37 Newton International Fellowships, in addition, this year a further 10 Newton International Fellows have been supported through the Newton Fund.

The Newton Fund initiative aims to develop long-term sustainable growth and welfare of partner countries through building research and innovation capacity, and forms part of the UK’s Official Development Assistance commitment.  Newton Fund partner countries include Brazil, China, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey.

The latest group of successful applicants will be investigating topics ranging from the preservation of soft tissue in amber to violence and citizenship in divided Germany. They come from research institutes in around 20 different countries including India, Romania, Nigeria and the USA.

The full list of Newton International Fellowships for 2015 is as follows:

Mr Hussein Abkallo, Kenyan - Genetic validation of the function of PfEMP1 in Plasmodium falciparum rosette formation - hosted by University of Edinburgh

Ms Sneha Bansode, Indian - A neural fingerprint of consciousness: Brain processing in the absence of conscious awareness – hosted by University of Cambridge

Mr Scott Blumenthal, American - Oxygen isotopes in primates and implications for early hominin ecology - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Lori Borgal, Canadian - Dissecting the roles of the microtubule-associated proteins Asp/ASPM in cell division - hosted by University of Exeter

Dr Dragos Calma, Romanian - Premodern Metaphysics without Aristotle? The Unpublished Commentaries on the 'Book of Causes' - hosted by University of Cambridge

Dr Muhammed Talha Cicek, Turkish - Negotiating Empire in the desert: Ottomans and the Arab tribes of Syria, Iraq and Arabia, 1870–1914 - hosted by School of Oriental and African Studies and supported by the Newton Fund

Dr Karuna Dietrich Wielenga, Indian - Historical origins of the informal sector: A case study of the textile industry in south India - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Fernanda Duarte, Chilean - Plagiarizing Proteins: In Silico Evolution of Catalysts for Selective Chemical Synthesis - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Natalia Fili, Greek - The interaction of fission yeast class I myosin with the plasma membrane and its role on endocytosis - hosted by University of Kent at Canterbury

Dr Molly Flaherty, American - Language evolution in the lab and the field - how new languages trade-off redundancy and efficiency - hosted by University of Edinburgh

Dr Vanessa Fontana, Brazilian - Identification of efficacy predictors for clopidogrel using integrated systems pharmacology approach - hosted by University of Liverpool and supported by the Newton Fund

Ms Jane Freeland, Australian - Everyday Violence and Citizenship in Divided Germany, 1970-1990 -hosted by University of Bristol

Dr Jaclyn Granick, American - Jewish women’s internationalism, 1880-1995: A century of Jewish universalism - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Andrea Idini, Italian - Ab-initio nucleon scattering off medium mass isotopes - hosted by University of Surrey

Dr Mario F. Juruena, Brazilian - Mineralocorticoid Receptor assessment in Bipolar Depression with Early Life Stress - hosted by King's College London and supported by the Newton Fund

Dr Matt Kandel, American - Teso Retransforming: Land Dispossession, Violence, and Capital Accumulation, 1991-2015 - hosted by School of Oriental and African Studies

Dr Xue-Feng Li, Chinese - The role of macrophage-induced cancer cell autophagy in breast cancer metastasis - hosted by University of Edinburgh and supported by the Newton Fund

Dr Jung-Wei Liao, Taiwanese - Femtosecond laser induced control of three-dimensional magnetic memory based on magnetic ratchet - hosted by University of Cambridge

Dr Ziqi Lin, Chinese - Circulating histones index disease severity in acute pancreatitis and other critical illness - hosted by University of Liverpool and supported by the Newton Fund

Dr Mikhail Lopatin, Russian - Musico-textual topoi in Italian musical culture of the Trecento and early Quattrocento - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Siyuan Ma, Chinese - Does the endocrine and immune response to burn injury underlie poor outcome in aged burn patients - hosted by University of Birmingham and supported by the Newton Fund

Ms Victoria McCoy, American - Soft tissue preservation in amber - hosted by University of Leicester

Dr Robert Mercas, Romanian - Big data: New Algorithmical Challenges - hosted by King's College London

Ms Prineha Narang, American - Excited State Electronic and Photonic Phenomena at the Mesoscale for Energy Conversion Devices - hosted by Imperial College London

Dr Megan Oliva, Australian - Role of endoplasmic reticulum in axonal cell physiology - hosted by University of Cambridge

Dr Emuobosa Orijemie, Nigerian - New applied approaches to African farming systems: the long-term history of farming in Tiv, Nigeria - hosted by University of Cambridge

Dr Ceren Ozpinar, Turkish - Re-visiting Feminist Temporalities in Art and Art History in Turkey from 1970s onwards - hosted by University of Sussex and supported by the Newton Fund

Dr Juan Carlos Palo Nieto, Spanish - Catalytic stereoselective synthesis of glycosides - hosted by University of Bristol

Dr Oscar Palomar Perez, Spanish - MACHETE: Design of MAny-Core HETErogeneous processors for advanced computer vision - hosted by University of Manchester

Mr Andrew Peters, American - Corticostriatal interactions in perceptual learning - hosted by University College London

Mr Jonathan Preminger, Israeli -Labor relations in a “national” industry following globalization: Israel’s shipping industry - hosted by Cardiff University

Dr Corinna Preuss, German – Artificial gelatineous zooplankton - hosted by University of Warwick

Miss Joanna Rakoczy, Australian - The epigenetic effects of abnormal folate metabolism on fetal and placental development - hosted by University of Cambridge

Dr Rafael Rasse, Venezuelan – Autonomous observations of oceanic carbon fluxes in oxygen minimum zones - hosted by Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Dr Sara Sabater, Spanish - New Organometallic 3d Metal Single Molecule Magnets - hosted by University of Bath

Dr Yueru Sun, Chinese - Structural elucidation of BRCA1, PALB2, BRCA2 tumour suppressor complex in Homologous Recombination - hosted by Imperial College London

Mr Meng Tian, Chinese - Studies on Deep Carbon Transport in Subduction Zones - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Esther Van Schagen, Dutch - How can impact assessments improve EU contract law? - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Maarten Van Zalk, Dutch - Aggression Toward Minority Groups in Adolescence: A Biosocial Approach - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Ganesh Venkataraman, Indian - Enantioselective Coupling Reaction of Substituted Phenylacetylenes and Styrenes with Boronic Esters - hosted by University of Bristol

Dr Tatsiana Waseem, Belorussian - Neuron specific chloride dynamics during hippocampal network activity - hosted by University of Oxford

Mr Gijsbert Werner, Dutch - The Deep History of Mutualistic Cooperation - hosted by University of Oxford

Dr Aneta Wróblewska-Kaminska, Polish - Mathematical analysis of complex fluids - scales and multi-scales. - hosted by Imperial College London

Dr Wuxiang Xie, Chinese – Dose response relationship between air pollution and cardiovascular disease in Beijing - hosted by Imperial College London and supported by the Newton Fund

Ms Elsa Zacco, Italian - Suppressing amyloid formation: novel all-in-one therapeutics against neurodegeneration - hosted by King's College London

Dr Pingyu Zhang, Chinese - Novel approaches to the design of multitargeted drugs to treat endemic cancers - hosted by University of Warwick and supported by the Newton Fund

Dr Liyun Zhang, Chinese - Advancing artificial photosynthesis concepts by optimizing the catalyst-semiconductor interface - hosted by University of Oxford and supported by the Newton Fund