Faculty of Science has big Marsden Fund success in 2021

This year’s funding includes $3 million for a major interdisciplinary project on gravitational waves which will be led by Department of Statistics Professor Renate Meyer.

“I am just so excited that our interdisciplinary team has won the Marsden Council Award,” she says.

“I would like to acknowledge the input of everybody in our team but most importantly that of the co-leaders, Professor Richard Easther, Associate Professor Jan Eldridge from the Department of Physics, and Dr Matthew Parry from the University of Otago.”

The project will make core contributions to gravitational wave science by combining expertise in various disciplines - from applied mathematics, numerical relativity, astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology to computational statistics, Professor Meyer says.

“It will facilitate the participation of New Zealand scientists in one of the most exciting international science missions. It will be a huge boost for fundamental science in Aoteroa New Zealand and provide a springboard for emerging researchers.”

Other Marsden Fund Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden grants include $916,000 for Department of Physics Associate Professor Frederique Vanholsbeeck’s work to develop a ‘mechano-structural’ assessment system for understanding the physiology of joint tissue, particularly in the articular cartilage.

Dr Ghader Bashiri from the School of Biological Sciences has been awarded $939,000 to investigate how allostery modulates bacterial pathogenesis. Professor Anthony Lambert from the School of Psychology is awarded $833,000 to study anauralia, a new term referring to an inability to imagine familiar voices, music or other sounds: people who experience anauralia do not have a mind’s ear.

Dr Jeroen Schillewaert from the Department of Mathematics is awarded $554,000 for a project titled ‘A geometric study of exceptional symmetry’ while Dr Charlotte Jones-Todd from the Department of Statistics is awarded a Fast Start grant of $360,000 for a project titled ‘Rejuvenating the role of random fields in modelling spatiotemporal point patterns: a new era of point process models’.

Dean of Science Professor John Hosking congratulated all those who had been successful this year in the face of the continuing uncertainty and disruption created by the Covid pandemic.

“It’s been another demanding year for our staff and I want to sincerely thank all of you for the work you are doing. I appreciate it has been another tough year for everyone and that makes our outstanding results this year all the more impressive.”

All projects in the Marsden Fund Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden are distributed over three years.