ERC Advanced Grants fund exceptional research at UCL

Funding totalling £12.

9 million has been awarded to researchers at UCL by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Advanced Grants programme, which supports research leaders to develop ground-breaking projects and support pioneering research with far-reaching impact.

The scheme targets established research leaders with a track record of significant research impact, to enable them to develop high-risk or unconventional projects that open up new research frontiers.

A total of eight applications were awarded a total of £12.9m under this year's call for funding, a substantial increase on the £9m awarded in 2011, bringing the total value of ERC funding allocated to UCL to €116.6 million. There are currently 71 ERC funded projects taking place at UCL, including 29 Advanced Grants.

Professor David Price, UCL Vice-Provost (Research) said: "These awards recognise the exceptionally high calibre of research and leadership taking place at UCL, and will support the long-term growth of projects with cross-cutting impact. Developing research that challenges our understanding of the world around us and transcends disciplinary boundaries is a crucial part of UCL's research strategy, and I would like to congratulate the successful applicants on their extraordinary achievement. "

The successful applicants are:

Professor Sacha Stern (UCL Hebrew & Jewish studies) "Calendars in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Standardization and fixation"

Professor Ron Cohen (UCL Earth Sciences) "Theory of Mantle, Core and Technological Materials"

Professor Christian Dustmann (UCL Economics) "The Dynamics of Migration and Economic Adjustment"

Professor Dmitri Ruskarov (UCL Institute of Neurology) "Signal Formation in Synaptic Circuits with Astroglia"

Professor Max Telford (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment) "The evolution of simplicity: comparative morphology, embryology and genomics of Xenacoelomorpha, the fourth phylum of deuterostome"

Professor Robin Ali (UCL Institute of Opthalmology) "Generation of stem cell derived photoreceptors for the treatment and modelling of retinal degeneration"

Professor Dorian Fuller (UCL Institute of Archaelogy) "Comparative Pathways to Agriculture: the archaeobotany of parallel and divergent plant domestications across world regions"

Professor Patrick Haggard (UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience) "Human Volition, Agency and Responsibility"

Links:

European Research and Development Office

ERC Advanced Grants