Research Grants Success for HSS

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We are delighted to inform you of new research awards from the Division of Human and Social Sciences:

  • Professor Heather Ferguson (School of Psychology) has just been awarded an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) standard grant of just over £600k for a project called Consolidating Social Interaction through Sleep, with Professor Gareth Gaskell from the University of York as the CoI. The project aims to understand the causal relationship between sleep and social interaction, including whether and how sleep enhances the encoding and consolidation of social processing, and whether this relationship is sensitive to features of the social or sleep context. The project is due to start in Autumn 2023 and will last 3 years. There will be two fulltime postdocs working on the project for 30 months each – one based at Kent and one at York. The team will also be supported by technician time over the duration of the project. The project will take 10% of Heather’s time.
  • Professor Iain Fraser (School of Economics) has been successful as co-I on a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSR)  Transforming Food Systems call led by Reading. The project is called Realigning UK Food Production and Trade for Transition to Healthy and Sustainable Diets and will start imminently for 2 years. The value of the award is £8k to pay for 2.5% of Iain’s time and some travel.
  • Professor Zoe Davies (School of Anthropology and Conservation) has been awarded a research grant from the Woodland Trust, working with Bob Smith (who will need an additional new contract for 6 months) in helping with conservation planning for forests in the north of England. The project is called Systematic Conservation Planning for the Northern Forest and its value is £23k for their time (2.5% for Zoe) as well as that of a data manager/research assistant. The project is due to start on Tuesday 1 May 2023 for 6 months.

Do not hesitate to extend your congratulations to them!