Auckland celebrates $15.2m success in Marsden Fund

The University of Auckland is celebrating the success of 28 of its researchers and research groups, who have won $15.2 million in the prestigious Marsden Fund round, amounting to 27.3 percent of the total awarded this year.

The research supported by the fund will address a wide range of topics, from getting inside the earthquake machine, to 8000 years of hunter-gatherer adaptation, and axioms and algorithms for multi-winner elections.

"The Marsden Fund supports leading-edge research and these awards reflect the breadth and depth of research at the University of Auckland", says Distinguished Professor Jane Harding, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research).

"The University prides itself on the excellence of its research and we congratulate all our researchers on the calibre of their work."

Twelve research groups led by investigators from the Faculty of Science have been awarded a total of $7.3 million. Amongst them Dr Anna Santure will predict the adaptive potential of small populations: a case study in the endangered hihi.

Four researchers or teams from the Faculty of Arts received a total of $2.7 million, including Professor Margaret Mutu who will research What do the claimants say? Reconceptualising the treaty claims settlement process.

Dr Marama Muru-Lanning from the James Henare Research Centre was awarded $300,000 to research Intergenerational investments or selling ancestors? Mori perspectives of privatising New Zealands electricity generating assets.

Four research teams led by academics from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences received a total of $2.1 million, including Professor Bill Wilson whose personalised cancer medicine project will identify genes that make leukaemia cells sensitive to a new experimental drug.

Grants of $600,000 were awarded to two research teams from the Faculty of Engineering, including Dr Andrew McDaid for robotic therapy and assessment to understand the development of muscle function in children with cerebral palsy following botulinum toxin treatments.

The Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) was awarded $1.5 million for two projects, including Dr Vinod Suresh who will undertake biophysical modelling of water and ion transport in the lungs.

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Auckland celebrates $15.2m success in Marsden Fund