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Search Marsden awards 2008–2017

Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017

Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Controlling emotional distraction: testing the Asymmetric Inhibition Model

Recipient(s): Dr GM Grimshaw | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Dr D Carmel | AI | University of Edinburgh

Public Summary: Emotions guide our behavior, leading us to approach situations that bring reward and withdraw from those that bring punishment. Our brains respond quickly to emotional cues in our environment, shifting our attention toward them and preparing our bodies to act. But sometimes we need to ignore our emotions so we can achieve our goals. Most of us do this easily, but for people with depression, anxiety, or addiction, emotional distractions can be overwhelming. We have developed a model - the Asymmetric Inhibition Model - that describes the thought processes and neural mechanisms that allow us to ignore emotional distractions. We propose that we use a process called executive control to inhibit emotional distraction. Furthermore, we identify separate mechanisms for dealing with positive and negative distractions, with left frontal areas inhibiting negative distractions, and right frontal areas inhibiting positive distractions. We will test the model by using two methods of brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), to directly alter frontal brain function and determine the effects on distraction. Our findings will contribute to better ways to prevent and treat those disorders in which emotional distraction is a serious concern.

Total Awarded: $652,174

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Dr GM Grimshaw

Panel: EHB

Project ID: 13-VUW-075


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Controlling optical rogue waves

Recipient(s): Dr NGR Broderick | PI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: Driven dissipative systems are often found to contain surprisingly stable localised features, whether it is the spontaneous formation of a traffic jam on the motorway or a localised pulse of energy in the ocean or in a fibre laser known as rogue waves. Rogue waves have unique features being significantly larger than the average wave, occur more frequently than one would normally predict and appear and disappear without a trace often causing significant damage. Understanding rogue waves is important and I intend to study their formation and properties using an purpose built optical fibre laser system as a testbed.

Using new measurement techniques I will make the first direct measurements of a single optical
rogue wave and explore their behaviour in range of fibre laser systems. A numerical model will be
constructed to accurately predict their behaviour and tested against the experimental results. Finally
using the knowledge gained I will apply optical rogue waves in applications ranging from optical
coherence tomography to laser ablation.

Total Awarded: $730,435

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Dr NGR Broderick

Panel: PCB

Project ID: 13-UOA-035


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Controlling the microscopic world: few-atom quantum dynamics

Recipient(s): Dr M Andersen | PI | University of Otago
Professor J Brand | AI | Massey University

Public Summary: Can we prepare one, two, three neutral atoms in a specific quantum state and measure the outcome of the ensuing dynamics? Can we use this strategy to watch the emergence of macroscopic behaviour like Josephson tunneling or the laws of thermodynamics, on an individual event level? We will attempt to do this after first establishing ultimate control over the quantum state of individual atoms by laser-cooling them into the ground state of optical microtraps. Deforming the optical potentials will initiate quantum dynamics, which we will observe through our single-atom sensitive optical microscope. In this way we can watch the strange quantum phenomena unfold, whose existence is often confirmed only indirectly. We will see individual atoms penetrate barriers too high to surmount and identical atoms interfere to produce unexpected outcomes, and how these processes are suppressed by controllable decoherence.
Combining the supreme control and flexibility of our experimental platform with state-of-the-art numerical and theoretical modelling provides us with unprecedented tools to observe and understand the emergence of macroscopic behaviour in few body systems of increasing complexity. Our work will provide detailed fundamental insight into the microscopic world and enable fascinating applications in quantum computing, quantum simulations, and in precision metrology.

Total Awarded: $717,391

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Dr M Andersen

Panel: PCB

Project ID: 13-UOO-171


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: Controlling the optical near field from afar: absorbance-modulation imaging aided by plasmonic superlenses

Recipient(s): Prof RJ Blaikie | PI | University of Canterbury
Dr R Menon | AI | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Prof HI Smith | AI | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Public Summary: How sharp is a shadow? In the near field, less than a wavelength from an object, a shadow image can contain sub-wavelength detail, and super-resolution imaging can be demonstrated. But controlling an object and its shadow image at such tight (nanoscopic) separations can be difficult. In this programme we will work with our collaborators at MIT (USA), and will use a technique called absorbance-modulation imaging (AMI) to convert far-field light into a near-field object for sub-wavelength imaging. Our experimental expertise in using ultra-thin layers silver 'superlensing' structures will be added to AMI systems for near-field image projection and filtering.

Total Awarded: $737,778

Duration: 3

Host: University of Canterbury

Contact Person: Prof RJ Blaikie

Panel: PSE

Project ID: 08-UOC-080


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: Copy number variants in the genome: are they relevant to human personality and mental health?

Recipient(s): Assoc Prof MA Kennedy | PI | University of Otago
Prof PR Joyce | PI | University of Otago
Prof PF Sullivan | PI | University of North Carolina

Public Summary: Very recently it has become apparent that the majority of genetic differences between human beings are due not to subtle alterations in the DNA sequence code of their chromosomes, but to inherited structural alterations that add or remove large regions of DNA. These types of natural genetic differences are called copy number variants, and they influence many aspects of normal biology as well as risk of some diseases. We propose to explore how differences in the copy number of one important brain gene impact on heritable components of personality and mental disorders.

Total Awarded: $725,333

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Assoc Prof MA Kennedy

Panel: BMS

Project ID: 08-UOO-114


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: Corals in a changing world: establishing a physiological mechanism for current and future patterns of reef distribution

Recipient(s): Dr SK Davy | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Dr S Dove | AI | The University of Queensland
Professor O Hoegh-Guldberg | AI | The University of Queensland
Dr W Leggat | AI | James Cook University

Public Summary: Coral reefs are in decline due to global warming. This causes oxidative stress and the loss of symbiotic algae from corals (bleaching). However, predicting what will really happen is confounded by poor knowledge of the physiological diversity of the symbiotic algae. Many types of these algae exist and their different distributions are related to sea temperature, yet the underlying mechanisms that dictate these thermal preferences are poorly understood. We will characterise antioxidants in symbiotic algae from a range of locations in an attempt to explain the various bleaching thresholds of reef corals, and their current and future global distributions.

Total Awarded: $853,333

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Dr SK Davy

Panel: EEB

Project ID: 09-VUW-123


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2016

Title: Corals, currents, and phytoplankton: Reconstructing 3000 years of circulation and marine productivity in the world's largest ocean gyre

Recipient(s): Dr HL Neil | PI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Dr SJ Fallon | AI | Australian National University
Dr AF Komugabe-Dixson | AI | Private Consultant
Dr DJ Sinclair | AI | Victoria University of Wellington

Public Summary: The global oceans are changing: in recent decades the massive ocean gyres have been accelerating, driving regional climate change and impacting marine productivity. While anthropogenic global warming is assumed to be responsible, we have recently discovered the South Pacific Gyre may have experienced similar changes 3000 years ago. Since oceans cycle on thousand-year timescales, we need to better understand natural gyre dynamics over centuries to millennia. Unfortunately, instrumental data only span a few decades, while sediment records seldom capture century timescales.

We propose to use black corals, a new high-resolution ocean archive, to study circulation and productivity in waters around New Zealand over the last 3 millennia. These deep-sea corals are exceedingly long-lived, depositing proteinaceous skeletons that capture the chemical composition of the plankton debris upon which they feed. Thus they preserve a history of the surface ocean over thousands of years. Using specimens from the extensive collection held by NIWA, we will generate records of nitrogen and carbon isotopes and trace elements which are a powerful combination of proxies for ocean circulation and productivity. The result will be a comprehensive portrait of South Pacific Gyre dynamics, and their impact on marine primary productivity in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Total Awarded: $850,000

Duration: 3

Host: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd

Contact Person: Dr HL Neil

Panel: ESA

Project ID: 16-NIW-021


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2016

Title: Coronary blood flow survives the heartbeat: How?

Recipient(s): Professor NP Smith | PI | The University of Auckland
Dr J Lee | AI | King's College London
Associate Professor IJ LeGrice | AI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: The maintenance of coronary blood flow to cardiac tissue is not only critical for heart function, it is also remarkable. Specifically it is extraordinary that blood flow is maintained given that coronary vessels are embedded within muscular walls that compress with every heartbeat. Highly organised layers of muscle fibres form these walls. Our recent exciting observation that coronary vessels are highly aligned to these muscle layers in the healthy heart suggests this arrangement may be fundamental for ensuring protection from this compression. Interestingly, this hypothesis is further supported by the observation that in Heart Failure changes in the structure of the muscle layers in the heart wall are highly correlated with a reduction in coronary flow. We have recently developed unique technologies to test this novel hypothesis. Our imaging platform enables simultaneous observation of both the muscle layers of the heart and coronary vessels at their smallest scale. Using our novel modelling approach, in this proposal we will characterise vessel alignment with the heart’s muscle layers, quantify the implications over the course of a heart beat, and provide a new understanding of how coronary blood flow is sustained in the beating heart.

Total Awarded: $830,000

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Professor NP Smith

Panel: EIS

Project ID: 16-UOA-029


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: Corporate chameleons, greenwashing and counter-narratives

Recipient(s): Dr H Tregidga | PI | Auckland University of Technology
Professor KN Kearins | AI | Auckland University of Technology
Professor MJ Milne | AI | University of Canterbury

Public Summary: This qualitative empirical study examines corporate 'greening' and its effects on environmental stakeholders/activists. We investigate corporate environmental discourse and its interaction with stakeholders within the legal, social, political and economic context of commercial mining and fishing in New Zealand. Interviews and materials from selected corporations, social movement organisations and other stakeholders are analysed discursively. We identify where and how consensus and dissensus occurs on key environmental issues and explore the strategies, counter-narratives and tactics used. This research has practical value and emancipatory intent in ultimately seeking to contribute effective strategies to resist corporate greenwash.

Total Awarded: $266,667

Duration: 3

Host: Auckland University of Technology

Contact Person: Dr H Tregidga

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 09-AUT-015


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2016

Title: Counting our Tūpuna: Colonisation and Indigenous Survivorship in Aotearoa NZ

Recipient(s): Associate Professor TH Kukutai | PI | University of Waikato
Dr JR Bryant | AI | Statistics New Zealand
Dr AS Day | AI | University of Waikato
Dr DT Kahotea | AI | Private Individual
Dr N Mahuika | AI | University of Waikato

Public Summary: Demographic survival is the bedrock of peoplehood and, for many indigenous peoples, colonisation threatened their very survival. While scholars agree that the size and health of most indigenous populations declined after European contact, the timing, magnitude, and causes of decline are topics of ongoing debate. Notwithstanding the importance of these issues, our project addresses a larger concern: the failure to engage indigenous peoples, epistemologies, and narratives in indigenous population histories.
Working alongside a Waikato hapū (sub-tribe) we will combine family reconstitution methods, Māori oral traditions and Bayesian statistics to reconstruct three generations of their tūpuna (ancestors) during the peak decades of colonisation. Doing so enables us to model the impacts of land alienation and settlement on population size, structure and survivorship. At the same time we will explore the ‘survivance’ strategies that tūpuna used to resist and adapt to colonisation, thus countering demographic narratives of passive victimhood with illustrations of active agency. Ours is the first attempt at full population reconstruction in Aotearoa/NZ and offers a potential model for other iwi, Māori and indigenous populations to use. It will also contribute to an understanding of how contemporary health inequities have evolved in Aotearoa/NZ.

Total Awarded: $735,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Waikato

Contact Person: Associate Professor TH Kukutai

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 16-UOW-064


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