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Search Marsden awards 2008–2017

Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017

Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2017

Title: Going Superheavy - Exploring the Chemistry and Physics of the Heaviest Elements in the Remotest Corner of the Periodic Table

Recipient(s): Distinguished Professor PA Schwerdtfeger | PI | Massey University Auckland
Distinguished Professor W Nazarewicz | PI | Michigan State University
Dr E Pahl | PI | Massey University Auckland

Public Summary: Exploring and extending the Periodic Table of Elements towards the superheavy region with atomic numbers larger than 103 is driven by the desire to test the very limits of the existence of matter. Superheavy elements with a nuclear charge between 113 (Nihonium) and 118 (Oganesson) have been added to the Periodic Table and named only very recently; beyond a charge of 118 lies atomic and nuclear terra incognita. A wealth of entirely new phenomena awaits discovery due to the interplay between relativistic electrons and nucleons moving in quantal orbits subject to very strong electrostatic repulsion. Theoretical calculations of chemical and physical behaviour are indispensable to guide, design, and explain the one-atom-at-a-time experiments at the yet-unexplored regime of mass and charge. The complex electronic and nucleonic structures require state-of-the-art quantum theoretical approaches due to the huge electric fields involved. An accurate many-body treatment for the heaviest atoms in the Periodic Table, including precise treatment of atomic nuclei, is at the very heart of this proposal. The aim is to develop and apply quantum theoretical methods for both electronic and nuclear structure theory to gain a better and detailed understanding of the chemical and physical properties of matter at its limit.

Total Awarded: $910,000

Duration: 3

Host: Massey University Auckland

Contact Person: Distinguished Professor PA Schwerdtfeger

Panel: PCB

Project ID: 17-MAU-021


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Gold growth in situ: nanoparticles to nuggets

Recipient(s): Professor D Craw | PI | University of Otago

Public Summary: This project will quantify, for the first time, the biogeochemical controls on gold mobility in groundwater systems. Most extant models for gold nugget growth have been developed in ancient geological terranes without quantitative constraints on nugget-forming environments. Our previous work has shown that NZ river gravels host excellent examples, some unique, of gold precipitates at the nanoparticle and small nugget scales. This gold mobility has occurred in groundwater under near-surface conditions in a range of geological and geochemical environments, including some in very young (late Quaternary) deposits. Our study will take advantage of the current NZ gold mining boom to gain access to new alluvial gold mines that are exposing unoxidised waters, mineral precipitates, and gold samples below the water table where gold mobility has occurred, and possibly is still occurring. Our results will lead to the development of the first field-based, fully quantified, model for low-temperature gold nugget growth. This model will have two strands: a biogeochemical pathway to be developed using our results as constraints, via existing collaborations with experimental and field microbiologists; and an inorganic geochemical pathway which will integrate NZ geological, climatic, and groundwater data on sites in which gold has been mobilised and precipitated.

Total Awarded: $630,435

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Professor D Craw

Panel: ESA

Project ID: 13-UOO-009


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2014

Title: Good neighbourliness in international law

Recipient(s): Dr AKM Hertogen | PI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: The proposed research explores the potential of “good neighbourliness” as a foundation for legal restrictions on states’ sovereign decisions in a world characterised by increasing interdependence. Obligations of good neighbourliness have developed in international environmental law to deal with the negative impact of a state’s decisions on the physical environment of another state. Accordingly, states are subject to a duty not to cause harm in another state, and specific regimes require states to co-operate with each other. Yet, states’ decisions can cause a non-physical impact on another state, for example when they affect another state’s economy. International law has no clear answer on how to deal with non-physical impacts. The proposed research draws on the history of “good neighbourliness” in Roman law, municipal law, and international environmental law, to explore the concept’s potential as a foundation for legal restrictions on states' sovereign decisions that have a non-physical impact on other states. The research examines to extent to which the rules that have developed to reduce the physical impact of a state’s actions can be transferred to the context of non-physical impacts, and which processes and institutions would be best placed to develop principles of “good neighbourliness” in this context.

Total Awarded: $300,000

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Dr AKM Hertogen

Panel: HUM

Project ID: 14-UOA-283


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2015

Title: Good riddance to bad rubbish: waste disposal in motor neuron disease

Recipient(s): Dr EL Scotter | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor CE Shaw | AI | King's College London

Public Summary: Motor neuron disease is an aggressive brain disease which affects ~1 in 15,000 New Zealanders, but which has no cure. This disease is characterised by death of motor neurons within the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of movement. Motor neuron death is caused by a build-up of waste products inside these cells, which in turn is caused by defective waste disposal. We have exciting evidence that pericyte cells, which coat the blood vessels in the brain, also accumulate internal waste in motor neuron disease. We believe pericytes, like motor neurons, have defective waste disposal systems. And because pericytes are also responsible for collecting toxic waste from the spaces around motor neurons, we believe defective waste disposal by pericytes could promote motor neuron death. Using pericytes grown from motor neuron disease patient brains, we will test their ability to dispose of internal waste and to collect external waste which is toxic to motor neurons. This work will help determine whether waste disposal defects are common to many cell types, and whether disposal of waste surrounding motor neurons could be compromised in motor neuron disease. Understanding factors that regulate motor neuron health is critical for designing more effective therapies.

Total Awarded: $300,000

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Dr EL Scotter

Panel: BMS

Project ID: 15-UOA-157


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: Grace: the ethics of unmerited favour

Recipient(s): Dr GA Pettigrove | PI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: With the exception of one chapter written by Robert Adams, the topic of grace has been completely ignored by contemporary moral philosophers. This project will examine the nature of grace and its significance for ethical theory and moral practice. The upshot, for moral theory, is a serious revision of much that has been taken for granted in value theory, practical reasoning, and theorizing about justice. One practical implication of the study is that it will provide resources to rebut several objections that have been raised against New Zealand's system of restorative justice.

Total Awarded: $240,000

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Dr GA Pettigrove

Panel: HUM

Project ID: 09-UOA-038


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Graphene supercapacitors: transforming energy storage solutions

Recipient(s): Professor AJ Downard | PI | University of Canterbury
Dr PA Brooksby | PI | University of Canterbury
Professor WR Fawcett | PI | University of California, Davis
Associate Professor SW Donne | AI | University of Newcastle

Public Summary: Developing a sustainable future for energy is one of the most important and complex tasks
facing scientists and engineers. Efficient electricity generation using renewable sources is
only part of the challenge: many of these technologies also demand large and efficient energy
storage capacity beyond that currently available. Supercapacitors have emerged as a key storage technology to integrate with renewable energy platforms. Capacitance scales with electrode area and high surface area carbon-based supercapacitors are commonly used in modern energy systems. However, the performance of these devices is significantly restricted by electrode architectures that give limited usable surface area. Recent advances in graphene chemistry suggest that this extraordinary material has the potential to revolutionize supercapacitor technology and performance. Our research aims to engineer extremely high surface area graphene-composite electrodes using scalable, solution-based fabrication methods. Our experimental approach will be guided by fundamental studies of the capacitances of the materials and we will evaluate the capabilities of our materials as potential practical supercapacitors. We aim to lay the groundwork for future supercapacitor design by providing an entirely new approach for constructing advanced composite electrode materials that give a step-change in energy storage capability.

Total Awarded: $739,130

Duration: 3

Host: University of Canterbury

Contact Person: Professor AJ Downard

Panel: EIS

Project ID: 13-UOC-076


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: Gravitational energy and cosmic structure: What is the Universe made of?

Recipient(s): Dr DL Wiltshire | PI | University of Canterbury

Public Summary: This project seeks to establish whether the biggest problem in cosmology, the mystery of 'dark energy', can be resolved within Einstein's theory of gravitation, without invoking exotic matter or modifications to gravity. It will examine a newly proposed paradigm for cosmology, the 'fractal bubble' model, which accounts for gravitational energy gradients that arise with the growth of large voids in the late universe. Observational tests relating to the cosmic microwave background radiation, foreground inhomogeneities, and the growth of cosmic stucture will be performed, to ask whether the new cosmology can compete for the title of 'standard model of the universe'.

Total Awarded: $675,556

Duration: 3

Host: University of Canterbury

Contact Person: Dr DL Wiltshire

Panel: PSE

Project ID: 08-UOC-044


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Group actions, structure and representations

Recipient(s): Professor MDE Conder | PI | The University of Auckland
Associate Professor J An | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor EA O'Brien | PI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: Symmetry pervades nature and science, and group theory provides means for its study. We propose to undertake research that will answer interesting and significant questions in the study of groups, their structure, their representations and their actions — for example as symmetry groups of discrete objects. We will develop new theoretical and computational techniques for the solution of several long-standing questions in group theory and its applications. We will discover new phenomena, announce our findings at international conferences, and publish them in leading journals.

Total Awarded: $417,391

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Professor MDE Conder

Panel: MIS

Project ID: 13-UOA-038


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2016

Title: Growth factors mediating prolactin-induced neurogenesis in the adult brain

Recipient(s): Professor DR Grattan | PI | University of Otago
Dr HR Phillipps | AI | University of Otago

Public Summary: The aim of this project is to investigate the mechanisms by which the anterior pituitary hormone prolactin stimulates neurogenesis in the adult brain. The neural stem-cells do not express the prolactin receptor, but high expression is found in the choroid plexus, a structure that is considered part of the neurogenic niche. Using RNASeq to identify prolactin-responsive transcripts in the choroid plexus, we have discovered that prolactin induces expression of several growth factors. Here, we propose to investigate the hypothesis that these prolactin-sensitive growth factors secreted from the choroid plexus mediate the actions of prolactin to stimulate neurogenesis in subventricular zone of the maternal brain during pregnancy. We will measure expression of specific growth factors in the choroid plexus during pregnancy, and then determine whether expression of these growth factors changes in mice specifically lacking prolactin receptors in the choroid plexus. We will then investigate whether conditional deletion of specific growth factors in the choroid plexus abolishes the prolactin-induced increase in neurogenesis that normally occurs during pregnancy. The study will enhance our understanding of factors regulating the neurogenic niche in the adult brain, an area of intense interest in neuroscience because of its potential roles in neural plasticity and repair.

Total Awarded: $810,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Professor DR Grattan

Panel: CMP

Project ID: 16-UOO-236


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2012

Title: Harnessing the power of business: the contested involvement of corporations in community development initiatives in the Pacific

Recipient(s): Prof RA Scheyvens | PI | Massey University
Assoc Prof GA Banks | PI | Massey University
Prof A Bebbington | AI | Clark University

Public Summary: The central question driving this research is 'Can the community development initiatives of mining and tourism corporations operating in the Pacific bring about locally-meaningful development?' While there are increasing calls globally for the private sector to play roles in international development, there is a need for more evidence of how corporations do community development to better understand both the potential and risks associated with this. We have termed these development initiatives of corporations Corporate Community Development (CCD), and will explore how they can potentially narrow the spaces of development or, perhaps, actively contribute to community empowerment, the promotion of human rights and social equity. This research will extend conceptualisation of the private sector's roles in community development by building on fieldwork at four tourism and mining case study sites across the Pacific. We will adopt a novel, qualitative multi-scalar methodology that brings in the perspectives of the corporations, states, communities and other actors. Responding to a recognised lacunae in the literature this research will examine the value of these activities from the perspectives of affected communities, and advance theorisation of the relationship between capital and community.

Total Awarded: $773,913

Duration: 3

Host: Massey University

Contact Person: Prof RA Scheyvens

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 12-MAU-004


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