Explore as a

Search Marsden awards 2008–2017

Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017

Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2014

Title: Questioning the CO-FT regulon model and discovering genes that regulate photoperiodic and low nitrogen-induced flowering in the model legume Medicago

Recipient(s): Associate Professor JJ Putterill | PI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: Flowering is a critical developmental step in plants as it heralds sexual reproduction. Multiple environmental signals are integrated by plants to ensure flowering and seed production occur at optimal times. Temperate-climate plants like the Nitrogen (N)-fixing model legume Medicago truncatula (Medicago) and the brassica Arabidopsis flower in response to the seasonal cue of long day photoperiods. They are also induced to flower by low levels of the key nutrient N in an environment “escape” response. The CO-FT regulon is central to the Arabidopsis long day pathway. It is proposed to be conserved across flowering plants. However, we find no similar correlation between expression of CO and FT genes in Medicago. This proposal tests the hypothesis that Medicago uses different photoperiodic flowering mechanisms than Arabidopsis. In addition, it seeks to uncover the basis of low N on flowering and investigate the effect of nodulation on this escape response. This work will yield fundamental insights into flowering regulation in legumes, the third largest group of plants and the second most important group after the grasses. The ultimate goal is tools for breeding crops with enhanced yield in the face of changing weather and reduced agronomic inputs.

Total Awarded: $773,000

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Associate Professor JJ Putterill

Panel: CMP

Project ID: 14-UOA-125


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2016

Title: Quit or persist? The neural mechanisms of forfeit behaviour

Recipient(s): Dr KL Hillman | PI | University of Otago

Public Summary: It's hard to admit, but we’re all quitters. Mostly we quit minor tasks, like a difficult Sudoku, but quitting midway through more important endeavours can hinder personal and professional well-being. In excess, quitting can characterise clinical disorder. Why does our brain sometimes signal us to quit, even when we know perseverance will lead to a better outcome? While neuroscientists have made significant advancements in understanding how the brain formulates goal-directed behaviour, the neural mechanisms that drive quitting behaviour are not well-understood. Here we will use an animal model to test the hypothesis that quitting relies on two specific brain regions: anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insula (AI). The ACC is known to provide signals important for choosing and pursuing effortful goals. In contrast, the AI is activated by frustration and fatigue, two key factors which can prompt quitting. Using neural recording and stimulation, we will investigate whether quitting behaviour is modulated by a dynamic interplay between an ACC ‘persist’ signal and an AI ‘quit’ signal. Our project will provide scientists and clinicians with mechanistic insight regarding how the brain formulates quitting behaviour, which will enable novel therapies to be developed to reduce maladaptive quitting behaviours and increase well-being.

Total Awarded: $705,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Dr KL Hillman

Panel: EHB

Project ID: 16-UOO-190


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2010

Title: Race, place and biopolitics: Zionism, Palestine and population management in the twenty-first century

Recipient(s): Dr NC Parsons | PI | Massey University

Public Summary: Beyond news headlines, Israeli efforts to steer the struggle with the Palestinians continue to break new ground in the practice of population management. Taking forward a nascent, exciting field, this project examines Israeli practices, understood in Foucauldian terms as biopolitics. Foucault’s concept captures a swing in the emphasis of government from territory (geopolitics), to people (biopolitics). The biopolitical lens will be brought to bear equally on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), bringing discrete analyses of new issues in population management into view and generating the first conceptually specific monograph thus organized. First, the project searches for biopolitical imperatives within Zionist ideology and Israeli institutions with biopolitical import, ranging from welfare provision to military occupation. Second, it examines the implications of biopolitical analysis for Palestinian citizens of Israel, the OPT and the Palestinian diaspora. Third, the study assesses Israeli infrastructure development in East Jerusalem (with a case study of area E1), alongside development in the OPT, and considers related institutional innovations such as the Palestinian Authority. Conclusions reflect upon the wider implications for twenty-first century population management. This monograph will advance conceptual and empirical understanding of an area of increasing interest to New Zealand and the international academic community.

Total Awarded: $222,609

Duration: 3

Host: Massey University

Contact Person: Dr NC Parsons

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 10-MAU-033


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2010

Title: Raising teacher expectations and enhancing student achievement: an intervention study

Recipient(s): Dr CM Rubie-Davies | PI | The University of Auckland
Dr E Peterson | AI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: Teacher expectation research traditionally explored expectations for individual students; effects on achievement were found to be small. Recent research has shown teachers with high expectations for all students can raise student reading levels by two years within one year. High expectation teachers have different teaching beliefs and instructional practices from those of low expectation teachers which lead to very different outcomes for students. This large-scale empirical study, where teachers are randomly assigned to control and intervention groups, will be the first ever attempt to use an intervention to raise teacher expectations by altering beliefs and practices. The study will track changes in teachers’ expectations, beliefs and practices across three years to determine the sustainability of the intervention. Long-term effects on student outcomes will be measured. This research could revolutionise theoretical understandings moving the field from viewing expectations as a student phenomenon (i.e., something about the student creates the expectation in the teacher) to conceptions of expectations as a teacher-related phenomenon (i.e. due to particular beliefs of teachers, some have high expectations for all students while others do not). Further, the changes in teacher behaviours that comprise the intervention could revolutionise the way core subjects are taught both nationally and internationally.

Total Awarded: $260,870

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Dr CM Rubie-Davies

Panel: EHB

Project ID: 10-UOA-135


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2010

Title: Random walks in degenerate random environments

Recipient(s): Dr MP Holmes | PI | The University of Auckland
Prof TS Salisbury | AI | York University

Public Summary: In a grid-like city, insert a signpost in the middle of each street intersection. For each signpost, attach signs pointing in directions chosen at random from the possible directions N,S,E,W. This defines a degenerate random environment.

Starting from the centre of the city, follow signs (chosen from those at your current location) completely at random from intersection to intersection. This defines a random walk in a degenerate random environment. Questions of interest include: Can you meet your friend who is waiting at a fixed intersection in the city? Are you certain to eventually return to your starting point? Do you drift off in some direction with an average positive speed?

We will prove mathematical results that answer such questions, depending on the details of the randomness used to choose the signs initially.

Total Awarded: $260,870

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Dr MP Holmes

Panel: MIS

Project ID: 10-UOA-117


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Randomness, analysis, and reverse mathematics

Recipient(s): Professor AO Nies | PI | The University of Auckland
Associate Professor N Greenberg | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Dr LJJ Bienvenu | AI | CNRS & Université Paris 7

Public Summary: Surprisingly, randomness and computability are not mere opposites, but in fact interact closely. Computability is used for a formal theory of randomness; randomness, in turn, enriches the field of computability. The project starts from this exciting interaction and seeks to understand it better by using methods and concepts from analysis. One such concept is density, the portion of a set as one 'zooms in' around a point. Another is differentiability, which measures the rate of change of a function at a point. These methods have already been used to solve a long-standing problem in algorithmic randomness, known as the ML-covering problem.

This interaction leads naturally to reverse mathematics, a foundational project calibrating the strength of theorems and axiom systems. We study the consequences of the existence of random sequences. In turn, we examine powerful notions of randomness related to set theory.

Taking a global view, we also study complexity and similarity of metric spaces. This uses new tools from model theory such as continuous logic.

Total Awarded: $521,739

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Professor AO Nies

Panel: MIS

Project ID: 13-UOA-287


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: Randomness, degree theory, higher computability: new interactions

Recipient(s): Dr N Greenberg | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Professor DR Hirschfeldt | AI | The University of Chicago

Public Summary: Computability theory is the branch of mathematics which investigates what problems are solvable using mechanical processes. The notion of effectiveness permeates throughout mathematics and gives rise to connections between computability and algebra, analysis and logic.

The aim of the proposed research is to mingle sub-fields of this area. I intend to use randomness in the service of obtaining new results in degree theory, and shed light on the concept of enumerability. I also intend to utlilise admissible computability as the computational model with which to develop a theory of effective models in the realm of uncountable domains.

Total Awarded: $511,111

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Dr N Greenberg

Panel: MIS

Project ID: 09-VUW-026


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2014

Title: Rape myths as barriers to fair trial practices

Recipient(s): Associate Professor E McDonald | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Associate Professor A Weatherall | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Associate Professor N Gavey | AI | The University of Auckland

Public Summary: Why have decades of rape law reform been ineffective? There are two possibilities this interdisciplinary project will explore, following the accessing of audio recordings of at least 30 New Zealand rape trials. First, by drawing on feminist socio-legal critique, we will examine whether and how 'rape myths' that undermine complainants and their evidence operate during all stages of the trial through the talk and (in)actions of lawyers and judges. Second, we will use fine-grained conversation analysis as a unique tool to systematically analyse the structure of cross-examination in particular, which victims of sexual violence often report as being as bad as the offending itself. Weaving together findings from these complementary approaches, and in consultation with relevant organisations and professionals, we will develop recommendations for changes to law and practice with the aim of improving the experience for rape complainants at trial and enhancing their access to justice.

Total Awarded: $540,000

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Associate Professor E McDonald

Panel: HUM

Project ID: 14-VUW-027


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2014

Title: Rape, silencing and objectification: a socio-cultural analysis of barriers to rape reform

Recipient(s): Associate Professor J Jordan | PI | Victoria University of Wellington

Public Summary: When women were first encouraged to attend ‘speak-outs’ on rape in the early 1970s, feminist organisers doubted many would turn up, let alone speak out. Since then, knowledge regarding the high prevalence of violence against women has expanded, the criminal justice system has been critiqued for failing victims, and multiple reforms designed to improve victims’ experiences of police processes have been pursued. So why, despite such activities, does rape continue to be characterised by low rates of victim reporting and high rates of victim blame and disbelief? This project seeks to answer the contemporary rape conundrum.

The first part of the study comprises an in-depth qualitative analysis of police investigative responses to rape allegations, designed to critically assess the police role as gatekeepers and their decision-making processes. The second part consists of three related studies analysing changing depictions of women and rape in the media. The two key concepts of silencing and objectification will be explored to determine their historical and contemporary impact on how rape victims are perceived and treated. The principal aim is to expand current knowledge and understanding regarding the sociocultural barriers limiting the effectiveness of rape reform initiatives.

Total Awarded: $610,000

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Associate Professor J Jordan

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 14-VUW-092


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2013

Title: Rational design of next-generation photovoltaics and molecular electronics

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

Public Summary: Meeting the world’s ever-increasing energy needs without increasing carbon dioxide emissions is one of the most pressing scientific and technological challenges of the modern age. Tapping solar energy is a potential solution, but robust, cost-effective solar technology has not yet been realised.

Biological photosynthesis is a remarkable system for capturing solar energy and converting it to chemical energy. The aim of this project is to determine the fundamental principles that underlie the extraordinary efficiency of electron liberation during the first step of biological photosynthesis, and use this knowledge to design new low-cost organic-based photovoltaic materials.

The dynamics of photo-induced electron transfer depend primarily on the distribution of electrons within the system both before and after absorbing light, so a balanced account of electron behaviour in both ground and excited electronic states must underpin any electron transfer model. The development of a new quantum chemical method for this purpose lies at the core of this proposal.

This model will provide the link between molecular structure and electronic properties (absorption wavelengths, electron transfer dynamics). A family of highly efficient organic-based photovoltaic materials with different absorption wavelengths will be designed as components of an organic-based tandem solar cell, for maximum light-harvesting capacity.

Total Awarded: $300,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Canterbury

Contact Person: Dr DL Crittenden

Panel: PCB

Project ID: 13-UOC-033


Share our content