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Search Marsden awards 2008–2017

Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017

Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: The Printers' Web: typographical journals and global communication networks in the nineteenth century

Recipient(s): Dr SJ Shep | PI | Victoria University of Wellington

Public Summary: The recent transnational turn in book history has led to a renewed interest in early modern forms of globalisation. A comparative study of typographical journals from Scotland, England, Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa produced by colonial printer-journalists will reveal how global communication networks were constructed in the nineteenth century and how they contributed to the circulation of ideas related to printing trade principles and practices. Anticipated outcomes include conference presentations, journal publications and a book, a digital research commons, the digitisation of key journals, and enhanced opportunities for teaching and postgraduate research and supervision.

Total Awarded: $501,333

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Dr SJ Shep

Panel: HUM

Project ID: 09-VUW-083


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: The quantum dipole gas

Recipient(s): Dr PB Blakie | PI | University of Otago
Associate Professor MJ Davis | AI | The University of Queensland
Dr Y Kawaguchi | AI | University of Tokyo
Dr C Ticknor | AI | Swinburne University of Technology

Public Summary: A new frontier of quantum physics has opened with the recent experimental production of dipolar atomic and molecular gases in the nano-Kelvin regime. These systems, with their long-range interactions and rich internal structure, present a unique avenue for preparing and understanding strongly-correlated many-body states of matter, and open the door to the fascinating new field of super-chemistry. In this project we will develop the first practical methods for simulating the finite temperature quantum dynamics of dipolar systems, providing a theoretical basis for the emerging experiments and the development of future technologies using dipolar gases.

Total Awarded: $640,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Dr PB Blakie

Panel: PSE

Project ID: 09-UOO-093


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2010

Title: The rights of soldiers and the politics of citizenship

Recipient(s): Dr CJ Trundle | PI | Victoria University of Wellington

Public Summary: The rights of military personnel is a topic of increasing concern within legal and scholarly spheres. In a range of countries, servicemen and veterans are now demanding that the state guarantee their civil liberties and extend their welfare entitlements. This project will examine one veteran group pioneering increased access to information and healthcare for military personnel. In the late 1950s thousands of servicemen from Britain and New Zealand participated in a series of British nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific. Decades later many of these ‘test veterans’ claim to suffer radiation-related illnesses and attempt to gain pensions, compensation and access to classified information. Relying increasingly on the logic of human rights, they are forging new possibilities for veteran claim-making. This research will ask: what are the shifting socio-cultural ideals that drive and enable test veteran demands, and how do their claims influence the wider social, political and legal domains of human rights, governmental process and military practice? Through interviews, document analysis and participant observation with test veteran groups in New Zealand and Britain, this research will extend current anthropological theories of social inclusion and exclusion, human rights and citizenship.

Total Awarded: $260,870

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Dr CJ Trundle

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 10-VUW-158


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2012

Title: The role of asymmetric division in male germ-line specification in flowering plants

Recipient(s): Dr LR Brownfield | PI | University of Otago
Prof D Twell | AI | University of Leicester

Public Summary: Asymmetric cell division, where a mother cell produces two distinct daughter cells, is a key mechanism for generating different cell types in multicellular organisms. In animals, the adoption of different fates by daughter cells often depends upon unequal segregation of regulatory molecules. The formation of new cell types by asymmetric division is also essential in the development of plants, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood.

A critical asymmetric cell division in flowering plants occurs within pollen grains and is required for the creation of the male germ line. Here, the smaller of the two daughter cells is believed to receive factors that promote germ-line development, while the larger cell follows a default pathway and plays a supportive role.

We aim to discover how plant male germ-line fate is controlled by asymmetric cell division. To do this we will identify unequally segregated factors that control the production of a germ-line specific protein. This research will provide valuable information on how plants utilize asymmetric division to generate new cell types. It will also aid in the understanding of how plants make male gametes creating opportunities to manipulate fertility for the benefit of plant breeders.

Total Awarded: $300,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Dr LR Brownfield

Panel: CMP

Project ID: 12-UOO-043


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: The role of eye movements in eyewitness identification

Recipient(s): Dr M Gerrie | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Prof N Brewer | AI | Flinders University

Public Summary: Legal and psychological research highlights eyewitness misindentification as the leading cause of wrongful conviction. We know that these misidentifications can be caused by biased photo montages (lineups). But we know less about the witnesses' decision processes during the identification. In this proposal, we will measure eye movements to study witnesses' decision processes. First, we will examine whether we can distinguish between witnesses' decision processes by measuring eye movement patterns. Second, we will examine how these patterns change when witnesses' memories are distorted with suggestion. This research has important practical and theoretical implications for the way eyewitness memory is tested.

Total Awarded: $266,667

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Dr M Gerrie

Panel: EHB

Project ID: 08-VUW-115


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: The role of Maori cultural support for employees and employers

Recipient(s): Assoc Prof J Haar | PI | Waikato University
Prof L Smith | AI | Waikato University

Public Summary: This innovative and original study examines the employment of Maori from the perspective of employers and employees. Research explores if firms target Maori for public relations (cultural sensitivity) or for securing scarce human resources (commercial sensibility)? As Maori workforce participation increases, we explore what Maori cultural practices are recognised and valued, and what impact this has on employee's outcomes (e.g. performance) and outcomes for their employers (e.g. retention)? We use national culture, social exchange, institutional and resource dependence theories to understand these questions. Given current labour shortages this research is vital for maximising Maori economic contribution and personal development.

Total Awarded: $266,667

Duration: 3

Host: University of Waikato

Contact Person: Assoc Prof J Haar

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 08-UOW-028


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2011

Title: The role of sport in male-dominated leadership cultures

Recipient(s): Dr ID Ryan | PI | Auckland University of Technology

Public Summary: This research looks at the role sport plays in New Zealand organisations. Could the ability to talk sport, play sport and use sports strategies really help people, particularly men, climb the leadership ladder? Could women be disadvantaged because of the misperception they lack knowledge of sport and do not participate so actively? This research seeks to find out through a combination of three approaches. First, the numbers and trends around male and female seniority in public and private sector organisations are scrutinised. Second, interviews with 20-30 male and female managers are conducted to find out about their experiences of sports talk, participation and strategies in the workplace. Third, written memories are collected from 50-70 male managers, and group discussions around sport are held. The aim is to make sense of the part sport plays in work-settings, and to identify whether anyone is advantaged or disadvantaged. If this research determines managers need to be sport savvy to get ahead, then the message to those excluded is to ‘change the rules of the game’.

Total Awarded: $276,194

Duration: 3

Host: Auckland University of Technology

Contact Person: Dr ID Ryan

Panel: SOC

Project ID: 11-AUT-032


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2011

Title: The role of the protein (CART) in regulating fertility

Recipient(s): Dr JL Juengel | PI | AgResearch
Prof GW Smith | AI | Michigan State University

Public Summary: Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) was first described as a neuropeptide involved in controlling body weight and reward response. Recently, CART has been shown to be expressed in the ovaries of species with a low ovulation rate phenotype (i.e. the number of eggs released at each reproductive cycle) but not those with a high ovulation rate phenotype. Additional evidence indicates that factors produced locally in the ovary are key determinants of ovulation rate. We aim to establish if ovarian derived CART is a key factor in determining ovulation rate through examining expression in our unique sheep lines with known mutations affecting ovulation rate. We will also block CART action by immunisation to directly observe the effects of blocking CART on ovulation rate. In addition, given the role of CART in regulating body weight and growth rate, we will examine how increasing nutrition prior to ovulation, which is known to increase ovulation rate, affects CART expression to determine if CART may be an intermediate in nutritional regulation of fertility. Understanding the role of CART in regulating follicular growth may lead to new treatments to regulate fertility in multiple species with low ovulation rate phenotypes including humans, sheep and cattle.

Total Awarded: $817,900

Duration: 3

Host: AgResearch

Contact Person: Dr JL Juengel

Panel: CMP

Project ID: 11-AGR-002


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2017

Title: The Secret Life of Traumatic Memories

Recipient(s): Associate Professor RA Zajac | PI | University of Otago
Professor M Garry | PI | The University of Waikato
Dr RA Nash | AI | Aston University
Dr MKT Takarangi | AI | Flinders University

Public Summary: Traumatic memories seem to have a secret life. Influential, but pseudoscientific, clinical theories would have us believe that memories for traumatic experiences are jumbled, and recalled in bits and pieces with parts missing. That is, the memories are said to be fragmented, lacking coherence. In this pseudoscientific view, fragmentation is harmful—caused by the allegedly special mechanism by which the brain encodes only 'shallow' aspects of trauma, forgoing deeper conceptual processing. The idea is that with the right therapy, what's called 'traumatic amnesia' fades; the fragmented memories fill out, and coherence increases. This view rests entirely on the 40-year-old presupposition that traumatic memories behave differently from non-traumatic memories. But there is no scientific evidence that the harm of fragmentation, the special encoding mechanism, or the 'traumatic amnesia' actually exist. More likely, we propose, is that fragmentation is not unique to trauma; instead, people appraise fragmented traumatic memories in unique ways. In doing so, they set in motion a chain of behaviours that shape their memories, their psychological wellbeing, and sometimes their very willingness to question what they remember. We will connect the links in this chain.


Total Awarded: $695,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Associate Professor RA Zajac

Panel: EHB

Project ID: 17-UOO-173


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2017

Title: The sex of stress: Understanding sex differences in neural circuits controlling stress.

Recipient(s): Dr KJ Iremonger | PI | University of Otago

Public Summary: Men and women respond differently to acute stress, and this underpins sex differences in stress adaptation, stress resilience and risk for developing stress-related mental health conditions. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons control the secretion of stress hormones in the body. We propose that differing stress responses between the sexes is determined in part by differences in CRH neuron activity patterns and excitability. We will use real-time recording of CRH neuron activity to determine how stress responses differ in male and female mice and identify the cellular mechanisms that cause these differences. The new information generated will provide a basic science platform for differential evidence-based treatment of stress-related disorders in men and women.

Total Awarded: $958,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Dr KJ Iremonger

Panel: BMS

Project ID: 17-UOO-041


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