Early career researchers awarded fellowships and scholarships

Our Rutherford Foundation awarded ten postdoctoral fellowships and a PhD scholarship with funding from Government in 2019. The researchers will be exploring a diverse range of research topics, including: • metamaterials that could potentially turn every glass window into a transparent solar panel; • pathogen-resistant kiwifruit that do not require metal-based pesticides; • improved earthquake hazard resilience in Aotearoa; • new methods for producing personalised cancer therapies that enable the patient’s own immune system to search for and destroy cancerous cells.

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TWO-YEAR NEW ZEALAND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS: Dr Maedeh Amirpour, University of Auckland, for research titled: Toward tailored 3D printed bio-based human interfaces – rational design by predictive modelling.

Dr Nick Brettell, Victoria University of Wellington, for research titled: Matroids representable over all fields of size at least four.

Dr Emma Davison, University of Auckland, for research titled: Automated flow technology for the synthesis of personalised cancer vaccines.

Dr Anna Gosling, University of Otago, for research titled: Understanding the genetic origins of gout and metabolic disease in Pacific populations: an evolutionary approach.

Dr Lisa Hamm, University of Auckland, for research titled: Learning to see: identifying visual processing challenges through innovative assessment tools.

Dr Azadeh Hashemi, University of Canterbury, for research titled: Developing a simple and effective method for directing the differentiation of stem cells in the lab.

Dr Jay Jayaraman, Plant & Food Research, for research titled: A strategy towards durable kiwifruit immunity to Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa).

Dr Rodrigo Martinez Gazoni, University of Canterbury, for research titled: Novel and easily-scalable metamaterials for energy and environmental applications.

Dr Lisa Pilkington, University of Auckland, for research titled: Data science QSAR strategies and tools for medicinal chemists.

Dr Brook Tozer, GNS Science, for research titled: Improving New Zealand’s hazard resilience through seismic imaging of Earth’s most dangerous faults.

THREE-YEAR CAMBRIDGE RUTHERFORD MEMORIAL PHD SCHOLARSHIP:

Benson Chen, Emory University, for research titled: Deep phenotyping and genotyping in inherited optic neuropathies.

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