06 October 2011 Lincoln University scientists awarded Marsden Fund grants

Two Lincoln University scientists, Dr Suzanne Vallance and Dr Jo Steyaert, have been named among the country's best researchers through the award of Marsden Fund Fast-Start grants, administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand on the behalf of the Government.

Dr Suzanne Vallance's research project 'Urbanising sustainability: everyday encounters of risk, justice and nature' will examine the ways in which urban grassroots movements, such as alternative food networks and earthquake recovery groups, operationalise sustainable development and resilience.

Dr Jo Steyaert's research project 'Geomagnetic calendars: biological regulation at the planetary level' will investigate whether the common soil fungus Trichoderma uses the Earth's geomagnetic field as a seasonal clue. Dr Steyaert is leading a multi-disciplinary team including researchers from Lincoln University, GNS Science, Plant and Food Research and Lincoln Ventures Limited in New Zealand, and the Slovak University of Technology in Slovakia.  Their study will be the first to investigate the effects of seasonal geomagnetic rhythms on any organism. It will establish whether seasonal changes in the Earth's magnetic field can influence fungal reproduction.

Both scientists have been awarded a three-year grant worth $345,000 each.  The Marsden Fund Fast-Start grants are designed to support outstanding researchers early in their careers.

“Out of the 250 full proposals, Lincoln University had five finalists this year and for the second year running two scientists from the University have been awarded Marsden Fund grants.  This demonstrates the high quality of researchers we have working at Lincoln University,” says Vice-Chancellor Professor Roger Field.

The five Lincoln University academics among the finalists were Professor of Plant Biosecurity Philip Hulme, Lecturer in Maori Environmental Planning and Development Dr Simon Lambert, Professor of Environmental Planning and Management Ali Memon, and the two award winners Dr Jo Steyaert and Dr Suzanne Vallance.

“Our congratulations go to Dr Vallance and Dr Steyaert for being awarded these grants and we acknowledge the achievement of Professor  Hulme, Dr Lambert and Professor Memon for making it into the final selection group, and the achievement of Dr Hannah Buckley of Lincoln University, a Principal Investigator on another organisation’s bid which went as far as the final selection process,” says Professor Field.

Dr Vallance is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Environment, Society and Design at Lincoln University. She began teaching fulltime at Lincoln University in 2008 having completed her PhD there with  research on  urban sustainability in New Zealand.  Earlier this year Dr Vallance was prominent as convenor of a major post-earthquake conference on supporting recovery in greater Christchurch.

Dr Steyaert is a member of the Bio-Protection Research Centre, a Centre of Research Excellence which is hosted by Lincoln University.

The Marsden Fund supports excellence in leading-edge research in New Zealand.  Projects are selected annually in a rigorous process by 10 panels guided by the opinions of world-leading referees.  Funding is spread over three years for each grant.

Applications to the Marsden Fund are extremely competitive. Of the 1078 preliminary proposals received this year, 250 were asked to submit a full proposal with 88 ultimately funded, giving a success rate of 8.2%.