RSE awards provide over £856K boost to Scotland’s research sector

We are pleased to announce that 91 exceptional research projects were selected at the autumn 2025 Research Awards open call.

Over £856,000 will fund innovative research across a range of academic fields, enabling projects such as virtual reality interventions to support emotional regulation in autistic children, the exploration of sea level rise in the Outer Hebrides through research in film, charting non-UK citizen voting behaviours in Scotland, and mitigating global warming’s impact on soil reserves.

In this round, lead investigators represent 17 of Scotland’s universities and research institutes; however, the reach of these awards extends beyond Scotland, with collaborators from 45 institutions in total, including international organisations in the USA, Taiwan, Australia, Italy, Malawi, Germany, Finland, and Iraq.

The RSE’s Research Awards Programme opens in spring and autumn each year and aims to support Scotland’s research sector by nurturing promising talent, stimulating research in Scotland, and promoting international collaboration.

RSE Vice President, Research, Professor Anne Anderson OBE FRSE, commented,

“The RSE’s Research Awards Programme plays a crucial role in supporting and strengthening Scotland’s vibrant research community. I am confident that the recipients of these prestigious RSE awards will advance knowledge and deliver meaningful benefits for Scottish society. On behalf of the Society, I warmly congratulate these outstanding researchers and their international partners, and I look forward to seeing the impact of their work.”

The RSE is deeply grateful for the continued support of the Scottish Funding Council, as well as the valued contributions from the RSE Scotland Foundation and the Caledonian Research Fund.

Recipients of Autumn 2025 RSE Research Awards:

Small Grants

• Dr Clare Bird, University of Stirling
  Unlocking globorotaloides hexagonus as a proxy for past and future ocean deoxygenation
• Dr Luke Bridgestock, University of St Andrews
  Constraining the long-term impact of rapid global warming on soil reserves
• Dr Graham Bruce, University of St Andrews, with collaborator Dr Soraya Caixeiro, University of Bath
  High-speed biomedical imaging and sensing using micro- and nano-lasers
• Dr Isidoropaolo Casteltrione, Queen Margaret University
  Branding of sensual bachata: From global digital flows to local industry and community
• Dr Julia Coyoli, University of Strathclyde
  The merit project: A new dataset on civil service examinations
• Dr Lorenzo Crippa, University of Strathclyde, with collaborators Dr James Bowden, University of Strathclyde and Dr Annalisa Riccardi, University of Strathclyde
  Cross-disciplinary verification of self-disclosed corporate emissions
• Dr Ewan Cruickshank, Robert Gordon University
  Sulfur-linked low molar mass mesogens exhibiting polar nematic and smectic phases
• Dr David Fleming, University of Stirling
  Screening death: Philosophers’ afterlives on film
• Dr Sacha Fop, University of Aberdeen
  Developing sustainable all-solid-state proton batteries
• Dr Nikos Gkekas, Edinburgh Napier University, with collaborator Dr Evangelia Petropoulou, Edinburgh Napier University
  Co-creating next-generation virtual reality interventions for autistic children’s emotion and sensory regulation
• Dr Hamish Hay, University of St Andrews
  Constraining heat generation in icy moon oceans
• Professor Anselm Heinrich, University of Glasgow
  National theatres in England, Scotland and Wales – an archival re-appraisal
• Professor Ailsa Henderson, University of Edinburgh
  Measuring migrant belonging in Scotland
• Professor Sascha Hooker, University of St Andrews
  Determining sex bias in Scottish minke whales to help predict population consequences of management initiatives
• Dr Yujia Huang, University of Dundee
  Creative strengths: Exploring strength-based pathways to design entrepreneurship in the age of AI
• Dr Ingrid Kelling, Heriot-Watt University
  Making women visible in Scotland’s fisheries: Storytelling, digital analysis, and pathways to change
• Mr Aleksandar Kocic, Edinburgh Napier University
  Where is the news in local media?
• Dr Frederik Køhlert, Edinburgh Napier University
  Drawing race: Stereotypes and caricatures of race in south African comics art
• Dr Samer Kurdi, Heriot-Watt University
  Quantum sensing of spin-waves in quantum magnets at room temperature
• Dr Scott Lyall, Edinburgh Napier University
  Scottish scene: A scholarly edition (phase 2)
• Dr Linxiang Ma, University of Strathclyde
  The evolution of corporate political connections in the UK: 1880-2024
• Ms Mairi MacKenzie, Glasgow School of Art
  The social life of scent
• Dr Stuart MacNeill, University of St Andrews, with collaborator Dr Paul Johnston, University of St Andrews
  Re-evaluating the λ lysis paradigm by determining the function of multiple endolysins in phage-induced bacterial cell lysis
• Dr Ainsley McIntosh, University of Aberdeen
  A light in the dark: Walter Scott’s lighthouse yacht journal (1814) and its textual and cultural legacy
• Dr Sarah Naramore, University of Edinburgh
  American goiter: A story of geography, gender, genetics, and salt
• Dr Alex Nevill, University of Edinburgh
  Creative coastalscapes: Exploring sea level rise in the Scottish Outer Hebrides through practice-led research in film
• Dr Ingrid Obsuth, The University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Professor Matthias Schwannauer, The University of Edinburgh
  Adolescents, attachment, and default AI: Testing how everyday chatbots support or disrupt emotional regulation
• Dr Federica Oliva, University of Edinburgh
  Enhancing photon detector R&D capability for future experiments and beyond
• Dr Israel Osmond, University of Edinburgh
  Exploring high-pressure superconductivity with non-magnetic diamond anvil cells
• Dr Emilia Pietka-Nykaza, University of the West of Scotland, with collaborator Professor Murray Leith, University of the West of Scotland
  Voting and non-voting behaviours of non-UK citizen residents in Scotland
• Dr Rahul Rao, University of St Andrews
  What is to be disentangled?
• Dr Jana Rek, Edinburgh Napier University
  Reaching out, Islands (ROI): Addressing invisible inequalities in adult social care in island communities
• Dr Liam Rooney, University of Glasgow
  Identifying and understanding the key players in prosthetic joint infections
• Dr Ege Sezen, Abertay University
  Information design for second screens
• Dr Kimia Witte, University of Strathclyde
  When space shapes cancer
• Dr Zhenhua Yu, University of Aberdeen
  Cochlea-inspired tactile sensors for intelligent and sustainable wearable health monitoring
• Dr Qi Zhou, University of Edinburgh
  Electromagnetic control of therapeutic microcarriers for targeted drug delivery
• Dr Juan Zurita, University of Edinburgh
  Labour productivity growth and the fiscal sustainability programme in the United Kingdom

Research Collaboration Grants

• Dr Jonathan Ainslie, University of Aberdeen, with collaborators Dr Patricia Živković, University of Aberdeen and Dr Nevena Jevremovic, University of Aberdeen
  Death and law: Interdisciplinary explorations
• Dr Alexia Barrable, Queen Margaret University, with collaborator Dr Marja Roslund, Natural Resources Institute Finland
  Dirty play: Creating microbial playscapes
• Dr Daniel Calderbank, University of Glasgow, with collaborators Professor Jaafar Jotheri, University of Al-Qadisiyah and Dr Mary Shepperson, University of Liverpool
  West Hammar archaeological project: Sustainable rurality in Iraq’s marshes
• Dr Alex Fisher, University of Edinburgh, with collaborators Dr Elke Claessens, University of Antwerp and Ms Donna Ward, Singlehood Australia
  The single-friendly workplace
• Dr Charlotte  Gleghorn, University of Edinburgh
  Disputed histories and heritages: Indigenous sovereignty in Scottish archives
• Dr Niko Hauzenberger, University of Strathclyde, with collaborators Dr Gioele Figus, University of Strathclyde and Dr Tamás Krisztin, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
  How to keep the economy dancing when the music stops: System-integrated policymaking in times of global disruptions
• Dr Luke Houghton, University of Edinburgh
  Classical literature in the Renaissance
• Dr Ceren Ince, Heriot-Watt University, with collaborator Professor Richard J. Ball, University of Bath
  ACT Scotland: From classification to activation of mine tailings for sustainable resource recovery
• Dr Chloe Maclean, University of the West of Scotland, with collaborator Dr Fabiana Turelli, University of Manitoba
  Co-creating trauma-informed safeguarding practices for coaching women and girls martial arts
• Professor Andrew Manches, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Dr Susan Lechelt, University of Edinburgh and Dr Uta Hinrichs, University of Edinburgh
  Children and technologies: Insights and implications
• Professor Simone Meddle, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Professor Michele Johnson, Trinity University
  Lighting up photoreceptors in the anole lizard brain: Investigating the effects of light on seasonal breeding
• Dr Laura Miller, University of Strathclyde, with collaborators Professor Apala Majumdar, University of Manchester, Professor Neela Nataraj, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and Professor Saumya Bajpai, Indian Institute of Technology Goa
  Finite element methods for PDE-based models of bacterial corneal ulcers and associated novel liquid crystal-based treatments
• Professor Alan Murray, University of Edinburgh, with collaborators Professor Antonis Giannopoulos, University of Edinburgh and Dr David Caldwell, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
  Maxwell and Chessmen from Lewis – electrodynamic observations and drones (MACLEOD)
• Dr Caroline Ovadia, University of Edinburgh, with Dr Tatyana Kushner, Weill Cornell Medicine
  Determining associations between intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders
  
• Professor Rhiannon Purdie, University of St Andrews, with Professor Hector MacQueen, University of Edinburgh
  The Birth of Written Scots
• Professor Yvette Taylor, University of Strathclyde, with Dr Maddie Breeze, University of Stirling and Dr Cristina Costa, Durham University
  The report card project: Memory, materiality, and measurement in British schooling
• Dr Paula Stella Teixeira, University of Dundee, with Dr Neven Fučkar, University of Oxford
  Scottish climate analysis for renewable energy
• Dr Natalia Telepneva, University of Strathclyde, with Dr Alexander Hill, University of Calgary
  A socialist way of war? Soviet bloc military aid and Africa’s cold war conflicts

Personal Research Fellowships

• Dr Amrita Ahluwalia-McMeddes, University of Dundee
  Misrecognising motherhood: A mixed-methods approach to understanding identity misrecognition in the transition to motherhood
• Dr Louise Brangan, University of Strathclyde
  From tragedy to transformation: Ann Lovett’s death and the seeds of social change in 1984 Ireland
• Dr Josie Geris, University of Aberdeen
  When wet places run dry: Shaping Scotland’s water resources resilience to drought
• Dr Hans Hones, University of Aberdeen
  Empirical aesthetics in art education: Pedagogies beyond formalism
• Dr Hana Sleiman, University of Edinburgh
  The hands that make history: Beirut’s historiographical ecosystem (1920-1982)

International Bilateral Visits

Outgoing Programme supported by the RSE:

RSE and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

• Dr Hasan Abbas, University of Glasgow, Scotland, visiting Dr Ajtai Tibor, University of Szeged, Hungary
  Mitigating space-debris adverse consequences through electromagnetic scattering and laser spectroscopy observations

 RSE and the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy:

• Dr Elliot Convery-Fisher, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland, visiting Professor Lorenza Fontana, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
  Bridging policy and practice: A Scotland-Italy partnership for understanding fire governance across sub-Saharan Africa

RSE and the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan:

• Dr Ning Zhang, University of Glasgow, Scotland, visiting Professor Yi-Chan Tsai, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  Domestic market power and international financial (dis)integration

RSE and the Australian Academy of Science:

• Dr Reina Veenhof, Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), Scotland, visiting Dr Curtis Champion, Department of Primary Industries, NSW, Australia
  Natural resilience in Scottish and Australian underwater forests: Unravelling population structure and adaptive capacity

International Bilateral Visits

Incoming Programme supported by the Sister Academies:

Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the RSE

• Professor Tamas Demeter, ELTE Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungary, visiting Professor Michael Gill, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan and the RSE

• Associate Professor Cheng-Kai Lu, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, visiting Dr Shiwei Wang, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
• Professor Chao-Yi Tai, National Central University, Taiwan, visiting Professor Amin Abdolvand, University of Dundee, Scotland
• Associate Professor Ya-Hui Hung, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan, visiting Dr Jane Essex, University of Strathclyde, Scotland
• Dr En-Bo Wu, China Medical University, Taiwan, visiting Dr David Griffith, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

The Slovak Academy of Sciences and the RSE

• Dr Katarina Tokarčíková, Institute of Animal Physiology in Košice, Centre of Biosciences SAS, Slovakia, visiting Dr David Smith, Moredun Research Institute, Scotland

International Joint Projects (Stream I)

• Professor Michael Chen, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Dr Defang Ouyang, University of Macau, Macao
  AI-enhanced human-simulation drug assessment: A collaboration to accelerate preclinical drug development and safety evaluation
• Dr Ken Jeffrey, University of Aberdeen, with collaborator Dr Brian Theu, University of Livingstonia, Malawi
  Witchcraft accusations and violence in northern Malawi: Strengthening community-based protection systems
• Dr David Nelson, University of Strathclyde, with collaborator Professor Shaoguang Zhang, Tsinghua University, China
  Enabling a sustainable chemical economy by activating strong bonds in biomass
• Dr Diego Pajarito Grajales, University of Glasgow, with collaborator Dr Caroline Kabaria, African Population & Health Research Centre, Kenya
  Waterproofing data Nairobi
• Dr Jean-Charles Ribierre, University of St Andrews, with collaborator Dr Anthony D’Aleo, Institute of Physics and Chemistry of Materials of Strasbourg (IPCMS), CNRS, France
  Novel organic light-emitting materials for high-efficiency near-infrared OLEDs and organic lasers
• Dr Marly Muudeni Samuel, University of Stirling, with collaborator Dr Elita Chamdimba, Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi, Malawi
  Participatory digital learning with fishing communities: Malawi-Scotland stories
• Professor Kate Wall, University of Strathclyde, with collaborator Professor Ulrika Bergmark, Luleå tekniska universitet/ Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
  Teachers as researchers: Exploring models of university school research partnership to develop models of effective practice

International Joint Projects (Stream II) RSE-DAAD – Supported by the Scottish Government Berlin Office

• Dr Jonni Virtema, University of Glasgow, with collaborator Professor Arne Meier, Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany
  Fine-grained complexity classification of CQA
• Dr David Henty, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Dr Brian Wylie, Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), Germany
  Knowledge exchange to render sustainable exascale-HPC (KERSE)
• Professor Emmanouil Georgoulis, Heriot-Watt University, with collaborator Professor Daniel Peterseim, Universität Augsburg, Germany
  Next-generation numerical methods for nonlinear dynamic PDEs: From advanced discretisations to quantum-inspired algorithms

International Joint Projects (Stream II) RSE-NSTC

• Dr Lingcong Meng, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Professor Shu-Ping Vivian Lin, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan
  Functionalised nanobiosensor platform for exosome phenotyping
• Dr Mark Hughes, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, with collaborator Dr Kuo-Fang Chung, Biodiversity Research Centre, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
  Untangling the evolutionary complexity of Begonia: Comparative target capture (Hyb-Seq) and plastome phylogenomics of a megadive
• Professor Hai Deng, University of Aberdeen, with collaborator Professor Keqiang Wu, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  Uncovering novel bioactive cyclic peptides in tomato
• Dr Zhiming Yuan, University of Strathclyde, with collaborator Professor Shiu-Wu Chau, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  Survivability of floating offshore solar farms under extreme weather conditions
• Dr Georgios Machtsiras, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Professor Chih-Hsien Huang, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan
  Machine learning and AI for motion capture in sports biomechanics

Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Network Grant – Supported by the Scottish Government Office in Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs

RSE award:

• Professor Murray Leith, University of the West of Scotland and Professor Mary Gilmartin, Maynooth University, Ireland
  Reframing diaspora engagement for community futures in Ireland and Scotland

RIA award:

• Dr Colm Healy, University College Dublin, Ireland and Dr Kirstie O’Hare, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
  Community factors impacting mental health service utilisation: A bi-national study of young people in Ireland and Scotland

Scotland-Asia Partnerships Higher education Research (SAPHIRE) Fund – Supported by the Scottish Government Office

• Dr Arjunan Subramanian, University of Glasgow, with colleagues in India
  Clean energy transitions for rural India: Evaluating biochar-enhanced biogas for health and sustainability
• Dr Abraham Zhang, University of Glasgow, with colleagues in South Korea
  Barriers to circular business model adoption in the automobile sector in South Korea
• Dr Stuart Smith, The James Hutton Institute, with colleagues in Singapore
  Tree diversity of restored peat swamps in Southeast Asia: Planting, regeneration or paludiculture?
• Dr Gary Uzonyi, University of Strathclyde, with colleagues in South Korea
  Climate change, urban violence, and city resilience
• Dr Daria Luchinskaya, University of Strathclyde, with colleagues in Japan
  Sustainable university cities: The civic role of higher education in Glasgow and Osaka
• Mr Andrew Renninger, University of Glasgow, with colleagues in New Zealand
  Mobility across scales under climate stress

Scotland-Lower Saxony Research and Innovation Scheme

• Professor Sean Adams, University of Glasgow, with collaborator Professor Susanne Luther, Georg-August-Universität
  Migration, ideas, and people in antiquity (MIPA)
• Professor Dominic Campopiano, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Professor Florian Frohlich, Osnabrück University
  Ceramide biosynthesis in man and microbes: Structural and evolutionary studies of a novel bacterial ceramide synthase
• Dr Yashar Javadi, University of Strathclyde, with collaborator Professor Elyas Ghafoori, Leibniz University Hannover (LUH)
  Dual-mode robotic phased array ultrasonic testing for wind-turbine bolts – collaborative verification and data integration
• Dr Marlies Kustatscher, University of Edinburgh, with collaborator Dr Julian Storck-Odabasi, University of Hildesheim
  Childhood by numbers? Investigating assessment and datafication processes in early childhood education in Germany and Scotland