Researchers awarded three-year fellowships to address needs of society

For Clare Bird, the Anniversary Fellowship has enabled her to return to Stirling after many years away.

“I am working on the genetics and ecological interactions of a group of marine micro-organisms called planktonic foraminifera,” she said. “Although smaller than a pinhead, these organisms make a calcite shell and have created a fossil record that enables reconstruction of past climates and underpins climate change projections.”

Adam Linson, who is researching contextual learning, said: “I was awarded an Anniversary Fellowship to investigate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), specifically in terms of vulnerabilities in adaptive biological systems.

“This draws on aspects of computing science and philosophy, alongside other disciplines including biology, ecology, and medicine, for developing models and understanding their implications.”

Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, whose research is looking at the impact of long-term and large-scale woodland creation on biodiversity and the ecosystem, said: “This fellowship has given me the opportunity to focus on my research, continue building an independent career as an investigator and work towards becoming a leader in my academic field.”

Ecologist Albert Vila-Cabrera is studying the impacts of global change on forest ecosystems.

“This research will contribute to our understanding of global change impacts on key ecosystems such as forests, which have a major role in the regulation of nutrient and water cycling, atmospheric composition and climate.”

Miranda Anderson is looking at distributed cognition as a way of understanding and making a case for the mind-expanding value of art and literature.

“The Anniversary Fellowship enables me to draw on the wide and exciting range of work and thinkers advancing this research area in Scotland and beyond,” she said.