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Philanthropy Awards 2014

This year, for the first time, the University has granted four special awards to early career researchers to develop exceptional projects. The awards of £50,000 each have been funded entirely by philanthropic donations.

Two biomedical research awards have been made possible through the legacy donation of pioneering molecular geneticist, Noreen Murray CBE. Two engineering awards have been generously funded by a Warwick engineering alumnus. Philanthropy is vital to supporting ground-breaking research at Warwick, and the money kindly gifted through donations and legacies creates opportunities for young researchers to come up with real, tangible, life-changing results for the benefit of all.

Dr Matthew Gibson leads one of the four projects to receive an award. The funding will help him to develop a cutting-edge new method of biological material storage to freeze blood and organs and improve the supply and quality of tranplant materials. He described why the Philanthropy Awards are so unique:

The Philanthropy Awards are really exciting as they provide funding for cross-displinary research, which is hard to fund through traditional channels. This award will enable us to take the concept forward from chemistry-based research into clinical applications, working with the Warwick Medical School and local hospitals."

Dr Weisi Guo works on Smart Cities at Warwick. He won an award to help him develop the technology to track, monitor and measure sunlight exposure in city dwellers. The results will provide accurate demographic and geographic data for use in further research and to influence positive behavioural change. He said:

The Philanthropy Awards were a great opportunity for collaboration, as research into cities is so cross-disciplinary. It's brilliant that this money has been given to Warwick because it really helps junior academics to step up in their careers and explore exciting new areas of collaborative research."


Find out more about the four award-winning projects:

 

> Arctic fish 'antifreeze' to improve blood and organ storage
> Environmentally-friendly concrete to reduce plastic waste
> Personalised vitamin D profiling for urban dwellers
> Better understanding of bacterial behaviour to develop new antimicrobials


Find out how you can get involved through the Giving webpages.

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