Our Highlights

Events

NUAcT Seminar Series

Come along to meet our fellows and the NUAcT team and be inspired by the diverse research happening at Newcastle University! The seminar series showcases fellows latest research, research culture initiatives and fellowships journeys. 

Keep an eye out for the next seminar announcement coming soon.

Engagement, outputs and awards

We're thrilled to announce that NUAcT fellow Claudia Soares has been awarded with a prestigious UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. 

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Srikanth Ramaswamy, NUAcT Fellow/Marie Curie Fellow/Lister Institute Prize Fellow and Principal Investigator of the Neural Circuits Laboratory in the Faculty of Medical Sciences has just been awarded a prestigious grant from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research.   The award will enable Srikanth, one of our brilliant neuroscientists, to consolidate his impressive research programme on how neuromodulators enable adaptive learning in neural networks.

The brain continuously adapts and learns to respond to ever-changing behavioural demands. It achieves this by controlling the function of neural networks through the release of neuromodulators. Neuromodulators – acetylcholine, serotonin or dopamine – are chemical messengers that govern the emergence of brain oscillations by controlling the activity of cells, synapses and microcircuits to regulate shifts between behavioural states. Srikanth’s research integrates experiments and computational modelling to bridge the multiscale mechanisms through which neuromodulators act across spatiotemporal scales on cells and synapses to shape cortical computations in mouse, monkey and human brains. 

This is the first-ever award by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research to Newcastle University. Srikanth plans to begin this research grant in 2024. Please get in touch if you are interested in being involved.

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Christopher Stewart has been named as this year’s winner of the WH Pierce Prize for microbiology which is presented to a scientist who has used microbiology to make a significant contribution to One Health advancements.

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Listen to NUAcT fellow Dr Jane Scott discusses if fungus-filled textiles could become the new cutting-edge approach to interior design on the From Newcastle Podcast Listen now at http://bit.ly/fromNCLpodcast or wherever you find your podcasts.

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Catherine Walker, whose research centres on climate justice and young people, reviews the inclusion of young people at global climate summits and considers to what extent leaders have taken heed of their messages.  Read the blog here.

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Well done to James Dawson who has been successful in securing a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The grant will support James to research and help develop next-generation batteries to achieve the performance required for the electrification of transport and the grid-scale storage of energy from renewable resources. 

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Huge congratulations to our two NUAcT fellows Kate Beckham and Kesha Josts (both based in the Biosciences Institute) who have been awarded Royal Society University Research Fellowships! These fellowships are awarded to outstanding scientists with the potential to become leaders in their fields.

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Dr Oskar Jensen has been shortlisted for a prestigious history prize for his book Vagabonds.  He is one of six authors in the running for the £50,000 Wolfson History Prize. The book Vagabonds: Life on the Streets of Nineteenth Century London brings the Dickensian city vividly to life. From beggars and thieves to musicians and missionaries, porters and hawkers to sex workers and street criers, Dr Jensen unites original research, first-hand accounts and testimonies to tell their stories in their own words.

Dr Jensen is a NUAcT Fellow who is researching the history of song at Newcastle University’s International Centre for Music Studies.

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We are delighted to announce that Srikanth Ramaswamy has been selected for a 2023 Lister Prize.  Srikanth’s research seeks to understand the mechanisms through which neuromodulators shape cognition in mammalian brains and utilize this knowledge to build computational models of how the brain implements cognitive functions.

The flexibility of funding provided by a Lister Prize will empower me to build a multidisciplinary team to open up a new research direction at the interface of biological and artificial neural networks.

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Congratulations to the NUAcT fellows shortlisted at the Newcastle University Open Research Awards. Great to see the inspiring work they are doing to make their research more transparent, robust and inclusive.

• Jordan Cuff, 1st prize (starting his fellowship later this year)
• Christopher Hackney, 3rd prize
• Louise Rayne, Commendation

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 Welcome to the NUAcT fellows that have started in 2023!